Shawn is the first one to catch bass this morning.
Shawn, an angler friend from away, would like to experience the awesome smallmouth bass fishing on the Androscoggin River. I decide to check out the conditions on the river in Durham where I have fished for bronzebacks in summers’ past and did well (see here and here for examples). The hard-top boat launch next to Route 136 (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 5 A5) is spacious and offers unlimited parking.
The lower reach of the Androscoggin River flowing through south coastal Maine is a favorite destination of mine for catching smallmouth bass (click here, here, and here for examples). The stretch of water between Lewiston/Auburn and Brunswick is packed with bronzebacks! And the most amazing feature is that I usually have this gorgeous water all to myself even though it is located in one of the most densely populated areas of the state.
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The water level is so low that launching a trailered boat becomes a challenge…
The lower two-thirds of the Androscoggin River flowing through Maine supports a tremendous smallmouth bass fishery (click here, here, here, here, and here for examples). We’ve come a long way since the 1960’s when this stretch of river was an abused and neglected stinking open sewer, contaminated by untreated papermill effluent and municipal sewage. Following the Androscoggin’s re-birth after the passage of the Clean Water Act in the early 1970’s, Maine’s people have discovered its tremendous recreational potential, turning the river into a regional paddling and angling destination. Residual contaminant levels in fish tissue greatly limits the number of smallmouth bass that are harvested annually. As a result, most recreational anglers practice catch-and-release, myself included, resulting in a robust bronzeback fishery. Keep in mind that this stretch of the river also contains serious northern pike. Although I am not specifically targeting these fish today, I have caught them in the past in this general location as an accidental “bycatch”, which is always fun.
Copyright protected by DigiproveI reach the Durham boat launch off Route 136 (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 5 A5) on the Androscoggin River at 7 am. The weather is gorgeous, with full sunshine and a light breeze. The water temp is 70F. The air temp is in the low 70’s and forecast to rise into the high 80’s by early afternoon. I position my boat along the bank across from the boat launch and slowly drift down with the current while fishing the wooded shoreline for smallmouth bass using 4″ soft stickbaits. I get no bites, which is unusual since the bass typically are found shallow early in the morning on this river. I turn the engine on and move further downstream to fish another section of the shore, but with the same result…
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