Registered Maine Guide Bill Laflamme never expected to get any business out of the new overhaul of the state fishing law book.

But when a client from Michigan hired him to guide for landlocked salmon in August, the out-of-state fisherman saw the new state law that legalized year-round fishing. And he hired Laflamme to guide him for salmon when he returns to Maine next month.

“Most people will be deer hunting in November. But you’ll probably see people out (after) they get a deer,” Laflamme said. “I didn’t think much about it. I put my large boat away, to store it. But I have my 21-foot canoe. I’ll use that.”

For the past five to eight years, lakes and ponds in central and southern Maine have been opening to year-round fishing, said Joe Dembeck, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s fisheries management supervisor.

This year Washington, Hancock and Penobscot counties were added to the mix.

The new law requires anglers fishing after Oct. 1 to catch and release salmon, trout and togue on most lakes and ponds in the southern half of the state where year-round open-water fishing exists,.

But the Down East region is the place to find fishing where it previously wasn’t allowed in November and December.

Some big lakes, like Branch Lake, Green Lake and Tunk Lake, are still closed to open-water fishing this time of year, but the majority are open.

And Greg Bur, the state fisheries biologist in the Down East region, said as soon as folks discover the great trout and salmon fishing in the fall, many more will take advantage of it.

“The water cools and the fish are everywhere, not just down deep. Anglers are telling us it’s fantastic trolling with a fly rod and floating line,” Bur said. “There will be a limited amount of people. But they’ll have great fishing when they do go.”

The mild winters have been one inspiration for the widespread year-round opportunity that went into effect in March, Dembeck said.

“In the winter of ’05 it was mild. There were pictures of people spin fishing out on Togus Pond (in) Augusta. At the time it was illegal and only open to ice fishing. Now they’re able to do so legally, and we see no impact,” he said.

Previously some waters were opened year-round. Dembeck said Messalonskee Lake and the Belgrades — Long Lake, East Pond, Great Pond and North Pond — have been open year-round for years. And the fishing is good, he said.

However, the more widespread year-round fishing across the southern half of the state will appear new to many.

On Sebago Lake, anglers have been able to take lake trout any way, any season for two years, but biologists say many anglers didn’t know until the new law book came out this year.

“The clarification is worth sending out,” said state fisheries biologist Francis Brautigam in Gray.

Laflamme, of Fin and Feathers Seekers Guide Service in Sidney, thinks a minority of fishermen will take advantage of the late fall fishing.

But on a mild November day he said they may have the best of it until the rest discover “cold-weather open-water fishing.”

“I think once we figure out where there is hot fishing, you’ll see a lot of guys doing it,” Laflamme said.

 

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at: dfleming@pressherald.com

 

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