Last week Jeff and I floated the Androscoggin River from Durham to Lisbon Falls, which is full of smallmouth bass and catches of over 80 in a day are not uncommon. Before we set out we decided that we were going to count the fish that we caught to see if those numbers could be attained. I have never been one to count the fish that I catch as I feel that this process takes away from the overall experience and can become a pointless competition that can ruin a great day on the water. I am also very superstitious, when it comes to fishing, and counting fish just sounded like something that could backfire. As we launched into the river all of these thoughts were going through my head as the strong winds pushed us quickly down the river. The current is not very strong on the stretch, but the wind threatened to make this a very quick trip along this six mile stretch. I was fly-fishing from the bow and Jeff was spin casting from the stern. The swift wind made boat control challenging, but Jeff is a skilled paddler and kept us on course and under control. We floated close to the north shore and cast our flies and lures right along shore and retrieved back to our canoe. My first choice was a black woolly bugger with an orange cone head and Jeff choose various crank baits and jigs. Results were modest at the beginning and I was beginning to think that I had jinxed us. I had switched to a blue popper and even with slower fishing it was exciting as the bass were very enthusiastic in taking the surface offering. By lunch time we had floated to the half way point and there was a beautiful sand bar that offered a nice spot to relax for lunch and to cast into the current that runs along the large rocks on the shore. At this point we had landed 21 fish and we were surely not anywhere near achieving the numbers that everyone talked about for this stretch.
Beautiful Lunch Spot
A very large bald eagle was here
After taking a break for lunch we continued to fish the north shore. There were numerous trees that had fallen into the water and provide hiding and ambush spots for bass throughout the river. Jeff hooked up with some nice bass on a white grub jig and it was not until we moved over to the south side of the river where the rocky structure is more prevalent that we started to hit the fish we expected. At this point I switched to my spinning rod and also strung up a white grub jig. We started fishing along some large rocks where the bank dropped off very quickly. Soon after we started bouncing our jigs off bottom Jeff hooked into the best bass of the trip. Shortly after that I hooked into another nice bass and the bite was on. Sometimes all it takes is finding the right pattern to use and also finding where the bass are holding. On this day we found the bass deeper and also around currents and rocky areas throughout the river. The highlight of the day were the two double catches that occurred while drifting the river. The best catch was as I was reeling a nice bass in and I noticed a large sucker following the struggling bass. Jeff dropped his jig down right along the side of the canoe near where my hooked bass was and hooked right up with another similar sized bass. Those are the moments that I will remember for a long time.
The best fish of the trip
There were some nice fish in this stretch
Strong fish for their size
Rocks were the key
The fishing became much more intense as we encountered more current along the rocky islands sticking up in the middle of the river. Each island had awesome holding water below it where we caught ridiculous amounts of strong bass. Even the smaller bass are strong and give a great fight as they live in the river and have to deal with currents throughout the year. As the action began to heat up I lost the last jig and even though Jeff still had his I was without the go-to lure. I remembered an article written about fishing for bass with the Mepps Aglia, which is a lure with a spinning blade that takes many different species of fish and is my go-to lure for small stream fishing for trout. We were doubtful up until the first cast and it was fish on. There was one stretch with three bass on three consecutive casts. At some point we realized that we didn’t care about how many fish we caught and stopped counting at 50 as we were just living for the moment. Being outside and enjoying all of the wonders of the natural world was what we were really looking for and counting on. At times the process can be frustrating as we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to figure things out. One thing we can count on is having a good time through our experiences in the woods and waters of Maine.
