James McCourt of Massachusetts shows off a nice Sebago Lake salmon he caught while fishing with Tom Roth. Tom Roth / For Lakes Region Weekly As we put up a new calendar, I look out at Sebago Lake and hope she freezes this year. I’m longing to get out on the hard water after two years of no ice.
I also reflect on the past year with a grin, as it was a spectacular year in the woods and on the waters of this region. To begin with, we had what is arguably the best salmon fishing that Sebago Lake has seen in decades. We started catching big, healthy salmon in the spring and the fishing continued all summer long.
The biologists point to several factors that made it such a banner season. First, lake trout numbers were down 30% based on a spin net survey. Less lake trout equals less competition for smelt and other bait fish that salmon need to thrive.
Second, the smelt numbers were up, along with alewife. The big swarms of bait balls that we saw on our fish finders all season long were likely alewife and helped to concentrate the salmon and tip us off where they were feeding. Find the bait balls and you found the fish.
I dragged lures all season long and I often remarked that it didn’t matter what pattern or color you used, you were going to catch salmon. We did well on lake trout, too, but many days the salmon outnumbered the lakers. Many of my fellow guide buddies remarked that on some days they had to work extra hard to put clients on lake trout.
I’m optimistically looking f.
