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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’m not specifically targeting these fish today, I’ve caught them in the past in this general location as an accidental “bycatch”, which is always fun.

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