Most of Aroostook’s favorite spring trolling lakes recently shed their coats of ice and surface fishing with streamer flies should be top rate for a couple of weeks. The two big questions facing most Crown of Maine sportsmen are which lake to visit, and even more importantly, what’s the best tandem streamer pattern to trail behind the boat?
Some fishermen avoid the fly selection quandary completely by offering lures, plugs or sewn smelt to ice out salmon and trout, but for many it’s just not spring trolling if you’re not pulling a fly or two in the boat wake. Many old-timers have half a dozen favorite feathered concoctions and refuse to try any other, while another group carries dozens of patterns and change every whipstitch. In truth, lake levels, water color and temperature, how much debris is in the water, and if the gamefish are feeding on smelt runs, should all factor into fly selection.
There are two main types of streamers: bait fish imitations, which of course look similar to smelt or minnows, and attractor patterns, colorful flies that resemble no living creature but show up well in the water and elicit strikes from irritation rather than hunger. To further complicate the decision, both of these two main types of streamers are tied wing using either feathers for wings or hair for wings. Each type of wing material has a distinctive look and motion when pulled through moving water.
A few tandem streamer patterns will work on any lake in Maine while others seem to be more effective on specific lakes, perhaps due to color or material. For example, gray ghosts and nine-three streamers work on all Aroostook lakes, especially when a lot of smelt are spawning and gathering near brook mouths. Just after ice out when lake water is dingy and debris-filled, radiant flies such as a red and white bucktail, Mickey Finn or a little brook trout really draw strikes, and oddly the three are all bucktail patterns.
I’m a fanatic for tying and trying new and unusual fly patterns and by doing this over the last couple of decades, I’ve discovered some very effective dry fly, wet fly, nymph, terrestrial and steamer flies. Let’s discuss feather winged baitfish and smelt imitators first: Jules St. Peter, angling guru of the Fish River Lakes, enlightened me to the existence and effectiveness of the Blue Devil tandem streamer on Long Lake. Not only was he right, which I learned firsthand, but this little known fly works wonders on Cross and Square lakes too. Other lesser recognized feather-winged wonders include the witch, the demon and the Grand Lake Streamer.
For Eagle Lake togue and salmon, Drew’s Lake brown trout, Musquacook togue, and Pleasant Pond salmon try brightly hued feather-wing streamers. Troll a morning glory, Carrie’s Special (one of Maine’s famous female guide Carrie Stevens’ favorites), or the age-old traditional patterns Supervisor and Colonel Bates. Just last weekend, a friend of mine caught and released four salmon between 2-3 lbs. during one hour of trolling a Colonel Bates in Long Lake on a floating fly line.
Another style of tandem streamer that works consistently for spring trolling uses a combination of feathers, hair and herl to comprise its wing and throat. Two killer patterns of this type that work on all local species, especially trout and splake, are the Herb Johnson special and the Magog smelt. So far this spring, my best results on local ponds and lakes occurred while trolling the smelt imitating black nose dace or the black and white bucktail streamer. When the water was coffee-colored for a week or so after ice out a red gray ghost and a Ouananiche sunset drew salmon like a magnet grabs steel.
Top rate trolling should continue on local lakes for another few days, and the Aroostook River is currently producing steady action on brook trout. Visit a few area waterways while the early fishing is peaking, and make sure you have a half dozen imitator and attractor style streamers on hand; one of the favorites I’ve mentioned is sure to work.
