Now that is one detailed report! (And some wild looking lures!) Great job.

Salty

Erik, I am muchly impressed with the depth of data and information you have provided on Moosehead and greatly regret my meager earlier reports. Sparse, short and sweet by comparision. From your report, you did not have the same luck that I had had when I went last, caught many more salmon, many brookies and only one slimer. But it could have been the weather as well, hard telling, not knowing. Regardless, I greatly appreciate the detail and read it word for word. Will b sure to work the area out of Lilly Bay as you describe, not having fished that at all. THANKS!!!!!!!!!

Salmanoid:

Thanks. Could be the time of year. When I got up there (8/12) I was told by people at the camp when arrived that no one was getting anything. So, when I got "something" I thought I was doing OK under the circumstances. During the time I was there I was generally getting 4-5 fish a trip and I'd come back to the dock and find out other people got "a hit" that kind of thing. So the fishing was slow that time. Weather was generally pretty good (one total rain out day in two weeks) but there were some major bug hatches -- one a midge hatch that lasted a couple days and filled every exposed part of my face and boat with bugs...but I kept fishing hardware and at least in the early am got no bite.

Where did you fish and how? I'm curious as to depths and presentations, but if you'd share a secret spot I won't complain. I found all my real fish at depth, but the local guide at my camp swears all the "active" fish would be <20 ft., in particular brookies. I tried this (with hardware) but got nothing up top. I obviously have a lot to learn and would appreciate any feedback on your depths/methods/lures etc. At 77K acres, its got enough fish for both of us, I think, I just have to get better at finding them!

No prob Erik, but I gave you the holes I had been fishing and having the best luck. If you check out the Navionics maps of the southern or eastern parts of the lake, they r very helpful. I had great luck in the bay between sugar and deer. I had good luck on "middle bay" side of Burnt Jacket. Last year I did great on the south side of Moose, but this year I did far better on the North or bay side opposite Burnt Jacket (go figure). I really like fishing the south side of Kineo, not in the bay but facing Rockwood. And the shore line going west of Rockwood has always been good, having fished out of the Birches for the last 18 years or so, that was always provided good action. I will be trying the Lilly Bay area next year. On another note, we really want to buy something up there. Any land still available? Not sure where u purchased, and we don't have to be on the water, but moosehead is where the heart is..........

Salmanoid! Sorry, I forgot! but thanks for refreshing my recollection our our earlier exchange. I knew I forgot to bring something with me! It was your list of hot spots! When did you fish (dates) and what depths / lures / etc did you find best? Did you troller streamers or bait at all and if so how did this perform. If you want, I can send you the pdf I made of my complete log...not that many fish as you noted (it was slow when I was there) but I have a lot more detail on locations, depths, speeds, lures etc. that actually DID produce a fish that you might be able to mine for your fishing.

Land is going up up up "up there." We bought a 4 acre section of a small island on Tussle Lagoon in Sep. '05 which is on the east shore of Lily Bay just north of Lily Bay State Park. We're just in the planning stages for a camp. The property is really beautiful and is on a nice protected lagoon for the kids, no big waves or wind. Locals tell me brookies make a spawning run right up the lagoon and Tussle brook. (if they survive the gauntlet of illegally introduced smallmouth and white perch). Its about 5-min. boat ride to open / deep water of Lily Bay. It was one of the only pieces of waterfront we could find on Moosehead that did not have a camp / house and was not crazy $$$$. There are still some of the non-Plum Creek lots on Brassua Lake in the $200K range, the non water front in the area is going up but not as high or fast. My recommendation would be to sign up for a mail subscribtion to the Moosehead Messenger or Piscatiquis Observer and start looking and poking around. Realtors up there are Folsom and "Spelling, somebody (Mellon?), and Munster" There's also Muzzy / Century 21, but I would encourage you NOT to use Muzzy as the proprietor has sold out and is letting himself be used (for hire) as a "spokesman" for Plum Creek. Plum Creek is bad news, big time property flippers that use their timber operations as a front / ruse to make ridiculous money rezoning cheap timber lands and developing them. The Mainers have no idea what they are up against. These guys have pulled the same crapola all over the country and are serious sharks. We have a friend up there (Wendy Weiger, "Maine Futures") who is leading the fight against the rezoning. Which reminds me, I've got to get a letter in to LURC for her...My wife and I will be addressing water and wastewater issues (our line of work anyway).

Yeah, I love it up there. Not Winni fishing but still OK fishing and what a beautiful area. The air, the lack of boat traffic...its amazing. If you're serious, I'd do your research now on potential properties NOW and make a move sooner rather than later as nothing is getting any cheaper up there and whether Plum Creek happens or not, it is driving up prices and doing so quickly. I was shocked to see how much more the (very limited) waterfront was selling for now versus last summer. One property on the 'Toe of the Boot,' still a seasonal access only area well N (drive wise) from Rockwood, that was listed in June 06 at $235K. One of the realtors scapped it up and had it listed in August for (no joke) $1.5 M !!!! Insane. Let me know if you have more questions, we're starting to get "plugged in" up there...

No prob, fish will b there next year as well. I did really well on the Winni derby winner, but even better on the ruby version of it (could only find that at AJ's, just got a couple more myself today as I will be heading to a wilderness camping/fishing trip in 2 weeks, foaming at the mouth). DB Guide and flash green with eye did well, top gun lady bug, but my favorite Maine lure, caught at least 60% of all my salmon as well at least 5 10 to 14 plus pound lakers (maine caught) is the Flash King with a lazer blue sticker in the center of an other wise all silver lure made by Acme, the S400 in multiple sizes. Funny that I have only caught a single short on Winni with this lure and it still produces well over 1/2 my fish in Maine. Bait color for sure. Would welcome the PDF, information is a good thing. Major addicition for sure, can't get enough. The feel of a flying and dancing salmon on 6# test mono is a rush to be saught after. Most salmon were caught at 32 to 40 foot, riggers with the vertical and horizontal moosamaloo flashers have turned my lead core to down rigger percentages around. Had been 60/40 lead core to riggers, and now it is 60/40 riggers to core. Flashers make all the diff in the world for sure, also discussed this with AJ this AM. Said he had been out yesterday and he did far better then his bud, same boat, lures but he had both sets of flashers. This has already been confirmed for me through my own experiences though. Also caught multiple brookies, just a couple of lakers though which is ok with me. Biggest brookie was a 17 inch football, beautiful.

I am convinced that the diff between NH and ME fisheries is the stocking smelt. ME hasn't looked to feed there smolt and adults, just keeps stocking salmon and trout. Have had multiple dicussions with fish and game that I catch up to, but what do I know.

As to land, we looked everywhere and missed the window I think of what we could afford. Stuff happens.

will be out in the AM on Winni will let u no how i do.

Salmanoid - you absolutely blew me away. When were you fishing? How fast were you trolling? Local scuttlebut was that the fishing was pretty dead when I was up there (8/12 - 8/25). I tried many speeds, maneuvers, presentations but I'm not so sure that it wasn't my inexperience that limited my success. If you help me catch fish like that up there, I'll be much in debt.

I'll send you my log by e-mail. If there are any "secret" waypoints that interest you, i can send you the exact lat / long coordinates so you could mark it on your GPS.

10+ lb laker? I went looking, found a 5 bler but nothing, NOTHING like that. Awesome job Salmanoid.

-Eric

Sorry about that, didn't catch them there, caught them on Richardson. But I will say I think I caught many more salmon, some of size. Was there the week before you, did have a huge salmon on that I lost, donkeyd a couple actually. I troll faster then most, 2.1 to 2.6, like the speed. Go for the Flash King Blues, a true stand by. I was catching so many fish that at one point, the wife threatend to go back to shore if she wasn't allowed to finish the same paragraph (For at least 2 hours I couldn't keep two lines in the water). But that is not where I caught the monsters, on Richardson I know where they live........Not that they aren't in Moosehead as well.

You ain't kidding Richardson is about 1hr and 15min from where i live and there are some HUGE lakers in there that's for sure The one day we did make it up there this year we boated 11+ Salmon About 1/2 were runts and the other 1/2 between 17" - 20" Take Care God Bless and Tight Lines LOL Dave From up North

Great report"Eric" and super pics especially the pics of the glow lures in the dark.I have must of these same lures in my tackle box but none of them are a glow lure. Is it a special paint you are using which is readly available or do you purchase it by special order somehow.I would be very interested in learning more about making these glow lures or whatever the process is to make standard purchase lures into glow lures Thanks in advance Don L.{Salmoneer} "If your going to catch fish your going to lose lures" by Jason Lucus.

Great report and pics.
I'll have to talk Trav into trying Moosehead!!

Salmoneer - I'm using Super Glow heat and dip paints I purchased from a Canadian outfit, Real Pro Sports fishing: http://www.luremaking.com

I got a whole slew of these heat and dip paints in both super glow and regular colors and have been experimenting. Some of the super glow colors will glow for 1-2 hours or more. It took me a little while (10-15 blanks) before I got the hang of working with the heat and dip paints, but even then its still a little tricky for me. You heat the part, dip in the paint and for the lines and dots I use a variety of little paintbrushes to dab on the paint. After painting you cure the painted blanks in the oven at 350 F for 10 min and then finish is cured like that of a car - hard and durable. I had to make the purple and green myself as they were not available.

I bought the 2" mini "gun" blanks for Real Pro and the standard lure blanks (about 2 3/8), which I think are made by Worth and resemble the fishlander bodies, I got from Stamina (http://www.upnorthoutdoors.com/stamina/spoon_blanks/Spoon_Blanks.html). Later this fall Real Pro will have a couple options for mini mini trolling blanks (1.5 in) in the smelt gun size range.

I got the smaller glow beads from Stamina and the larger ones from a small Great Lakes region outfit I lost track of...not bookmarked. Those big glow beads are awesome so I'll need to track that supplier down -- they glow brightly for >4 hours. I wonder if just one a little bit in front of a flie might be worth trying? I also got my hardware (hooks, split rings, swivels) from a combination of Real Pro and Stamina. I tied most of the attractors using 50-lb. mono and snap swivels at either end. Obviously, if you're set up to work with wire you might go that route but I'm not. In hindsight I'd have used better quality (stainless) bearing snap swivels as after only 2 weeks in the field a couple of the cheaper brass snap swivels on a few attractors are already suspect. I'll just retie these with better swivels.

I'll post some more shots of different lures over the next week or so...At some point I'll compile and share my glow lure making info with Alan Nute to see if he can make them available to the Winni crowd. Of course if Alan or Bethany read this, please feel free to pursue this on your own...Hardest part is learning to work with the heat and dip paints.

Eric H.

"Eric" thanks for the speedy replie.it sure is a lot to absorbe in one sitting so I"ll print it and study it throughly.With any luck and if I have any talant I may be able make some of these outstanding looking glow lures. I"am sure they won"t be great as yours; but with trial and pratice maybe I"ll produce something will catch fish. Thanks again Don L.{Salmoneer} "The bigger the lure the bigger the fish" by Jason Lucus

No need to study too hard Salmoneer...it should stay up on the board for a while. My glow lures are still prototypes -- I'm still learning how to work with these heat/dip paints. Is there one in particular you like? I've got multiples of some and could trade for a trip out on Winni...I can't trailer at the moment. I'll post some more pictures -- yes I've got even more of these creations, some I made for Winni and have not had a chance to try (a glow salmon and a couple "glwo 'bow" versions)...arts and crafts for the middle aged....Eric

Great report, allthough I only glanced at it I did print it out as I'm sure there is some valuable info in the report.

After I read it I'm sure I may have some questions and I'll post again.

Nice job,

John S.