mcneishm
Member
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 206
Fished the Roach River, a tributary of Moosehead Lake in Piscataquis Co. for brook trout and landlock salmon. The water temp was about 60 with the air temp varying between 65 and 45. Jhad fished the Roach several times in the past, either the top quarter mile or so below the dam at First Roach Pond in Kokadjo and the very bottom quarter mile where it dumps into Moosehead below Jewitt Brook. This area is accessible only by boat or canoe. This year we fished several different places in the 5-6 miles of stream between those two locations. Access is very limited. There are a number of established trails from various roads that roughly parallel the river but all involve hikes of a quarter to half mile over unimproved trails. The forest is very thick , swampy, and rocky with lots of blowdown so progress is slow. The trails are blazed with pink and orange ribbons but these can be missed and you can get turned off onto a moose trail. The area belongs to various paper companies (Great Northern?) that maintains the roads (or not maintain them, as is their wont). They also push trails and cut areas through the area that can screw up the trails. Bring a USGS map of the area and a compass. A GPS device is helpful too but a USGS map & compass is essential.
The action was not as hot as I've experienced it in the past but we had enough to keep us interested. We caught as many brook trout as landlocks. The brookies were fat, sassy, and colored up for fall. Most were in the 12-14 inch range but I caught one 17" male that was spectacular. A number of them jumped too, perhaps because they wanted to confuse the anglers into thinking they were landlocks. The landlocks were 15-16" but my brother caught a 22" dandy that jumped a number of times and kept him busy for quite a while.
Most of the fish, brooks or landlocks, were caught on streamers of various type, bucktails, wooly bugger, Montreal whores, but we also caught a number of brook trout on nymphs, including the 17" fish above (a #18 brassy to be exact). It was necessary to cover the water, every inch of the water, thoroughly. The fish were there but you had to get the fly almost in front of their noses to get a strike.
A useful reference for the area, the Roach River, Moosehead Lake's East Outlet, and the Moose River between Brassua Lake and Moosehead lake, is a pamphlet published by Main Woods Tourism. You can download a PDF of it at Main Woods Tourism
The action was not as hot as I've experienced it in the past but we had enough to keep us interested. We caught as many brook trout as landlocks. The brookies were fat, sassy, and colored up for fall. Most were in the 12-14 inch range but I caught one 17" male that was spectacular. A number of them jumped too, perhaps because they wanted to confuse the anglers into thinking they were landlocks. The landlocks were 15-16" but my brother caught a 22" dandy that jumped a number of times and kept him busy for quite a while.
Most of the fish, brooks or landlocks, were caught on streamers of various type, bucktails, wooly bugger, Montreal whores, but we also caught a number of brook trout on nymphs, including the 17" fish above (a #18 brassy to be exact). It was necessary to cover the water, every inch of the water, thoroughly. The fish were there but you had to get the fly almost in front of their noses to get a strike.
A useful reference for the area, the Roach River, Moosehead Lake's East Outlet, and the Moose River between Brassua Lake and Moosehead lake, is a pamphlet published by Main Woods Tourism. You can download a PDF of it at Main Woods Tourism
