A friend and I did some piscatorial paddling yesterday on the Androscoggin River in the Turner-Leeds area, catching a few smallmouth bass in the big pool just below the falls at Twin Bridges.

Heading upstream with Portland fisherman Jonathan Keck paddling in the bow yesterday on the Androscoggin River.
SCOTT ANDREWS PHOTO

I've fished this pool from the banks and paddled the area before, but never combined paddling and fishing. For Jonathan Keck, a Portland paddler I know through the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club, yesterday was a first for fishing that section of the river.

Yesterday was Jonathan's first fishing outing on this section of the Androscoggin.
SCOTT ANDREWS PHOTO

The action wasn't as lively as I'd hoped, but I landed four legal-size smallmouths. The biggest was just shy of 18 inches. All were caught on light spinning gear with spoons that cost under a dollar apiece. All fish were released.

Plus I did a few long-line releases. Jonathan did pretty much the same.

Jonathan holds one of the smallmouth bass that he caught yesterday.
SCOTT ANDREWS PHOTO

By the way, there's an interesting website solely devoted to fishing for smallmouth bass in rivers: www.riversmallies.com. Check it out. Two guides from Maine are among the senior contributors to the website: Captain Chuck Duggins, who guides on the Piscataquis and the Penobscot, and Tracy Gosselin, who teaches fly fishing at L.L. Bean.

Also note that farther upstream, in the Bethel area, the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance and the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce are holding a Family Fishing Festival this Saturday and Sunday.

The Upper Andro --roughly meaning upstream of Rumford -- is an "emerging world-class fishery" that's being promoted by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife as well as the festival promoters.

E-mail this entry to a friend