Narrows pond

[Shawn Breton]

Lower or upper have never fished them live close by anyone do any fishing there and for what species

[nbourque]

Lotta guys fish upper for salmon.

[Eroy4]

Both are pretty slow. There is Togue, salmon and Brook trout in both. They stock upper narrows much more than lower. Most people park at the causeway, be careful because there is open water near by. I have a friend who lives on lower narrows and he lets me park at his house, so I have fished it quite a bit. There are a lot of smelt in both upper and lower, which is why the fishing can be slow. Upper does have quicker action than lower, but less people fish lower.

[Shawn Breton]

I was wondering if there was still lake trout being caught in there I know when I was a kid there was good lake trout fishing but I heard the quality has went down and they even found fish dieing cause of oxygen issues.

[Eroy4]

I still catch some , but don't expect to get into large number of them. They average about 18 inches, but are usually quite fat. If you want to get better quality togue go to Sebago or even Maranacook.

[icecruiser]

I live on lower.  It is dead.  I haven't caught a laker this year.  Caught my first laker last year on April 10th.  I fish it quite a bit as it is in my back yard but have started going elsewhere. 

You can catch some of the brookies they dump in and some bass and stuff, but for lakers I think there is  a big issue.  Maybe it is water quality.  I was discussing the lake with someone else this week and they said that, said upper holds more fish due to something with the intake for the water supply oxygenating the water but I am not aware of that. 

Sold my big lund to buy a smaller one that is easier to haul around to other lakes so I can troll other lakes.  I caught 2 lakers trolling last year in 10 days early season.

Might have something to do with the pike in it.  I am going to target them later this month to see if I can find any of the big one, but I have seen many smaller pike and think that might be the issue. Heard a report of someone catching a 15 pound pike last year out of lower.

I have been in touch with the biologist and am keeping logs to submit to them.  The logs are not pretty.  I had logs for about 12 years and there is one clear pattern on the fishing, downhill.

John

[Westerly]

I don’t know what the issue might be with togue in Lower Narrows but it isn’t the water quality.  It has some of the clearest water around and most years it holds plenty of oxygen all the way to bottom.  It actually has better WQ than Upper Narrows which sometimes goes anoxic below the thermocline in the fall.  I don’t fish it but saw someone with an 8+ lber coming off at the causeway ramp last spring.  If there’s a problem with the togue, I’m thinking it’s probably a biological one related to stocking rates, forage or competition from other species?   

[Eroy4]

They haven't stocked togue in the lake in 3 or 4 years and typically it was only a couple hundred in the 9-10 inch range. According to what I have heard they stocked in low numbers  in order to produce bigger togue. I think for a pond of its size it produces pretty nice fish. I have yet to catch a double digit togue from lower, but have caught some decent ones.

[Shrinkage]

I was down at the south end maybe 5 years ago when a gentleman caught a 17# togue out of the 116' or so deep hole. I havent fished it in years but it used to be a great place to go after togue.

[icecruiser]

The stocking pattern for Lower narrows typically is 200 lake trout every 3 years.  However they missed at least once in the cycle so it was 6 years between stockings.  I dropped the biologist an email and didn't get a response then but he lake got stocked the following year. 

Usually they stock lakers that are 6-8 inches.  Perfect size to get eaten by bass and pike.  I watched on the causeway once as bass were driving freshly stocked fish into the bushes where they were eating them.   

In terms of water quality the report listed here
http://maine.gov/ifw/fishing/lakesurvey_maps/kennebec/narrows_pond_lower.pdf

shows that the last time it was surveyed 1982 there was a problem with low oxygen that they should watch but I can't find any follow up on it. 

Water quality is not just clarity.  There has been a significant increased growth of algae.  I have seen this personally.   There are some huge plumes of algae that have shown up that didn't used to be here.   I do not have the data on oxygen depletion as I can't find it but just because a lake is clear doesn't mean it has good dissolved oxygen all the way down.  I have heard that the lake is depleted at deeper depths of oxygen. 

I used to catch some nice fish out of it and have had folks tell me about the nice ones they have heard about but I haven't seen any for at least 3 years.  We used to catch at least one nice laker a day ice fishing.  Trolling we would usually catch a couple.  For the last few years this has not been the case. 

I am disappointed in the lake and will continue to supply data to the biologists but in my opinion something is going on that is not good.  I actually spoke to one of my neighbors yesterday and he was telling me that he and his son gave up fishing it because they have been 3 years without catching a laker. 

Again your mileage may vary and I am sure there probably are still some fish in it, just not like there used to be.  The deep hole is 106 feet and honestly i very rarely catch stuff deep on lower.  I am fascinated to hear about a 17# tougue out of the deep hole as it is not far from my house and I tend to check in with folks fishing it whenever I can and I know the regulars, most of whom have stopped fishing it.
John

[Eroy4]

Caught this one a little bit ago jigging. Almost 23 inches long, not as thick as they usually are. If I had my camera on me I could post some pics of some bigger ones I have caught in the past. It would be nice if the state did a little more research on the water quality and the togue population, I would to love see another 17# caught out of there, but I haven't came close to that.

[Shawn Breton]

Lower or upper on that laker

[Shawn Breton]

It's sad to see more lakes getting ruined with algae but on your statement about them stocking little ones your more then right they are mostly eaten by bass and same with brookies I was at lake auburn 4 years ago and just fishin my life away and here comes the hatchery truck and they had 10-12 in brookies to stock in the basin brook I watched as they dumbed those brookies in they where barely even getting to the water and there where 5 to 7 pound largies just inhaling them like it was nothing couldn't get those big largies to hit anything else it's like they knew to be there for that was crazy

[Wolley]

More algae sound like a enviromental/runoff water influx change. I would take a slow ride around the lake in the spring and see who is still piping stuff into the lake.

[bluetick112]

I have a friend that has lived on upper for years; He has always told me that early in the season is much better, at least for salmon.

I have never had much luck there, but have talked to a few people that catch brookies from there

When I drove buy on Monday the boat launch on 202 was not plowed, maybe there is enough room to park on the side of the road.

hope this helps good luck

[Westerly]

Icecruiser –Lower Narrows is fortunate because it probably has more existing water quality data than at least 90% of all the rest of Maine’s lakes and ponds.  Water clarity is thought to be the most basic measure of lake health because it is affected by several things in a lake that can cause water quality to go downhill – algae included.  Last year its average clarity was over 7.5 meters (statewide average is around 4 meters).  You are right about ‘water quality’ being more than just clarity, though.  A more specific way to figure out how much algae is in the lake water involves filtering a water sample in order to measure chlorophyll-a amounts.   Lower Narrows is typically two or three micrograms/liter (or ppb) of chl-a  and lakes with excessive algae issues (think Pleasant, Sabbattus, etc) are usually around 7 and often over 10 ug/l.  Other water samples taken from the epilimnion of the lake to measure total phosphorus (one of the main drivers for algae growth) are also quite low (less than .01 ppm).   Also over the last year, I spent a fair amount of time taking at least six different dissolved oxygen/temp profiles on Lower Narrows and with the exception of the last foot or so of water at the bottom of the deep hole, oxygen was plentiful and well distributed throughout the lake.  The puffy plume of algae you describe is probably Metaphyton and is very different from the algae that seriously impairs water quality and turns whole lakes green.  I’ve seen it there too and it is appearing in more and more lakes statewide (and of all different water quality types).  Right now, not much is known about it or its possible relationship to water quality.  It is pretty ugly though, no doubt.  Anyway, I don’t know what any of this stuff has to do with the togue other than if there is a decline it’s gotta be for some other reason.  If you are interested and want to pm me an email address, I can send you some recent data or if you wanted to I could meet up with you when I’m out there sometime this coming year.  Hope the togue fishing comes around for you!                   

[Eroy4]

I was always told the lower had better water quality than upper. Lower is a lot deeper 106 ft compared to 60 ft for upper.