anybody ever fish chesuncook in piscataqis county?

[jacksmelt71]

i was wondering if anyone here has ever fished chesuncook lake in n. piscataquis county before? ive fished telos and chamberlain but never got to chesuncook. would like to give er' a try this year. i noticed its got a 3 sal. limit. any info would be appreciated. thanks.

[icefishmaine]

 i've never fished it but would like to try it this year, since it has a little easier access for me then some of the other lakes up there..

[tbtool]

i have fished it.  more in the summer but excellent in the winter.  Big salmon and lots of tougue. 

[big big rdg]

My gramp used to fish it in the spring and used to slay the salmon.

[jacksmelt71]

thanks for the info. you guys fish the north or south ends ?  id be coming in from the north. if any of you want to hit it sometime and want company give me a yell. im always in that neck of the woods.

[gamefisher]

Jacksmelt - full of 12" - 15" salmon.  We spent four days in early June and caught around 40 salmon without that much effort, only one good though, around 4 pounds.  With the new regs, they want you to weed out some of the smaller ones and I believe they have closed the tribs. to smelting.  In a few years she might be back to the early 80's. Fingers crossed.
   As a side note, we stayed at Allagash Gateway on Ripogenus and he told us of a story where a party caught 50+ one day in the winter and I believe it to be possible from what I saw.  Bring lots of bait... the scenery alone is worth the trip.  Good luck.   

[DaveRT]

Like everyone says, lots of small salmon.  I have fished chesuncook for the first week in Jan. for the last 7 years.  With 3 or 4 fishing all day with 5 traps each.  Many small salmon. 6 and 7 years ago the salmon where bigger,  the best we ever did was a 4+ pounder. Last year the largest was 19 inches maybe 2 and 1/2 pounds.  No more football shaped fish all racers.  We fished the North end by the village.  We fished Tougue ledge, the Point by the  Priest house, down by Caribou lake, all with good luck. Never fished down by Rip. dam.  I think that's where the tougue are.  Always had good safe ice on the first of Jan. although snow might be lacking.  We always stayed with Red at Kathdin View Lodge.  He passed away this year and I thing the Lodge is closed.  We are trying Pleasant Lake in Washington County this year.

[billditrite]

welcome to Iceshanty daveRT . hope you enjoy our site.

[gamefisher]

DaveRT- welcome.  Are you staying at the camps on the lake?  I can't remember the name but they are quite reasonable.  If conditions allow, try  Birch Point and even around the backside of.  Good brookies.  If you have sleds and like togue fishing, take a trip over to West Musquash and fish the north end.  Lots of 4 - 5 pounders with some wall mounters.  Good luck.

[DaveRT]

Staying at Maine Wilderness Camps.  Have sleds and all the gear.  We don't mind sledding for good fishing.  When I started icefishing over 25 years ago, we would stay at Newgents camps on Chamberland and sled 20 miles up to Churchill Lake every morning in the dark and cold just to be the first ones. We took a 27inch ,11 pound tougue one morning. Made it all worth the trip.  Largest brookie we took was 3 pounds around the island at Churchill Lake. All years ago.  Haven't seen anything like that for a long long time.  Over the years we have icefished Round Pond, Webster Lake, Telos, Chamberland, Eagle, Churchill, Spyder, Clear Lake, Chesuncook, Mopang, and a few I can't even say or spell.  West Musquash is on the list to try.  Thanks .  And how could I forget, Moosehead. We even tried Allagash Lake.

[jacksmelt71]

jeez dave youre just as bad as me! me and my bro. are staying at macannamac camps on spider end of feb. beg. of mar. we fish most of the lakes in the area.so far ive fished chamberlain , telos, eagle, clear ,churchill, spider. id like to try chesuncook and pleasent this year. your right fishings not what it used to be. i remember getting 4lb. whitefish all you wanted out of eagle and telos. now you cant keep em' on eagle and telos they have to be 16'' most are around 12''. thanks for the info. guys. if i can be of assistance give me a yell! tight lines!

[DaveRT]

  We stayed in Spikehorn camp many times and like you stayed Late Feb.  By then Spider would be a slush pit.  We could get to Churchill and Clear on those day easier than fishing Spider.  We always had good luck on Spider, I remember a 6+ lb. togue  one of the kids caught.  We had good luck with brookies around the island and in front of the ledges on the shore side by the island on Spider.  Jack would fly his plane and drop in on us to check the fishing.  I don't think he does that anymore.

[jacksmelt71]

sorry to tell you dave but ol' jack died in his plane some time ago when it crashed while he was out spotting lynx for the state. i guess he died instantly from what i was told. i bet when they found him he probably had a smile on his face seeing he died doing what he loved. his wife josie is still running the camps. some people still swear they feel his presence when they stay at the camps. my father knew jack well but i only had the honor to meet him once.

[DaveRT]

Having a senior moment, I remember the story now.  What is disturbing to me is that after staying at Nugent's camps on Chamberland, Patty died. Than we switch to Macanamack camps and Jack dies.  Than we switch again to Chesuncook and Red dies.  I hope the woman that runs Maine Wilderness camps doesn't read this. I don't feel so good.

[jacksmelt71]

yikes!! i see what you mean.