Posted By:
Andrew-White
Field Editor
Merrymeeting Bay 10-25-2006 19:02
Sunny & Clear, High Winds – 45-50 Degrees
Hunted Merrymeeting Bay yesterday afternoon. Needed a good tide to get to my not so secret spot. There were fresh footprints and hulls on the ground so I am guessing someone had some luck earlier on. I only saw one other boat close by and heard several shots down near Chops Point. Only saw one duck fly as I picked up the dekes. Did some scouting to the south and saw a handfull of ducks. Last year this time there were many more ducks. Hope to get up there again for the second season when it’s colder.
Posted By:
flylineguide
Guest
Central Maine 10-16-2006 16:09
Cloudy, Heavy Fog – 45-50 Degrees
Man was it foggy Saturday morning. It took 1 hour to go 6 miles and get setup. It stayed foggy until 1030 then it lifted like a curtain going up. Had a flock of honkers go over a legal shooting time. They where barking their heads off. Right over us but we couldnt see them and they didnt come back around to our calls. Got a couple of mallards. Went out today and got 2 wood duck.
Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is a waste of motion. Action with vision can change the world! www.flylineguide.com flylineguide@outdrs.net
Posted By:
paul-reynolds
Guest
scarborough 10-15-2006 14:45
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted in Scarborough Marsh yesterday. There were quite a few birds in the marsh before first light. We had mallards and teal in the decoys before first light but as legal time drew closer more and more birds began moving out of the marsh. The birds in the decoys decided to join their feathered brethren and head out as well.
We had some blacks decoy but our shooting was way off and all that flew in… flew out.
There were a few other hunters in the marsh and back at the ramp I spoke with several who were outside eider hunting. I did hear a lot of shooting after first light coming from the ocean. This group said that they had shot at a few birds but only downed one bird.
We took a ride around the marsh after our hunt and saw three teal and several blacks.
Posted By:
paul-reynolds
Guest
Bar Harbor 10-15-2006 14:17
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 60-65 Degrees
Hunted Bar Harbor for Eiders. It was an incoming tide. Eiders were flying in smaller groups. The largest flock that came in was about twenty birds but most were much smaller. The birds were not flying steadily. I thought due to the lack of wind that the gunning would be slow. It was but it was also steady. Before I knew it we had three limits of eiders. We saw several small flocks of white wing scoters but no oldsquaw. There were larger flocks seen outside but they are slowy moving inside.
I hunted with Bill Pigeon of Eiders Down guide service. He has a first class operation and I highly recommend him.
[Edited By paul-reynolds on 2006-10-15 14:29]
Posted By:
paul-reynolds
Guest
Waterboro, Maine 10-15-2006 14:06
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Opening day there were few wood ducks in the area but after first light there were not many birds moving. We took a few woodies though. I saw a few flocks of mallards and blacks.
There has been a fair number of birds on the Saco river with some blue wing teal in the area. With this front moving through I expect that they will be moving out soon.
Posted By:
flylineguide
Guest
South and central Maine 10-13-2006 12:51
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 45-50 Degrees
I have not been on much since before the moose hunt. 850 lbs 18 point bull. Yes my wife shot it. I missed 2 days ducking so far. 2 more than I wanted and 3 to many. It is definatly slower this year puddle ducking. Wood duck, teal, blacks, mallards in the bag. Divers in the bag are blackheads and bluebills. Took a scotch double on black head last week young drake for a target and his sister fell as well. Havent nailed any mergies yet and have been passing on the coot. Had some whistlers rafted on open water yesterday on the way back to the ramp. Still to early in the year for good sea ducking. I have been checking some spots someone is gunning them, saw some floaters in the area, mostly brown birds flying now and shooting hen seaducks is not neccessary. Drakes are around but not that great plummage quite yet. Couple of more weeks and that will get going good. It looks like a bluebird day for tommorrow so all will be out and looking forward to next week.
Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is a waste of motion. Action with vision can change the world! www.flylineguide.com flylineguide@outdrs.net
Posted By:
3baydogs
Guest
10-10-2006 18:10
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Keep the field reports coming Andrew.. I check for your reports everyday of the season…
I’ll be in Maine from the 4th. of Nov. Till About the 12th. or so….I’ll be talking to you again.. Thanks for Help Andy..
Posted By:
Andrew-White
Field Editor
Casco Bay 10-10-2006 10:11
Sunny & Clear, Winds Calm – 50-60 Degrees
Hunted the Northeast corner of Casoco Bay this AM. First hunt out of the Royal river so I looked at a chart and went with a small island about 3+ miles from the ramp. Had a Low tide at 0742, 5+ kt NE wind, clear. Legal time was 0624. Was set up just after legal time and saw no birds flying. My hopes were down until I shot a double on eiders, ,then a single eider and then 2 scoters. All hens! I only had one mature drake eider come by but was well out of range. Picked up the dekes about 0830 and started scouting out new places. On the way back to the ramp I jumped small groups of drake surf scoters in the open water and some commom scoters as well. Was a good day over all. Found some new hunting spots that produced. Good day over all. My lab Murphy attempted his second retrieve on the 2 eiders but ended up grabbing one of my oldsquaw dekes along with the rest of the main line. need to work on blinds.
Later.
Posted By:
Andrew-White
Field Editor
Saco & Scarbourgh 10-09-2006 12:17
Mostly Sunny, No Precipitation – 35-40 Degrees
Hunted out of Saco last Friday for sea ducks. The wind was 10-15 NE with 2-4’s. Temp was in the 40’s then warmed up to 60’s or so. The tide was low @ 0428. I set up between 2 islands and had very few birds work (Surf Scoters & Eiders). They were not flying as good as I have seen them. Mostly when a lobster boat came out of the river. The eiders came in mostly pairs and singles and I did see my first flock of surf scoters for this area. The boat did have a camo netting draped over the exposed side and stuck up 20″ above the rail but could have used some more since quite a few birds spooked when they started working closer. The wind and incoming tide also made it tough positioning the boat. I was also alone which made it even tougher. Had the dog with me for his first sea duck hunt, lets just say he staued in teh boat the whole morning.
This past Saturday I hunted out of pine point with my bro inlaw and the dog. Set up between 2 islands and saw some eiders, white wing scoters and black ducks work. It was a bit swelly and windy where we were as the wind had picked up, so we picked up and moved to the lee of an island and set a few strings out. Ended the day with 0 due to bad shooting and a restless dog. There was also a frost that morning. The colder wheather should help keep the birds on the move. Will put some finishing touches on the boat blind and hopefully flare less birds.
Posted By:
Andrew-White
Field Editor
Southern Maine 10-04-2006 13:42
Mostly Cloudy, No Precipitation – 60-65 Degrees
Well the opening day for pudlers was a flop. The spot I went to had a wire rope across the road. I did have permission to hunt this small 5 acre pond via a private road but did not want to overstep my boundarys as the road has always been open. So I went with plan B wich was an acsess to the same pond through a development. Well lets just say I would have been walking through somones yard were the road once was. Plan C worked well despite the fact that there were 2 tucks parked along the river bank. I put the kayak in the water, loaded up my gear and went up river. I found one hunter set up and asked if there was anybody else ahead of him. He said there was so I set up between both of them as light was approaching and I didn’t want to ruin opening morning for them. First light came and woodies were flying mostly up river. The other hunters shot some ducks. I didn’t even pull the trigger once. All out of range and high tailing it. There were 3 turkeys roosted on some dead pines located on a small island. If the the marine forcast cooperates I will try and get out for sea ducks tomarrow or saturday. The boat is all loaded up and ready to go.
Good luck!
Also I am looking for 1-2 people to go after sea ducks this week and weekend wheather permitting. I usually hunt out of Saco River and this year will be hunting out of the Royal river to. Give me a call…207-829-4047.
[Edited By Andrew-White on 2006-10-04 13:45]
