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Damariscotta Lake Fishing Report

Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

A midcoast Maine lake: Damariscotta holds salmon, bass and a famous alewife run.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~44 F est.
Air / High
36 / 53 F
Wind
W 3 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Monday
9
November 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Damariscotta Lake is in its winter mode: slow, deep and deliberate. Today brings clear skies, wind W around 3 mph, rising pressure near 1002 hPa and a high of 53. Water sits around 44 F for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:01 PM-1:01 AM and 10:37 AM-12:37 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Lake troutGood

Winter: Vermont says most of its lake trout fishing is done through the ice, and Michigan anglers jig spoons tipped with cut bait in deep Great Lakes bays.

Brook troutFair

Below 50Β°F is the fall spawning band (40-50Β°F in Vermont), so stay off spawning gravel. In winter Maine IFW finds pond fish close to shore in 4 to 12 feet of water under the ice.

Smallmouth bassFair

Fish hold in slower, deeper water; fish slowly and expect fewer bites until spring warming.

Landlocked salmonSlow

Right after ice-out salmon are near the surface; through the ice, Maine IFW advises fishing the first 15 feet below it. Wild fish spawn in tributaries from mid-October to late November.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 47 F with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Tue, Nov 10, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Maine requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $30.00 for residents. What a Maine licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing landlocked salmon here? Check the size and bag limits with MDIFW before you keep anything. The season dates for Maine, read off the agency, are on the Maine seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovNov, ~44 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp36 F
High / Low53 / 36 F
WindW 3-10 mph
Pressure1002.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 26%
Sunrise / Sunset06:25 / 16:17
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~44 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Damariscotta Lake this week

The best day on Damariscotta Lake this week looks like Saturday Nov 14, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Nov 14 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Nov 9 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
11:01 PM-1:01 AM and 10:37 AM-12:37 PM
Minor period
6:39 AM-7:39 AM
Sun
06:25 to 16:17
Moon
New Moon, 0% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 9 mph
Rain chance
26%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Damariscotta Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Landlocked salmon illustration

Landlocked salmon

Spring and fall near the surface, deep in summer, and under the ice in winter

Landlocked salmon are Atlantic salmon that complete their whole life in fresh water, feeding mainly on rainbow smelt in cold lakes of Maine and the Northeast. Right after ice-out salmon are near the surface; through the ice, Maine IFW advises fishing the first 15 feet below it. Wild fish spawn in tributaries from mid-October to late November.

Brook trout illustration

Brook trout

Spring and fall in ponds and lakes, when fish come shallow; summer in the coldest headwater streams

The brook trout is a char native to eastern North America, a fish of cold, clean streams and ponds, and the state fish of Michigan. Below 50Β°F is the fall spawning band (40-50Β°F in Vermont), so stay off spawning gravel. In winter Maine IFW finds pond fish close to shore in 4 to 12 feet of water under the ice.

Lake trout illustration

Lake trout

Spring and fall in shallow water, deep in summer, and through the ice in winter

Lake trout are slow-growing chars of large, deep, cold lakes, native from Alaska and northern Canada to New England and the Great Lakes, and introduced in many western lakes. Winter: Vermont says most of its lake trout fishing is done through the ice, and Michigan anglers jig spoons tipped with cut bait in deep Great Lakes bays.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Fish hold in slower, deeper water; fish slowly and expect fewer bites until spring warming.

When to come: the Damariscotta Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Landlocked salmon
Brook trout
Lake trout
Smallmouth bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 44 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovNov, ~44 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Damariscotta Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Sun, Nov 8

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Lake trout led the card at good. High of 46 F, wind to 12 mph.

Sat, Nov 7

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Lake trout led the card at good. High of 57 F, wind to 11 mph.

Fri, Nov 6

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Lake trout led the card at good. High of 67 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Maine requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Maine license. Landlocked salmon and bass are size- and season-regulated: check the current MDIFW law book for lake-specific rules.

Access

Public boat launch and town access near Jefferson and Damariscotta Mills.

About this water

A 4,400-acre midcoast lake draining through Damariscotta Mills to tidewater, Lincoln County, Maine.

Fishing Damariscotta Lake: the full guide

A lake with a fish ladder

Damariscotta Lake covers about 4,400 acres in Lincoln County, midcoast Maine, draining through Damariscotta Mills to tidewater. It is best known for the alewife run that climbs the historic stone fish ladder there each spring, one of the oldest sustained runs in the country, and the lake itself holds landlocked salmon, smallmouth and largemouth bass, white perch and pickerel.

Salmon and bass

Landlocked salmon are stocked and trolled near the surface at ice-out and again in fall, deeper through summer. Smallmouth are abundant and hold the rocky shorelines, points and shoals, giving excellent light-tackle fishing through the warm months. Largemouth work the weedier coves and shoreline cover.

The alewife run

Each May, hundreds of thousands of alewives climb the ladder at Damariscotta Mills from the sea into the lake, a run restored and maintained by the local community and worth seeing in its own right. The run feeds the whole system, and the presence of that forage is part of why the lake grows fish well.

Lincoln County logistics

A public boat launch serves the lake with additional town access, near Jefferson and Damariscotta Mills, and the midcoast towns provide services with Portland about an hour southwest. The lake is quieter than the big western Maine waters and makes a good option for anglers based on the coast.

Common questions

What is the alewife run?

Hundreds of thousands of alewives climb the historic stone fish ladder at Damariscotta Mills each May from the sea.

Is the bass fishing good?

Yes: smallmouth are abundant on the rocky shorelines, points and shoals through the warm months.

Is it crowded?

Quieter than the big western Maine lakes, and a good option for anglers based on the midcoast.

Is fishing good at Damariscotta Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

China Lake24 miCasco Bay49 miSebago Lake57 miKennebec River69 miSaco River82 miRangeley Lake85 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 44.1000, -69.4700 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.