Fishing Report Updated 04/16/24
(Bottom Of Page)
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Please see the bottom of this column for ordering options.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Type of Stream
Tailwater
Species
Brook Trout
Landlocked Salmon
Size
Small
Location
Central Maine
Nearest Towns
Kokadjo, Maine
Season
May 1st-30th Sept
Access:
Difficult
Non-Resident License
State of Maine
Weather
National Weather Service Link
Seasons:
The season doesn’t start until the first of May.
Spring:
The springtime season gets underway about the middle of May. Spring is a good time for the salmon.
Summer:
Summer is a good time to fish the Roach River.
Fall:
Fall returns the better salmon fishing.
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
4, 5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 to 12 ft., 5 or 6X Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Supreme Four, Superb Five
or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 4/5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2016 James Marsh
Fly Fishing The Roach River Maine
The Roach River is a tributary of Moosehead Lake. It’s a beautiful stream that allows fly fishing only and is strictly catch and release. The fish consist of brook trout and landlocked salmon. It is a very important spawning area for salmon and brook trout from Moosehead Lake. The brook trout probably only average about ten inches but go up to and over three pounds. The landlocked salmon average about fifteen inches.
The river begins at First Roach Pond in the little community of Kokadjo. It flows for about six miles into Spencer Bay of Moosehead Lake. This is a small stream that is a true pleasure to fly fish.
The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife owns the land adjacent to the river. There are several access sites. The upper area can be accessed at the dam or off the DIFW access trail just south of the dam. There’s a logging road along the north side.
This isn’t an easy stream to access. It’s very remote. About the only way to get to it is by trail. The fisheries department has placed boxes at the trail heads, otherwise you wouldn’t know if a trail existed there. These boxes are placed there for anglers to provide information to the state about the fishing.
Fly Fishing Guide to the Roach River Maine
The most important thing about fly fishing the Roach River is getting to the right places.
This river is more like a small stream than a river. It probably averages about thirty to forty feet wide. It’s a very important hatchery for salmon and brook trout and is the only stream in Maine that is for fly fishing, catch and release only. It is difficult to impossible to fish from the bank. Almost all of the fly fishing is done wading.
The fishing is done mostly from the many pools, all of which have names. The Dam Pool is a deep pool located under the bridge at Kokadjo. The fish from Moosehead Lake tend to hold there. It’s a popular area to fish because it’s very easy to access, yet it produces well. Corner, Warden’s and Dump pools are other popular places to fish. They can be accessed by taking about a half mile hike. Large brook trout and salmon can be caught there as well as other pools on the Roach River, especially during the spring and fall.
Highlander, Flatlander, Corner, Spring and Slaughter pools are connected by a streamside trail. They can all be fished in a series without having to walk so much. Other pools are mostly accessed by individual trails. The pools on the lower section are Flat Rock, Ledge, and Moose Hole pools. The best way to fish the lower Lake Pool is by boat from Moosehead Lake.
The river flows fast between these pools. The water would be classified as Class 2 rapids in most areas of the six mile run. The river is very rocky with lots of riffles and runs.
Spring is a good time to fish because of all the salmon and brook trout in the river eating the spawning smelt. Fishing is normally very good until the water warms up in July. Flows above 400 feet can be difficult, so you should check on the water levels before traveling there to fish. Streamers that imitate small baitfish such as our Perfect Fly Marabou Sculpin work great as long as the smelt are in the river.
Later in the season, nymphs and dry flies begin to produce well. Most of the dry fly fishing is done at the tails of the pools where the water is shallower. The fish can become very picky as the season progresses, depending on the fishing pressure. When the water cools in the early fall season, the fishing usually picks up again.
Hatches and Flies for the Roach River Maine
Little Black Stoneflies are one of the first hatches to occur on the Roach River but they are usually gone by the time the season opens. They start about the first of March and last through April.
Various species of Little Blue-winged Olives hatch during the year. There’s usually a peak starting around the middle of May through June and another from about the middle of August through September.
Quill Gordons normally start about the same time the season opens and last until the middle of June. Brook trout eat them eagerly. Hendricksons hatch about the same time in
the pools from about the first of May through the first week of June. March Browns start about the first of June and last through the month in the fast water.
Light Cahills start about the first of June and last on into the middle of July. They will be found in the fast water.
Little Yellow Stoneflies hatch from about the first of June into the first of July. They are a great hatch to fish on the Roach River.
There are some species of Spotted Sedges or caddisflies that hatch from about April all the way through August. There are also plenty of Green Sedges that hatch during June
and July.
Ants are an important terrestrial. There are few hoppers and some beetles but not many.
You definitely need streamers to match the smelt if you fish early in the season. Also streamers that imitate sculpin work great. Our Perfect Fly Yellow Marabou Sculpin works great in this stream.
If you haven’t tried our Perfect Flies yet, be certain to do so. You will be glad you did. We have specific imitations of all the insects that hatch on this stream.
Roach River Fishing Report:
05/18/20 The water is warming, ice is gone
and hatches should start taking place soon.
06/08/20 Conditions are good with good
hatches taking place and trout being caught.
06/23/20 We continue to get good reports
from customers. There are multiple hatches
and good numbers of trout being caught.
07/6/20 The river is in good shape with
good hatches and trout being caught.
07/17/20 The stream is in good shape in all
respect with lots of trout being caught.
There are multiple hatches taking place.
07/31/20 The conditions remain very
good in all respects. We continue to get
good reports from customers.
08/15/20 Our customers are having no
problem catching lots of trout. Good
hatches are taking place.
09/20/20 The river is turning out some
good catches for our customers. Good
hatches and good stream levels.
03/17/21 The season is closed but you can
send us an email and let us help you plan
the next trip. sales@perfectflystore.com
04/16/21 The season is open but there is still a lot of ice in the water. We haven’t received any reports yet.
05/05/21 Most of the ice is gone and there are good hatches of midges, Blue-winged olives, little Black caddis and little Brown stoneflies. It is warming up fast.
06/25/21 Conditions are good. Sorry for the missed reports.
07/11/21 Stream levels are a little low but we are getting some very good reports from customers. There are good hatches taking place.
07/25/21 We are getting very good reports from customers. Good hatches and our terrestrials are working.
08/01/21 The stream continues to turn out some good catches for our customers. Good hatches are taking place.
08/12/21 More good reports have come in. Good numbers of trout are being caught.
08/19/21 Good conditions exist and we continue to get good reports. There is some rain in the forecast the next three days. That should actually help the conditions.
08/26/21 Better get ready for some good salmon fishing. We continue to get good reports on trout thanks to good hatches.
09/17/21 We are getting good reports from customers fishing for salmon. The run in underway and now is the time to be here.
10/04/21 The season ended at the end of September. Let us help you plan that next year’s season trip.
04/09/22 The season is open but we haven’t received any reports from anyone fishing yet. The lakes are still iced over. Now is the time to get your gear and flies ready.
04/27/22 Conditions look good and we received two good reports from customers fishing this past week. Good hatches are starting to take place.
05/05/22 The stream is in okay shape. Good hatches are taking place including Blue Quills, Quill Gordons, little Black caddis, little Brown stoneflies, and others.
05/14/22 The stream is still in okay shape with good hatches but we have yet to receive but one report from anyone fishing it. Let us hear from you.
05/22/22 We received two good reports from customers fishing this past week. Decent numbers of trout are being caught.
06/06/22 More good reports have come in this past week. Very good hatches are taking place and dry fly fishing is good.
06/13/22 Conditions remain good. We continue to receive good reports from customers fishing it. There are some big hatches coming off.
06/20/22 More good reports have come in from customers fishing it this past week. Good conditions exist and there are multiple hatches taking place.
06/27/22 We continue to get a few good reports from customers fishing it. Good hatches are still taking place and dry fly fishing is good.
07/03/22 The stream is still in good shape turning out good catches for our customers. Lots of insects are hatching.
07/11/22 This is one of the most overlooked streams in the state. It producing some very good catches and the dry fly action is usually very good. We are getting some very good reports from customers.
07/18/22 We continue to get some very good reports on trout and salmon. Conditions are very good.
07/25/22 Good conditions continue. We received two good reports from customers this past week. Good hatches are still taking place.
08/01/22 The stream is still turning out good catches of trout as it usually does. We received two good reports from customers fishing it this past week.
09/13/22 The stream is in good shape with good catches being reported. Few anglers are fishing it. It should be a great choice.
03/15/23 The season opening date (April 1st) is just two weeks away.
04/04/23 The season is open but there is still a lot of slush ice in the water as well as bank ice. We haven’t received any reports yet.
04/15/23 The stream is in overall better shape than a week ago but we still don’t have any reports to offer from anyone fishing.
04/23/23 Still no reports from anyone. It is still a little early.
05/06/23 The stream is getting in good condition but we still haven’t received any reports.
05/15/23 Another week passed and still no reports. You should be able to catch good numbers of trout. Let us hear from you.
05/26/23 We received one good report this past week. Good hatches and good stream levels are taking place.
06/06/23 Good conditions exist and good hatches continue take place.
06/15/23 We received another good report from a customer catching brooks and salmon.
06/25/23 The stream is still in good condition and turning out good numbers of trout and salmon.
07/02/23 Conditions have been good and it has paid off for two of our customers. Good numbers of both salmon and trout are being caught.
08/01/23 Sorry for the missed reports. Our local contact moved. The stream is in good shape turning out some very good catches of brook trout.
08/19/23 The stream is in great shape and turning out good numbers and some nice size brook trout. Good hatches continue to take place.
08/27/23 The stream is up some but still turning out good catches for our customers. Very good hatches are coming off.
09/03/23 Good late season hatches are taking place and we continue to get good catch reports. It is about as good as it ever gets.
09/10/23 We received two more good reports from customers this past week. Conditions are good. There are good hatches still taking place and our terrestrial imitations are also working good.
09/17/23 The stream is red hot now, turning out some good catches. The season closes in 13 days.
01/12/24 The season is closed but it is never too soon to be planning and getting setup for the new season. Call or email (sales@perfectflystore.com) to let us help you do that.
04/16/14 The season opens the first of May and now is a good time to purchase the flies, gear and other items you need for the stream. Call 800 594 4726 or email (sales@perfectflystore.com) to let us help you do that.
Plan your trip early. Call us 800 594 4726 or write us at sales@perfectflystore.com. Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.