Fishermen come in after participating in the Central Maine Bassmasters tournament Saturday at Sebasticook Lake in Newport. Mike Mandell/Morning Sentinel

NEWPORT — It was a bass fishing season that started strong in central Maine, but since then, it’s been clear: Things have slowed down.

With the constant downpour that’s only recently seemed to cease in the area, just finding time to get out on the water has been difficult. The recent heat wave has also put a damper on matters with fish less likely to strike, as was the case Saturday at Sebasticook Lake.

“It started our great; our first tournament at Norway Lake, we were hammering them,” said Greg Halle of Central Maine Bassmasters. “Our second tournament was fair, and then, today, it was really a grind. There were some nice fish caught, but the numbers weren’t what we were expecting.”

Yes, getting bites — particularly ones from lunkers — has been a drag in an area that’s known for some of the state’s top bass fisheries. It’s left anglers hoping that matters improve with mid-summer only now approaching and months worth of open-water season still ahead.

It was a particularly tough day for the Central Maine Bassmasters on Saturday at one of the region’s larger lakes. A good assortment of largemouth and smallmouth bass were caught with one of the former even exceeding 5 pounds, but the overall afternoon was not as strong as hoped with many single-digit bags recorded.

“I think the weights have been down everywhere for everybody, really,” Halle said. “We’ve been trying — it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong — but we’re not really finding them where we’d expect to find them. It’s left us looking for them harder, and it’s not really working out.”

The post-spawn period can always be slow for bass, but the weather patterns this year have exacerbated the issue. The long rains giving way to the heat, Halle said, has put the fish in “lockdown mode” even ahead of mid-July, when anglers usually report better action.

Fishermen turn in their catch during the Central Maine Bassmasters tournament Saturday at Sebasticook Lake in Newport. Mike Mandell/Morning Sentinel

Although Saturday was not nearly as warm in central Maine as Thursday and Friday were, the heat from the previous two days had a clear effect. Even still, Kevin Busch was left rather miffed as to why the nine-hour tournament failed to yield better results.

“I’m honestly scratching my head a little bit as to what happened,” Busch said. “I think the heat we had this week was a big part of it because I was here Monday and did really well. I definitely think that screwed it up a little bit, but I still thought we’d do a little better than we did.”

It comes on the heels of a consistent 2022 season in which the Central Maine Bassmasters produced some of their best-ever results. Tournament director Josh Blackwood set the club’s seven-tournament bag weight record of 114.7 pounds. Busch’s 99.7 pound bag was second on that list.

Even at the Norway tournament, one that Halle said was particularly fun with anglers pulling in “fish after fish,” the size by and large wasn’t there with most coming in around the 2-pound range. Then, on the Androscoggin two weeks ago, it was tough for Busch to find ones even of that size.

“I tried weighing for smallest five-fish limit, and I ended up with 5 pounds, 7 ounces for five fish,” Busch said. “Today, I was ready to quit fishing altogether. If that isn’t an indication of what my year’s been like, I don’t know what is.”

There’s hope that matters will improve as July unfolds and gives way to August. Yet it will take, Halle said, conditions and weather patterns that are vastly improved from what they’ve been over the past two months.

“I’m pretty confident it’ll pick up,” Halle said. “We need the wind or something to go the right way for once, and I think it will, but it’s tough right now.”