It takes less than 15 minutes to walk from the first gate to Cushman Pond. Fortunately, the trail is well maintained and I can use my canoe wheels to bring in all the gear in one go.
Cushman Pond covers 15 acres and is found in Sumner, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 B3). To reach the pond, turn onto Bradeen Road from Bonney Road. Drive down Bradeen Road, which is a well-maintained gravel road, for 1.6 miles and turn left into an unnamed gated road (look for a wooden arrow with the number 346 nailed against a tree). Park by the locked gate and walk down the straight and well-maintained forest road to a second locked gate. Pass that gate and continue walking straight for less than 2 minutes, up a steep incline in the road, and look for a wide trail through the woods on the right. Walk down that trail for less than 5 minutes to reach the pond. The walk is about half a mile long and takes less than 15 minutes to complete. Keep in mind that you will also end up at the pond but trespassing by someone’s cabin if you do not turn right into the woods trail after the steep incline.
Partial view of Cushman Pond from the rough access point
Cushman Pond is one of those rare brook trout waters in southern Maine that we love to discover and explore (click here, here, and here for other examples)!! It has the look and feel of places in more remote corners of western Maine (click here and here for examples) and northern Maine (click here and here for examples). That alone makes it worth the effort to reach this location. The pond sits in a bowl surrounded by Shack Hill, Cushman Hill, and Sumner Hill. The shoreline is undeveloped, except for the one cabin mentioned earlier, and totally forested. The water column is slightly tea colored probably because of all the aquatic vegetation that grows along much of the shoreline. The state chemically reclaimed this pond over half a century ago to remove all competing fish species and to allow for intensive brook trout management. However, since then, unscrupulous people decided to illegally introduce golden shiners and hornpout. What was once a “pure” squaretail fishery capable of producing 2+ pound fish can now only grow smallish trout because the unwanted fish species provide intense competition for the limited available food supply. The pond is stocked each fall with 600 yearling brookies to sustain the brook trout population. Fishing occurs under the general law provisions but with the following restrictions to protect the fishery and shield it from more unwanted species: a) closed to ice fishing, b) use or possession of live bait is prohibited but dead fish, preserved eggs, and worms can be used, c) fishing allowed between October 1 and November 30 using artificial lures only and all trout must be released at once, and d) closed to all fishing from December 1 to March 31. The pond has a mean and maximum depth of 14 ft and 21 ft, respectively. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information.
My suspicion is confirmed: the numerous rises I see all around me are caused by the little brookies stocked last fall.
I arrive at the gate off Bradeen Road by 5:45 am and load the canoe and fishing gear on my canoe wheels. It takes me a bit to figure out how to reach Cushman Pond without trespassing by the cabin. I push off at little after 6:15 am, glad to leave the swarms of blood-thirsty mosquitoes behind… The conditions are perfect for trolling: an air temperature of 58°F, totally overcast, and with little or no wind. I am also enchanted by the sounds of the many birds serenading in the surrounding woods. They provide a wonderful auditory landscape. The water temperature is a still cool 63°F, which is amazing considering that summer solstice is only two days away! It really shows just how unusually cool this spring has been. To my great amazement, I also see dozens of rises all over the center of the pond! This is so strange because it is too early in the morning for that kind of fast surface activity. I also see no bugs on the water. Regardless, I came prepared and use my 4-weight fly fishing rod to present a mayfly dun. I get a hit within 30 seconds but set the hook on thin air. I recast, and get another hit 2 minutes later but cannot connect with the fish, and same thing again five minutes later. I suspect that these rises all come from the small brookies stocked last fall. I downsize my dry fly to a mosquito fly with a smaller hook. The next three hits confirm my hunch: I hook and land three 8” brookies.
That is the largest trout I caught this morning. It is not much but the colors are just glorious!
I have been dry flying for well over 30 minutes now and have enjoyed the experience but I seek to catch something a bit more substantial. The rises are still occurring, and I observe multiple smaller brookies jumping right out of the water. I stow away the fly-fishing rod and deploy the usual gear when trolling from my canoe: an 8-weight fly rod with lead core line fishing on the left with two small trout spoons placed one and a half colors down and my ultralight spinning rod and small spinning reel fishing on the right with another small trout spoon kept a foot or two below the surface by two large split shots. I crisscross the two rods between my legs and gently paddle around the periphery of the pond over 10 to 20 ft. of water. It is a lot of effort but I am rewarded with multiple hits and three additional trout, the two largest of which measure 12 and 13 inches. I suspect that the trout do not get much bigger than that. It’s now approaching 8 am and I call it good in order to get back home on time and start my workday. I really enjoyed the natural setting of the place as well as the fish action and would recommend spending time on Cushman Pond. I just wish that the brookies had more size to them…
The larger trout are falling for the small spoons. But it is a lot or work to paddle around and around the pond…
The results: I landed six brook trout (largest = 13 inches) in 1.5 hours of fun fishing.
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