Spicer Pond is embedded within the Vernon S. Walker Wildlife Management Area. This sign is by the parking area.
Spicer Pond is an 11-acre body of water located off Route 11 (Shapleigh Corner Road) in North Shapleigh, York County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 2 A2). The pond is embedded within the 5,617-acre Vernon S. Walker Wildlife Management Area (WMA) which sprawls over the towns of Newfield, Limerick, and Shapleigh. Access to the pond is via a wide and well-maintained ATV trail which starts at the WMA dirt parking lot off Route 11. The trail is gated such that no cars can drive within the WMA. It takes about 15 minutes to walk from the parking area to the pond. I decide not to transport my canoe on the canoe wheels because of the distance and the sandy trail, but instead carry my light-weight and back-packable fishing float tube.
My target for this evening is 15 minutes walking straight down the ATV trail shown behind this locked gate.
Spicer Pond is one of four truly unique brook trout ponds found in York county. According to the fish stocking records kept by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), it does not appear that this water was ever stocked in the past. Hence, the existing brook trout population is wild (and perhaps even native, i.e., of a pure genetic strain). As a result, the MDIFW has identified this little gem as a “State Heritage Fish Water”. That is reason enough for me to put in the effort to fish this unique location. Spicer Pond is surprisingly long (about 0.4 miles) given its small surface area. That is because it is very narrow. A depth map is not available, but another information source shows a maximum depth of 5 ft, which I can confirm based on all the smelly mud I kicked up flippering my way from the outlet all the way upstream. The fishing rules, which are strict given the pond’s unique designation, are as follows: general fishing laws for the South Zone apply, but the pond is closed to ice fishing, closed to open-water fishing from October 1 to March 31, only artificial lures can be used (i.e., no live bait, preserved baitfish, worms, or preserved fish eggs), and all motorboats are prohibited.
View of Spicer Pond from the outlet. My fishing area for this evening is in the back around the corner.
Keep in mind that the experience of fishing a State Heritage Fish Water is fundamentally different from fishing a stocked pond. If the state puts 13” brookies in a given water body then all the trout caught a few months later will – by definition – measure… 13”! But a small pond supporting a wild brook trout population suffers from “the Curse”, not the one associated with the Bambino, but with the Population Pyramid: any self-sustaining brook trout population will always have many more juveniles fish (say 4” to 7”) than larger fish (> 10”). Hence, even though the fishing can be fast, most of the fish caught will invariably be on the smaller size simply because many more little guys are present compared to larger and older ones. Keep that in mind and do not expect to catch a trophy.
Small, but beautiful and native!
I arrive at the WMA parking area at 5 pm. I don my waders, grab all my gear, and reach Spicer Pond by 5:30 pm. As expected, I have the place all to myself. A very stiff breeze blows in from the northeast, down the entire length of the pond. It is just too windy for fly fishing around the outlet and I unfortunately need to flipper all the way to the upstream end. That takes me an exhausting 30 minutes of non-stop leg kicking with the wind insistingly pushing against me, but it is well worth the effort. The water surface is calmer up there and I see rises! My experience fly fishing for wild brook trout on small ponds is that the fish start actively feeding on the surface as soon as the sun starts setting and the wind dies down. And that is exactly how things play out right now too. I’m not seeing any specific hatching, so I use my 4-weight fly fishing rod with floating line to cast out two generic dry flies tied to each other by 1 ft of fluorocarbon tippet. The first fly imitates a mosquito and the second one a small caddisfly. Over the course of the next two hours, I get two dozen strikes but only land five brookies. The reason for the poor hooking rate is that most of the feeding trout are so small that they can’t wrap their mouths around the flies! But I’m having a good time playing with them. I will end by saying that one could perhaps fish this pond from shore using a small spinning rod but it would not be fun because of the bushes, swampy areas, and ticks. A float tubes, canoe, or kayak is definitely the way to go.
This sign lets you know that you are entering a special place!
The results: I caught 5 little brookies in 2 hours of fun fly fishing.
Was the information in this blog useful? I invite you to share your thoughts and opinions. Also, feel free to discuss your fishing experiences at this location.
