The boat launch is unimproved but wide and provides lots of parking space.
Stearns Pond is a 255-acre body of water located in Sweden, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 10 E3). To access this pond, turn off Route 93 (Waterford Road) unto Hardscrabble Road. Drive for about 1 mile and turn left on Wint Road. Then drive for <0.2 miles before turning left on Town Landing Road. The unimproved boat launch is located at the end of this short gravel road. Plenty of parking is available next to the launch.
One great benefit of fishing the “Golden Hour” in early morning is the quietness. The lake was all mine except for a paddle boarder and kayaker.
Stearns Pond is quite pretty! It is moderately developed and surrounded by multiple deeply forested hills. I identified this location using my “secret sauce” search strategy. The State stocks this pond each fall with 250 12- to 14-inch brown trout, which results in a sparse stocking density of about 1 fish per acre per year. This number represents a typical value for this species in Maine and does not yield “fast fishing”… As part of my pre-trip homework, I also checked the available surface water chemistry data for this pond, which I downloaded from Lakes of Maine, to determine the depth of the thermocline. The data show that Stearns Pond has a narrow warm-to-cold water transition layer located between 16 to 20 ft. below the surface in early August. The underlying cold water on the bottom also experiences a severe dissolved oxygen deficiency, which is a specific feature I always look for when trolling for salmonids in the summer. The reason is that all the brown trout living in this pond are forced to hide in the thermocline between July and September, unable to spend any time in the oxygenated but overheated water above or in the cold but oxygen-deficient water down below. That makes it so much easier to target them this time of the year and removes much of the guesswork out of the catch equation! This pond has a maximum and mean depth of 47 ft. and 27 ft., respectively. Click here for a depth map and more (dated) fisheries information. Open-water angling at this location occurs under the general fishing laws applicable to the south zone, except that fishing is allowed between October 1 and November 30 using artificial lures only and all trout must be released alive and at once.
Bass in the summer will forage deep down into the thermocline (click here, here, and here for other examples).
I arrive at Stearns Pond by 5:15 am and eagerly motor off 10 minutes later. Sunrise is at 5:30 am and I want to take advantage of the “Golden Hour” of fishing before it gets too light. It is a warm and humid 70°F, with temps forecast to rise into the uncomfortable low 90’s later today. It is also wind still with a cloudless sky. I will be trolling using lead core line to place my lures in the thermocline. My pre-trip research indicates that the brown trout in this pond feed heavily on the abundant local rainbow smelt population. So, my first set of lures consists of three 2-inch silver-and-neon blue Phoebe trout spoons tied back-to-back and placed about 17 ft. below the surface. I turn on my depth finder when I reach my hunting grounds and am amazed to observe multiple bait balls on my screen located 16 to 20 ft. below the surface, each one with one or more large fish on top of them! I’ll be damned. It is so satisfying to see when all the math adds up! I troll within the area of the pond with the bait balls and have yet to get a hit 30 minutes later… Darn, these Phoebe spoons are not working for me this morning. Using my typical practice, I swap out the three spoons and replace them with three small one-hook Grey and Blue Ghost smelt-imitating streamer flies. I have learned over the years that it is important to take the effort to switch out lures that do not work in order to find the ones that will!
The last minute miracle fish!
I have been trolling for no more than 10 minutes using the new streamer flies when I suddenly get hooked on the bottom. Wait a minute… The bottom is 37 ft. down; that just cannot be. Then I feel the resistance. OMG, I hooked a huge fish!! The creature shakes its head sideways once, twice, three times and then pop… the fly unhooks and the line goes limp. NOOO!!! This was a big one… But the signal is unmistakable: I am at the right depth and fishing with the right lures. I get a hookup 15 minutes later but quickly realize that I am fighting a bass when the fish jumps clear out of the water. Ten minutes later: a third hookup with a short fight followed by another unhooking. Darn, I am missing too many opportunities this morning! And then everything goes quiet: the bait balls disperse, and the bite stops. The Golden Hour is over… The sun keeps rising in the sky, flooding the area with its harsh light. I continue trolling for another 1.5 hour but fail to elicit any interest to my offerings down below. It is now 8 am and time to head back home and start my workday. I tidy up my boat, put everything in its proper place, pack up my portable depth finder, and pick up my fly fishing rod to bring in the lead core line. And then the miracle happens: I get a strong hit as soon as I reel in the line. Whaaat? I fight a substantial fish which doggedly stays low and rips line off my reel. And sure enough: I hooked a nice 21-inch brown trout which gets netted, photographed, and quickly released. Keep in mind that trolling for salmonids in summer can be highly stressful to the fish on account of them struggling in water at temperatures that fall well outside of their thermal comfort zone. So, if you are a catch-and-release angler as I am, it is a good habit to speed up the process of fighting, netting, and photographing to limit the possibility of the fish dying from heat exhaustion. Well, I am fully satisfied with my experiences on Stearns Pond this morning and am driving back home a very happy angler.
The results: I caught one largemouth bass and one brown trout (21 inches) in 3 hours of quiet trolling.
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.
Tight Lines, y’all.
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