Six of us are on our annual extended Memorial Day weekend fishing pilgrimage to Pierce Pond, located at the end of a long dirt road off the grid in Somerset County, just east of Flagstaff Lake (see the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 30 A2). We are staying for four days in one of the cozy cabins at Cobb’s Camps located across from Lindsey Cove. I love staying at Cobb’s because of the camaraderie among the guests who have been gathering at this place for decades, the honest home-cooked food, the super-friendly staff, and the authentic “sports camp” atmosphere from a bygone era. Also, the lack of electronic connection to the outside world forces everyone to unplug, slow down, and focus entirely on the business at hand, which is to catch salmonids.
Dock congestion!
Pierce Pond covers 1,526 acres of unspoiled nature. It is under the stewardship of the Pierce Pond Watershed Trust which ensures that the surrounding watershed is properly managed to maintain the pristine conditions in the lake. It is a well-known regional destination for targeting landlocked Atlantic salmon (maintained by annual stocking, plus a healthy dose of natural reproduction) and brook trout (no stocking; 100% native) with dry flies during the spectacular Henderson mayfly hatches that occur each year around the Memorial Day weekend. There is no more exciting way to catch a salmonid than using a dry fly placed in the path of a fish feeding on duns warming themselves on the water surface! The fishing rules are as follows: a) closed to ice fishing, b) open to open-water fishing between May 1 and September 30, c) artificial lures only, and d) the daily bag limit on brook trout is 2 fish, with a minimum length of 10 inches, and only 1 kept trout allowed to exceed 12 inches. Click here for additional rules applicable to this water body. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information.
A big part of the Pierce Pond experience is to be present “in the moment”.
Unfortunately, based on anecdotal observations and anxious talk amongst the staff and guests at camp, the general consensus is that the mayfly hatches on Pierce Pond have become noticeably more sporadic and less predictable over the years. In the past, the bugs came off the water like clockwork during the last week of May. That is no longer always the case… One probable culprit appears to be climate change with causes more intense rain events, shorter winters, warmer summers, and longer droughts, all of which may be altering the normal thermal and hydrologic cycles of the ponds and lakes throughout the region. This unfortunate change has forced anglers to rely on other fishing techniques to catch their quarry. Trolling with spoons and streamer flies using down riggers and lead core line is a common approach when the mayflies are not cooperating. However, another technique is to troll using a floating fly fishing line or a sinking tip. The latter two are the focus of this blog.
This nice brookie was caught right along the shore trolling with a floating fly fishing line.
A fundamental difference between trolling with a floating line or sinking tip and a downrigger or lead core line is the trolling depth. Trolling with a floating line and sinking tip places the lures an inch or two below the surface or 1-2 ft. below the surface, respectively. That allows the angler to make a different kind of presentation or to fish right along the bouldery shoreline in a few feet of water with a reasonable assurance of not getting their lures stuck.
This landlocked salmon fell for a small streamer fly trolled on a floating line and silhouetted against the encroaching night sky.
Bill and I take off in mid- afternoon looking for mayfly hatches along the shoreline. We see an occasional bug on or above the water but no consistent hatching and no fish rising to snack on the few available bugs. We try some desultory dry flying – just in case – but nothing comes of it. We decide to troll right along the shoreline in about 5 ft. of water, I with a floating line and three Mickey Fin streamer flies tied back- to-back and Bill with a sinking tip and two one-hook smelt-imitating streamer flies tied back-to-back. It takes a while, but the fish gods smile on me, and I hook and land a gorgeous 16-inch brookie which was hiding amongst the boulders. We return to camp for dinner and happy talk with our teammates but buzz out at 7 pm to fish the dusk hours using the same technique described above. This time, we are looking for landlocked Atlantic salmon in waters 5 to 35 ft. deep. Trolling lures at or right below the surface at dusk will profile our offerings high up in the water column against the darkening sky which is observable to the salmon down below. We both get several hits throughout the evening, but it is Bill who brings home the bacon this time when he hooks and fight a feisty salmon that got fooled by one of his streamer flies. We need the flashlight to net this one because it is so dark!!
It pays to get out of bed at the crack ‘o dawn!
I am a sucker for pain, so I crawl out of bed at 4 am the next morning to continue fishing (by myself this time) using a floating line and sinking tip over 5 to 10 ft. of water along the shoreline. It takes time but patience pays off: I hook and land two brookies, one of which is a strong-fighting 16 incher. One fish is caught on the sinking tip line while the other one is caught on the floating line. The trolling technique described in this blog is unorthodox but can be productive when other approaches do not work. I believe that its success is because the lures – which the fish have seen a hundred times in the past – are presented in a novel way that triggers a reaction strike. I certainly have used it on multiple occasions in the past and keep on coming back to it because it works!
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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