We are starting relatively small…
Long Pond is a 275-acre body of water located in the town of Parsonsfield, York County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 4 D2). Access to this pond is via a hard but steeply inclined boat launch located on Road Between the Ponds, off Joe Berry Road. This launch is at an awkward 90° angle (i.e., perpendicular) to the narrow Road between the Ponds which therefore requires a tight turn when backing the trailer into the water. And one needs to aim straight because the edges of the launch are quite steep, as I found out the hard way today… Fortunately, this road only has light local traffic. The depth at the launch is also rather shallow (< 2 ft.) for 25-30 ft. out. I brought my hip boots to get into the water at the end of the trip and help guide the boat back on the trailer.
Matt is pleased with this catch!
Long Pond is a moderately developed and beautiful lake nestled in a forested region in the northwestern corner of York County, a couple of miles from the NH border. The water is clean and clear. I trolled this pond last year in mid September in the hope of catching brown trout right at the cold thermocline located 23 ft. to 25 ft. deep. Instead, and quite unexpectedly, I dredged up a dozen fat largemouth and smallmouth bass from way down there! My 16-year-old nephew Matt is spending time in Maine to learn how to fish. I would like for him to experience catching fat bass while trolling using lead core line. And I know of no better place to do so than at this location! The pond has a maximum and average depth of 33 ft. and 18 ft., respectively, making it rather shallow. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information. Angling in the summer occurs under the general fishing rules applicable to the south zone.
That short stretch of Long Pond shoreline keeps on producing.
Matt and I reach the boat launch by 9 am. Southern Maine is enjoying a gorgeous morning with full sunshine, temps in the mid 70’s and just a light breeze. About a dozen cars are already parked along the road when we arrive, but only two have trailers. It looks like most people are out kayaking and canoeing, which is fine with me. We are met by a friendly plant checker who declares my boat and trailer free of unwanted vegetation. Those folks play a key role in preventing the accidental transport of invasive aquatic plant species across water bodies, so I greatly appreciate their efforts. The boat goes in the water (after a few scrapes on account of the challenging launch conditions) and we are good to go. I turn on the outboard engine, apply the suction cup of my portable fish finder on the transom in the back of the boat, and take off. The fish finder flies in the water 30 seconds later. Crap!! The suction cup detached and yanked the whole unit in the water. Fortunately, the two six-volts batteries fell off and immediately sank, allowing the unit to stay somewhat afloat. I recover the thing but am now “blind” when it comes to staying over deeper water without getting the lures stuck on the bottom. Fortunately, based on my experiences at this location last year, I have a good idea how far away from the shore I need to stay to remain in 30+ ft of water.
Although Matt is not as adept yet at hooking the fish, he does bring in some of the bacon!
Both Matt and I are fishing with an eight-weight fly rod teamed up with lead core line. I set him up with three large double-hook streamer flies tied one to the other, whereas I use three differently-colored DB Smelt spoons also tied one to the other. We both release four full colors of lead core line to place the lures about 24 ft down. I show him how to constantly “rip” the line to impart random movement to the lures below. We troll around the pond twice over the next hour and a half and have absolutely nothing to show for all our efforts, except for two tentative bites. I am starting to doubt my decision about coming here and Matt is also getting bored. The pond has become alive with jet skies and two large boats pulling tubes at full speed. All this activity creates annoying wake so we retreat to a quieter section of the shoreline. And then the magic happens… First him, then I, hook and land a bass. Finally! We focus all our efforts on a 500+ ft stretch of shoreline. We slowly troll back and forth, constantly ripping our lines. Matt lands another two bass, and I another eight bass, over the next hour and a half. The action is pretty much constant. We even swap rods when Matt complains that his flies are nor working because he gets hits but no hookups. The flies work just fine; the problem is that he does not immediately set the hook when he gets a hit. There is just no way around it: consistent “catching” requires experience, and Matt is learning that the hard way. The action drops dramatically around noon and dies out altogether by 12:30 pm. But that is OK. We both caught nice bass and enjoyed our morning, once we figured out where the fish were hiding. I am also glad to prove that my experience of last year was not a fluke: bass in this water body hide way deep in the water column during the warm summer months!
The largest bass of the morning gave a splendid fight.
The results: We landed a total of 12 bass (largest = 19 inches) in 3.5 hours of fun 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.
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