I feel so alive when contemplating a view such as this one!
Little Sebago Lake covers 1,898 acres and is located in Windham and Gray, Cumberland County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 5 C2). To reach the public boat launch, drive north through downtown Windham on Route 302 (Roosevelt Trail) in the direction of Raymond, turn right on Anglers Way at the light by Bob’s Seafood restaurant and Franco’s Bistro, drive past Pettingill Pond, and just follow the blue boat launch signs. The distance between Route 302 and your destination is exactly 1.3 miles. The hard-top boat launch is spacious and has plenty of parking. It also offers a convenient porta potty.
We still have the lake all to ourselves.
Little Sebago Lake is a busy water body located in the lakes region of southern Maine. The water quality conditions are such that it cannot support landlocked Atlantic salmon, but is able to maintain year-round brown trout and rainbow trout populations. Both species are sustained by a light annual stocking program that yields about 0.5 browns per acre and 0.4 bows per acre. Those are sparse numbers that are equivalent to salmon stocking densities… How does one increase the odds of catching one of those elusive creatures? The answer may be counterintuitive but is quite logical: hunt for them in the middle of the summer!! Here is why. Little Sebago Lake, like most deep-water bodies in the state, develops a pronounced thermocline in the summer that separates the warm surface water from the cool bottom water. However, like many of the larger lakes in southern Maine, it also generates too much phytoplankton (i.e., algae) in response to excessive nutrient runoff from the surrounding watershed. That plant material dies off, sinks to the bottom, and is digested by bacteria that live in the sediment. This process quickly consumes all the dissolved oxygen present in the lower, cold-water layer which cannot be replaced by oxygen-rich warmer water in the top layer. The reason is that the thermocline acts like a strong barrier which prevents any mixing between these two water layers until it breaks down in the fall. Salmonids need cool AND oxygenated water to survive the summer. Those two conditions exist together at only one spot in the lake, i.e., right by the thermocline located about 25 ft below the surface. In other words, these trout are literally “concentrated” in a narrow band of cool but well-oxygenated water: fish 5 ft higher and the water is too warm; fish 5 ft lower and the water lacks oxygen. Angling on this lake in the summer occurs under the general fishing laws. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information.
We are continuously being pestered by these little white perch foraging 25 ft deep…
My nephew Matt flew in from away to learn the basics of fishing. He caught smallmouth bass on the Androscoggin River, wild brookies in Baxter State Park, and bass while trolling deep with lead core line. He mentions that he would like to catch bigger trout before he leaves… I set my sights on Little Sebago Lake to try to grant him his wish. We arrive at the boat launch in Windham at 5:45 am and push off 15 minutes later. The conditions are perrrfect: no wind, low cloud deck, and air temps in the high 60’s. The surface water temperature is a relatively-cool 73°F, reflecting the wet and rainy summer we have had so far. Another bonus for starting early in the morning is that the bite tends to improve under low light conditions, and folks are still in bed instead of jet skiing, tubing, or water skiing. Hence, we have the lake all to ourselves, at least for a while. We both fish with an 8-weight fly rod teamed up with lead core line. I use three DB Smelt spoons tied to one another, whereas Matt uses three small streamer flies tied to one another. We both place the lures four full colors down (about 25 ft below the surface) and constantly “rip” the line to impart random action and movement to the lures below. We also focus all our fishing efforts on the large bay in front of the boat launch.
But we ultimately are successful!
We both get multiple hits and hookups over the next hour or so but they all consist of small white perch that are schooling and foraging near the thermocline. If anything, this pattern shows that we are not fishing TOO deep into oxygen-depleted waters, which is reassuring… I troll all around the bay but the perch seem to be everywhere. We have caught well over a dozen of the pesky little things when Matt’s rod suddenly bends over, and he starts yelping from excitement. He seems to have caught something much more substantial than a little perch! The fish takes several strong runs while ripping line off his reel. Wow, this action is looking really promising and it seems like Matt caught a big trout. He brings the fish up slowly but steadily. We finally understand what is going on once the creature breaches the surface… The 17-inch rainbow trout got accidentally hooked in the tail and was fighting “head first”, seeming to be much larger than what it really was. Regardless, the fish gets netted and Matt is ecstatic (and so am I!) with his catch. It gets marveled over, photographed, and released back to the water. Unfortunately, besides hooking more white perch, that is the extent of our trout catching this morning. The lake wakes up and people are starting to buzz around in their boats. It’s time to call it good. The trout fishing was slow, but ultimately successful, showing once again the importance of targeting the proper depth when fishing for salmonids in the summer.
Matt is focused on catching another trout, but unfortunately one bow will have to do…
The results: Matt landed one 17” rainbow trout while I was skunked in 3 hours of slow fishing.
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