The launch at Piper Pond can accommodate large boats. The public beach is right next to it.
Piper Pond is a 420-acre body of water located in Abbot, Piscataquis County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 31 B3). The access point is found next to the public beach at the northern end of the pond, right off Pond Road. The launch is solid, has a dock and a porter-potty in the summer, and can accommodate large, trailered boats. Plenty of parking is available by the beach area.
I have the place all to myself this morning and it is essentially wind still: perfect conditions to troll from a canoe!
Piper Pond is a fully-developed lake surrounded by numerous low, wooded hills. And if I am not mistaken, I see the top of Mount Kineo in Moosehead Lake poking its 1,789-ft. summit above the northern horizon about 22 miles away as the crow flies… I used my special approach to pinpoint this pond as a target for catching salmonids in the summer. A key step in the process is to identify the presence and depth of the thermocline, and its oxygen status. Data on these two variables are published by Lakes of Maine for many water bodies across the state. That information helps me determine how deep to fish for salmonids in the summer. It shows that the thermocline in August in this pond is found around 23 to 26 ft. deep. However, this layer has a slight oxygen deficiency at 5 to 6 parts per million [ppm], whereas salmonids prefer 7 ppm or more. The water just a few feet above the thermocline is well oxygenated but around 70°F, which is too warm. I therefore need to place my lures about 22 to 24 ft. deep. I suspect that the local salmonids and their rainbow smelt prey spend their summers at this narrow depth interval “squeezed” between the cool but oxygen-deficient bottom water and the oxygen-rich but too-warm water above. The pond is sparsely stocked each year with brook trout, landlocked salmon, and splake at a combined density of about two fish per acre, which is meager. Fishing at this location occurs under the North Zone rules, except that the pond is open to ice-fishing – which will increase the “take” during the winter months and further decrease the size of the local salmonid populations – but with a daily bag limit on brook trout of one fish. Click here for additional details. All that to say that I do not expect any fireworks this morning due to the low stocking density and the added pressure from the hard-water angling. This water body as a mean and maximum depth of 18 ft. and 56 ft., respectively. Click here for a depth map and (dated) fisheries information. I printed out the depth map before leaving home and circled the approximate 35+ ft. depth contour which will be my target fishing depth. I will be fishing from my canoe and am concerned that I need to paddle about one mile out to reach the deep water in the center of the pond. I am crossing my fingers for good weather…
I only caught one fish this morning, but it was well-worth all the effort it took to find it.
I reach the Piper Pond boat launch at 5:10 am with the goal of fishing the “Golden Hour” (i.e., from 30 minutes before sunrise up to an hour or so after sunrise) when the fish are more actively feeding. Sunrise this morning occurs at 5:40 am. The conditions are also very much to my liking. The air is a muggy 72°F but the sky is overcast with only a light breeze out of the southeast. It is safe to be on a canoe! The low cloud deck will also persist until later this morning, dimming the light levels from the rising sun, which is always a plus when hunting for salmonids. I paddle out and reach the center of the pond about 25 minutes later. I only use lead core line this morning since I am trolling from my canoe and need both hands to paddle. I use three diminutive, smelt-imitating Mooselook Wobbler spoons tied to each other back-to-back. Rainbow smelt are present in this pond and likely are the main food source for the three salmonid species down below. In fact, over the next 2.5 hours, I observe half-a-dozen dead 3-inch smelt floating on the surface. Bait fish are being massacred down there!
I am glad that I kept these three, 2-inch-long, smelt-imitating Mooselook Wobbler spoons!
I lower the lures four full colors down (about 22 to 24 ft. below the surface), and place the fly rod between my legs. I stay over the deep central portion of the pond and make long, lazy circles. I note that this kind of canoe trolling out in the middle of a big, populated lake can be problematic when people are buzzing around in power boats creating large wakes. Fortunately, that is not a problem this morning because of the early hour and iffy weather. I paddle for well over an hour but fail to elicit any reaction from below. Darn, I may be wasting my time here… I am reviewing my options: placing the lures higher or lower in the water column makes no sense given the summertime temperature and oxygen conditions in Piper Pond. I consider changing my current lures for bigger DB Smelt spoons. I am rudely awoken out of my reveries by a vicious hit and hookup. Holy smokes, I have a customer!! This one is a big, powerful fish. It stays low and fights hard and only reluctantly comes to the surface after several minutes of struggling. I am elated when I see what I brought up: it is a fat 21-inch splake! It gets netted, unhooked, photographed, and safely released. Wow, that is more fish than I could have hoped for! So, we are NOT changing the lures! I continue paddling around and around but only generate one more hit – but no hookup – over the next hour. It is now passed 8 am, I am hungry, and my butt hurts. I call it good and reluctantly troll back towards the launch. The action this morning was slow, as expected, but the one fish I did catch definitely made the trip worthwhile!
The results: I caught a 21-inch splake in 2.5 hours of trolling.
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Tight Lines, y’all.
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