Crowell Pond is a 211-acre body of water located in Vienna, Kennebec County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 20 D2). The public access point is found right next to Route 41 (Townhouse Road) which runs parallel to the northeastern side of the pond. Plenty of parking is available by the road shoulder. Beware that parking may be more limited after a big snowstorm when the plows have pushed the snow on the shoulders.
That is NOT what I am aiming to catch this morning…
Crowell Pond is a lightly developed lake surrounded by forested hills. It was stocked last fall with 1,250 12-inch brookies and 25 17-inch brookies, resulting in a relatively sparse stocking density of about 6 smallish brook trout per acre, with tiny odds of catching a larger one. Based on these numbers, I am not expecting fast trout action this morning. Even though the pond sits mostly in Franklin County in the North Zone, it is regulated as a South Zone water body associated with Kennebec County (but the stocking report includes it under Franklin County; go figure…). Hence, it is open to ice fishing and can be fished using live minnows and up to five traps as soon as the ice is safe to walk on. The pond has a maximum and average depth of 10 ft. and 8 ft., respectively. It is therefore relatively shallow and tends to quickly freeze over. It is a popular early-season go-to pond for those of us who cannot wait to see a flag pop up! This pond is also typical of the numerous “put-and-take” lakes scattered across southern and central Maine where the trout are stocked in the fall to create winter and spring angling action, but with no expectations that any will survive the warm summer months. Click here for a depth map and (dated) fisheries information. This map mentions the presence of multiple other competing fish species. So, it will be interesting to see what I will catch.
It sucks to be a bait fish…
I reach Crowell Pond at 7:15 am and see five other vehicles parked along the road shoulder. I am not the only one enjoying this spot this morning. It shows that people are antsy to try their luck on the hard water, and I love it! The air temperature is a relatively balmy 22°F under an overcast sky but a stiff northwesterly breeze creates a noticeable and biting wind chill. I layer up accordingly and place two disposable hand warmers in my coat pockets to heat up my cold fingers when needed. The ice is glare, which makes for easy walking but requires cleats to prevent slipping and falling. I also brought my trusted ice spud to check the ice thickness. I need not worry: I talk to a guy who’s getting ready to fish and he tells me that the ice was 6 inches thick when he checked it yesterday. That is reassuring news. I walk on the ice without concern and make a beeline towards the southern half of the pond to get away from the crowd. Selecting the proper fishing spot is not that important given the uniform shallowness of the pond. I pick a stretch of shoreline, drill three holes in 5 to 6 ft. of water, and then walk out towards the center and drill a hole over 9 ft. of water. It takes about 30 minutes to set up four traps baited with small shiners placed about halfway down the water column. I add one Atlas Mike scented salmon egg on each baited hook to provide additional color, flash, and taste to my offerings. Unfortunately, I get no flag during the setup which is never a good sign when fishing for brookies so early in the morning.
Yellow perch is also NOT what I came here for to catch…
I also plan to drill ten jigging holes all around my traps. Unfortunately, my ice auger keeps on stalling. I only drill five additional holes before I give up. I jig using a lure consisting of a Powerbait Power Nymph teamed up with a small jighead. That combination has worked well for me in the past. I pin the body of a headless bait fish on the jighead hook to further enhance the lure’s appeal. It is 8:45 am and I finally get my first flag in the 9-foot hole. The spool does not turn when I reach the trap, and the bait fish is gone. I suspect that the thief is still hanging around. I send down the jigging lure and jig for no more than a minute when I get a hit and a hookup. I quickly bring up a … fallfish (= chub). Argh, that is not why I am here for. But it shows that it pays to jig when a fish steals the bait. That is the reason I always grab the jigging rod when I run to a flag. This approach does not always work but is a smart strategy. I get three more flags over the next hour or so but they yield only a small yellow perch and a pickerel (the latter caught on the jig again). That sucks because those fish have no appeal to me. I am starting to lose faith, particularly since jigging has been relatively unproductive. A fifth flag finally goes up; the spool is turning when I reach the hole. I do not hesitate and set the hook. I am glad to see that I caught a brookie but it is only one of the less interesting 12 inchers. I continue fishing for 30 more minutes but get no more flags, or hits on the jigging lure. It is now past 10:30 am and time to call it good. The fishing was slow and rather unproductive this morning, but I am glad to have caught my target species. I talk to another guy on the way out who mentions that his pre-teen son caught one of the 17-inch brook trout the weekend before. That puts a smile on my face because his kid will not forget that fish anytime soon!
It’s not much of a brook trout but it counts 🙂
The results: I caught one small brook trout in 3 hours of slow fishing.
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Tight Lines, y’all.
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