Doe Pond is pretty and the ice is safe!
Doe Pond is a 54-acre body of water located in the town of Monson, Piscataquis County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 31 A3). To reach this location from downtown Monson, drive on Blanchard Road for about 2.4 miles, turn right on Doe Pond Access Road and drive down this dirt road for 0.4 miles until you see the blue boat launch sign. Turn left and drive for about 300-400 ft until you reach the public access point (note: the last 100 ft of the trail to the pond is blocked off to prevent launching of trailered boats during the open-water season). I do not know if or how well Doe Pond Access Road is plowed in the winter. That is not an issue this morning because the ground is not covered by any snow.
This Power Nymph jig set-up really works for trout. The appendages flare open and close when the lure is properly handled, thereby making the whole thing appear life-like. Note that I enhance the visual and olfactory appeal of the lure by adding a red scent egg to the hook. One could also add a baitfish head instead.
Doe Pond is a beautiful destination nestled in forested hills just to the south of Hebron Lake. The shoreline contains only a handful of discreet camps which gives the area a nice “remote” feel. The pond has one outlet (Jackson Brook) but no inlets. That leads me to believe that the surface water is supplied via groundwater recharge through the lake bottom. If so, these springs would provide cold-water summer refugia allowing for year-over-year trout survival, and the potential for holding larger fish. The state released 200 13-inch brook trout last October, which yields a stocking density of about four fish per acre, each weighing one pound. That is not a ton of brookies but enough to pique my interest. The state also stocked 1,100 10-inch brookies in the spring which, if my assumption about summer survival is correct, should still be available to be caught under the ice. The pond is open to ice fishing as soon as the ice is safe to walk on, the use of live baitfish is allowed between December 1 and September 30, and the daily limit for brook trout is two fish. However, anglers can only ice fish with two lines, instead of the typical five lines. Click here for more information on the applicable regulations. The pond is surprisingly shallow for its relatively large size, with a mean and maximum depth of 4 ft. and 8 ft., respectively. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries data. The shallow depth is a bonus given the 3 to 5 inches of warm rain that fell over the state earlier this week which resulted in a total loss of snow cover and caused severe flooding throughout the state. I am looking for safe ice; a shallow pond will more easily provide it under these unfavorable weather conditions this early in the season.
It took me about three hours of jigging to finally catch this first brookie!
I arrive at the public access point of Doe Point by 7:15 am, dress up warmly, and walk on the ice 10 minutes later. Just to be sure, I use my spud to check the ice and am relieved to find 6 inches of rock-solid ice! Good, no need for my retractable ice safety picks. I make sure to put on my cleats because the ice is glare and highly slippery. I am surprised that no one else is fishing. And that will remain so throughout the morning, which is fine with me. The temperature is a cold but tolerable 15°F due to the lack of wind. It is forecast to rise into the high 20’s by early afternoon. I have two disposable hand warmers tucked away in my coat pockets to keep my fingers toasty. I use my auger to drill 10 holes: one for my one tip-up baited with a small shiner placed halfway down the water column, and 9 jigging holes. I enhance the attractiveness of that little shiner by adding a scented salmon egg on the hook first. I confirm the shallowness of the pond: even the hole that is the farthest away from shore has less than 4 ft. of water. I immediately start jigging using a tiny 1.5-inch yellow- and orange-colored Rapalla jigging Rap enhanced with a baitfish head, spending 5 to 10 minutes at each hole. Nothing happens for about one hour when I suddenly get a bite on the jig, and hook – but loose – a 13-inch brookie. Damn, that was my chance, and I blew it! I check the baitfish on my trap and find that it is still attached to the hook but dead because its head has been half chewed off. Clearly, the brookies are swimming around and feeding; I just need to catch them! I do not get another jig bite or flag for the next two long hours.
This bait stealer triggered the flag and fell for the critter jig a few moments later.
I need to do something different if I am not to go home skunked… I walk way out and use my auger to drill five new holes closer to the center of the pond. The water is still only about 4 ft. deep… I move my one allowable trap in one of those holes, swap out my little Rapala jigging rap for a Power Nymph and jig head combo (see photo) enhanced with crayfish juice. This lure is jigged by constantly having it dart up and down 6 or so inches in the water column. That action causes its multiple appendages to rhythmically flare open and close. It looks quite realistic when viewed from above. Ten minutes later, a brookie comes to the same conclusion, pounces on the lure, gets hooked, and quickly ends up on the ice. Finally! None too soon after more than 3 hours of non-stop jigging. I rotate among the four holes but can find no further takers. I am about to call it good when the flag goes up. None too soon! I run towards the tip-up but notice that the spool is not turning and the line is hanging down limply. And the bait is gone. I surmise that the trout did not get stung by the hook and should still be swimming around by the hole. I quietly remove the trap and send down the Power Nymph. Within 10 seconds, I see a dark shadow swoop by to grab the lure but missing it. Damn! I quickly twitch the jig in place, the trout pounces on it again, and this time gets hooked and iced. Yes! I ended up catching my limit (both trout were released back to the water) by staying flexible and trying something different. And as I have proven to myself in the past, jigging was the key to success (click here, here, and here). More often than not, I have saved the day when ice fishing by relentlessly jigging, even if it was boring and I would have rather sat down on a chair and felt sorry for myself 😊
The results: I caught two brookies (largest = 14 inches) in 4 hours of slooow fishing…
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