View of Pinkham Pond from the access point. The pond is long, narrow, pretty, and rather shallow.
Pinkham Pond is a 21-acre body of water located in Alna, Lincoln County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 13 E2). The public access is found at its southern tip, right besides Bog Road. A few vehicles can be parked along the shoulder next to the pond. However, beware that this pull-out has a fire-truck water intake structure which cannot be blocked as that might potentially result in a ticket or a tow.
It took me over an hour and a half hour to catch my first trout. Jigging and perseverance is the name of the game this morning.
I haven’t ice fished Pinkham Pond but discovered it during one of my fall wader fishing trips. It is relatively undeveloped, with only three houses on its western shore and none along its eastern shore. The surrounding landscape is all forested. As a bonus, Bog Road has little traffic and is quiet in the winter. The state stocked the pond last fall with 150 14-inch brook trout (i.e., 7 fish per acre) and 20 17-inch brook trout (i.e., 1 fish per acre) in anticipation of the ice fishing season, yielding a respectful total of 8 larger brookies per acre. That gets my attention! This pond did not receive the smaller but much more numerous 9-inch brook trout yearlings which can provide for a lot of excitement on the ice (click here, here, and here for examples). Hence, I do not expect “fast” action, but seek to catch quality trout, and secretly hope to land one of the larger two-pounders… The pond has a maximum and average depth of 14 ft and 9 ft, respectively, making it relatively shallow. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information. General fishing law applies at this location during the ice fishing season.
It’s always fun to catch a target fish: one of the 17-inchers.
I arrive at Pinkham Pond by 6:45 am (sunrise is at 7:05 am). My strategy is to fish around the shoreline of the southern tip in 3 to 8 ft. of water using four traps baited with small minnows placed half-way down the water column. Each hook is first garnished with a scented salmon egg to add odor and color to the baitfish. I also drill an extra dozen holes around the traps to serve as jigging holes. The temperature is a balmy 21°F, which is a nice change from the frigid readings of the last two weeks. The sky is overcast and it is wind still. I cannot ask for better conditions. The ice is 13 inches, just about where it should be for the end of January. My traps are all set-up by 7:15 am, but I have not gotten a flag yet. Mmm, that is never a good sign when targeting brookies early in the morning. I jig by going from hole to hole using my Powerbait Power Nymph and jig head combo but … nothing happens. Not a nibble, bump, or flag. I check my traps a little after 8 am: all the baitfish are fine. The trout simply are not active.
My two jig buddies this morning. Note that I enhanced the Powerbait Power Nymph at the top by including a piece of baitfish to add flavor to the water
A guy walks on the ice shortly thereafter to set up his traps. He only has a spud so I help him drill his holes. I return to jigging and finally feel a bump in one of the holes over 3 ft. of water. Someone’s knocking at the door down there! I gently shake the creature jig and am rewarded by a strong hit and a 14-inch brookie a few seconds later. Finally! It’s close to 9 am now and I still haven’t gotten a single flag. I check my baitfish again and observe that three are partially scaled. The brookies are around, but are playing hard to catch! Instead of simply rebaiting all the traps and moving on, I drop a tiny Rapala Jigging Rap down one of the holes just in case a trout is still lingering. I get an immediate hit and bring up a 13-inch female full of eggs. Ahah! Are more fish down there? I rejig the same hole and within five minutes hook another trout. But this one gives a substantially harder fight. OMG, I caught one of the 17 inchers! It’s a gorgeous male, which gets photographed and promptly released (as are all my fish). Unfortunately, this is the last trout of the morning. It’s now 10:15 am and I have to head back. The fishing was definitely hard, and I didn’t get one flag… But the old adage “jig like your life depends on it” once again proved its worth. The trout ignored the live bait but instead fell for the artificial stuff. Go figure, but that works for me too!
The results: I landed 3 brook trout (largest was 17″) in 3 hours of slow but fruitful ice fishing.
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