General View of Silver Lake. Note the gloomy sky and the glare ice.
Silver Lake covers 12 acres and is located in Phippsburg, Sagadahoc County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 6 E5; note that the lake is shown on the map but is not specifically named). To reach this pond, drive on Route 209 from Bath towards Popham Beach State Park. Pass the state park entrance and drive for another 0.5 miles. The pond will be visible on your right from the road. Keep in mind that parking in this general area is tricky. I found no place to leave a vehicle behind on Route 209 across from the pond. Instead, your best option is to turn right on Hunnewell Avenue just before reaching the pond. A vehicle could be parked at that split, or further down that road. I do not know what the parking situation would be on Hunnewell Avenue after a snow storm. We’ve had several warm days before today so that a lot of snow has melted, allowing me to park tight against the remaining snow banks without obstructing local traffic.
The wonder jig! Note that I enhance its desirability by adding a piece of baitfish to provide scent and aroma.
Silver Lake is another prime example of a “put-and-take” brook trout ice fishery in southern Maine. Last fall, the state stocked 600 brookies of 9” (i.e., 50 small fish per acre), 55 brookies of 13” (i.e., about 5 one-pound fish per acre), and 10 brookies of 17” (i.e., about 1 two-and-a-half pound fish per acre). The pond has a maximum and average depth of 7 ft and 5 ft, respectively. Any of the brook trout stocked in the fall which have survived the intense winter and spring fishing pressure, will die in the summer when the water temperature rises above a critical level. This pond is stocked specifically to provide fast early-season action. The fishing success rapidly decreases because more and more of the brook trout are harvested as the hard-water season progresses. So, don’t wait too long to hit this little gem! Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information. The ice fishing rules for this pond fall under the general fishing laws.
Brookies are such beautiful fish!
I reach Silver Lake at 7:15 am after a tough ride in pouring rain, darkness, and dense fog. The fog, though, is due to the warm temperature (48°F!!) which makes ice fishing a real pleasure. The rain, plus the warm temps over the last couple of days, has also melted most of the snow on the pond, creating much glare ice. Fortunately, I brought my cleats to protect me from slipping and falling. When I arrive, the sky is completely overcast and the light levels are even lower than normal due to the fog. Low light is always a plus when ice fishing for trout! However, a strong wind blows in from the southwest, creating a unique auditory ice fishing experience: Hunnewell Beach is only a hundred yards or so due south from the pond and I hear the constant pounding of the rough surf on the pebble beach! I quickly drill four holes (the ice is only a meager 7” thick) and deploy my tip-ups baited with 2” minnows placed halfway down the water column. I get no flags during the half-hour setup period, which is never a good sign when ice fishing for brookies.
The last fish of the morning is also the biggest one!
I also drill several jigging holes. I catch two 9” brookies with the jig within less than 10 minutes of starting. Now that’s a much better sign! I drill another dozen and a half holes all along the shoreline and continue jigging in 2 to 4 ft of water over the next three hours. The jig bite is non-stop! I get dozens of hits, hook about two dozen trout, and ice 15 of them. I keep two nine inchers for the frying pan and release the rest back to the water. The most thrilling fish of the morning is the very last one. I secretly hope to catch one of the 17” brookies, but haven’t succeeded so far. I’m jigging my way from hole to hole back to where my tip-ups are deployed when I get a sudden and violent hit, followed by an immediate hook-up. I know instantly that I caught one of the big boys I was hoping for just by the way it’s fighting. That fish is real icing on my cake! Today once again proves the profound importance of jigging when ice fishing for brook trout (click here and here for two recent other examples). I had a grand total on one flag over the last 3.5 hours… Worse, earlier in the day, I also moved all my traps from their original locations into holes which showed activity on the jig, yet the trout steadfastly refused to take the baitfish… I would have had one lousy morning if it wasn’t for the jigging!!
The results: I landed 15 brook trout (largest = 17”) in 3.5 hours of fantastic ice fishing.
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