Bradley Pond Road is one continuous sheet of slippery ice this morning!
Bradley Pond is a 34 acre body of water located in Lovell, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 10 D2). To reach this destination, drive north on Route 5 from Lovell, and turn right on Bradley Pond Road. Drive down this winding road, keeping right at the split, until the pond appears to your left. The ice can be accessed via the rough boat launch indicated by a sign. No real parking is available during the winter because the small launch area remains unplowed, so vehicles have to be parked as best as possible along the side of the road. Fortunately, the road itself has no through traffic since it is a dead end that serves only the three houses present along the western shoreline.
I’m hoping for brown trout this morning but am only visited by largemouth bass
Bradley Pond is an old acquaintance of mine… The pond is stocked annually with 100 brown trout, resulting in a very respectable yearly stocking rate of 3 brown trout per acre. Last fall’s stocked browns measure 13” (about 1 pound each), which is good eaten’ size. Today is my fourth (!) attempt over the last 4 years at catching them through the ice. I selected different locations along the eastern shoreline the first three times I came here but did not see a single trout, although I caught several nice largemouth bass each time. Today, I’ll target a sharp drop-off right next to a small island (visible on Google Maps) along the western shoreline where the lake survey map shows that the water quickly reaches to 20+ ft deep. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information.
I arrive at the Bradley Pond boat launch at 6:45 am. Bradley Pond Road is a pure sheet of ice this morning due to the warm rain from a few days ago, which was followed by 48 hours of hard freezing. I park my car on the side of the road, load up the sled, walk on the ice by the launch, and quickly make my way to the island on the western shoreline. The wind is howling down the pond from the northeast and is generating a serious windchill which falls well below 0°F! I drill a hole through the ice, which is 17” thick, in what should be the deepest area of the pond and measure 24 ft of water. That’s good enough considering that maximum depth is 26 ft. I place one tip-up in that hole with a shiner 3 feet under the ice to catch any cruising browns, a second tip-up over 15 ft of water with the bait fish placed half-way down, and two more tip-ups in 6 and 8 ft of water along the shoreline also with the baitfish placed halfway down. I then drill multiple jigging holes all around the four tip-ups.
The sun has risen above the western horizon but provides no warmth because the howling wind keeps everything frigid
I soon get my first flag in the 6-ft hole, and land a hard-fighting 17” largemouth bass. I get two more flags in the two shallow traps a short time later, and land another fiesty bass. Mmm, this pattern is starting to smell awfully familiar… I jig one of the shallow holes and hook a monster bass which insistently rips line off my reel, wraps itself around a nearby submerged branch, forcing me to break the line. Grrr!! The feeding activity is definitely occurring along the shoreline. I move the two deeper traps in shallower holes drilled around the island and generate several more flags and two additional largemouth bass. It’s now past 9 am and I’ve had well over half a dozen flags so far. The sun has risen above the mountain located on the western side of the pond and floods the whole area with its harsh light. The early-morning bite slows down and then stops altogether, as it always does under these kinds of conditions.
Bradley Pond is pretty and feels “remote”. Fish it with the expectation of catching largemouth bass, and celebrate if you catch brown trout!
So, here’s how I’d approach ice fishing on Bradley Pond. Come and spend the morning on the ice and make sure to bring the kids. Don’t focus your attention, or expectations, on catching the elusive brown trout, but instead have fun chasing the plentiful largemouth bass that live in these waters. Simply consider any brown trout that plops on the ice as an additional and unexpected bonus. Besides, the pond is definitely worth a visit because it is quite pretty and provides a nice ”remote” feeling.
The results: I caught four largemouth bass (largest = 18”) in 3 hours of fun but windy fishing.
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