The access point along Route 202 is a challenge to get in and out of.
Little Cobbosseecontee Lake is a 75-acre body of water located in the town of Winthrop, Maine (see The Atlas and Gazetteer map 12 C4). Public access to this pond is a real problem. The “boat launch” is situated by the outlet which flows underneath Route 202. This road is a major motorway into and out of Augusta located less than five miles away. The traffic is incessant and flying by at 55+ MPH. The boat and all the fishing equipment needs to be heaved over the road safety railing and down the rip-rap boulders towards the three large culverts. Needless to say, only hand-carried craft can be launched from this point. There’s ample parking on the road shoulder. Please keep in mind that this access is NOT kid-friendly!
General view of Little Cobbosseecontee Lake; Route 202 is hidden in the background.
Little Cobbosseecontee Lake is actually quite pretty and relatively lightly developed given its close proximity to the Capital. About a dozen houses are clustered along the southern and eastern shoreline, together with half-a-dozen docks. The northern shoreline abuts a large marshy area, whereas the western shoreline is fringed by woods. The substrate in the lake is firm but overlain by a layer of muck which is carpeted by a luxurious amount of submerged aquatic vegetation. The water is surprisingly clear given these conditions. The lake has a maximum and average depth of 33 ft and 17 ft, respectively. It is fringed on all four sides by extensive weedy shallows, which provide great holding habitat for largemouth bass. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information. The bass fishing rules fall under the general fishing regulations (click here for more details). Note that northern pike have migrated up into this body of water from Cobbosseecontee Lake further downstream and now have a well-established population.
Christian working his buzzbait next to a fallen tree along the eastern (“shadow”) shoreline
My 12-year old nephew Christian and I arrive at the Little Cobbosseecontee Lake access point a little after 9 am. I park the car on the road shoulder next to the safety railing with enough space between the two to be able to open the right-hand doors about three quarters of the way. I order Christian to stay away from the road side and to fetch our gear only through the right doors. The canoe is soon all loaded up and we move away from the busy road and into a quieter environment. It takes less than ten minutes to paddle through the marshy outlet and into the lake itself. The sun is now high up in the blue sky. The air temperature is in the low 70’s; the wind is quiet. We position ourselves along the eastern shoreline in the “shadow line” of the rising sun. I’m glad to hear that the traffic noise from Route 202 is largely filtered out by the land which separates this shoreline from the nearby road. We start fishing using buzzbaits and 5” soft stickbaits. The luxurious aquatic vegetation consistently wraps itself around our lures, which is a real nuisance, but the bass are at their posts and willing to bite. We make two full passes along the eastern shoreline over the next hour and a half. Christian catches two bass whereas I land six bass and a small (18”) northern pike over this time period. We both miss well over a dozen strikes. All the bass this morning are relatively small (13” to 16”), which is the same pattern I observed the last time I fished this place about 8 years ago.
Christian caught this little bass at the point where the eastern shoreline merges into the large marsh. That’s also where I caught my small pike.
Overall, the bass fishing on Little Cobbosseecontee Lake makes it worth the effort of gaining access to it. The possibility of catching a large pike is an added incentive (or a curse, depending on your point of view…). The major obstacle is the challenging and treacherous access conditions off busy Route 202.
The results: I caught six largemouth bass (largest = 16”) and a small northern pike, whereas Christian caught two largemouth bass (largest = 15”) in an hour and a half of fishing.
Was the information in this blog useful? I invite you to share your thoughts and opinions. Also, feel free to discuss your fishing experiences at this location.
~ ~ ~ ~ ><« ({(« º >
any info on Milton three ponds
Hi Doug, in what town are these ponds located?
Stan,I have stayed at the Lakeside Motel across the street from little Cabo,and we were told by the owner you could park on the grass area to access the pond.I can’t remember exactly who owned that piece of land though,but when I fished there it was never a problem,and other people parked there too.