A pretty view of No Name Pond from the access point off No Name Pond Road
No Name Pond is a 143-acre body of water located in Lewiston, Androscoggin County (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 12 E1). This pond, which is located just west of Sabattus Pond, can be accessed at its northern end via No Name Pond Road. The access point is rather puzzling. The No Name Pond Association prominently displays several large “Private Property” signs along the shoreline. Yet, an obvious access point connects the road to the lake. A second access point less than 100 ft from the first one has large boulders in front of it. A road sign next to the first access point displays information about removing milfoil from boats before launching, strongly suggesting that this is indeed a public launch. But it also states that parking is prohibited alongside the road between April 15 and November 15 and that violators will be towed… The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer displays a symbol indicating a hand-carry boat launch site at this location. I was unable to find more information on the Internet to clarify this rather perplexing situation. My assessment is that this launch is a legitimate public access point, although I don’t understand the no parking rule (my car was not towed…). Keep in mind that the unimproved launch can only accommodate hand-carried craft.
We’ve got this pretty pond entirely to ourselves this morning, just the way I like it!
No Name Pond is a pretty, tadpole-shaped lake located just a few short miles outside of the Lewiston-Auburn metro area. The shoreline is moderately developed, particularly in the northern (deeper) half of the pond. The surrounding landscape is fully forested. The water is clean and transparent, but the deeper parts of the pond suffer from a severe oxygen deficiency in the summer. The substrate along the shoreline consists mostly of a sandy bottom. The prime largemouth bass habitat is located at the southern (narrow) end of the pond where the water is shallow and weedy as it slowly moves on its way to the marshy outlet. Elsewhere, the bass habitat is relatively sparse (at least along the eastern shoreline which I explored for this blog), consisting of patches of floating lily pads, emerging arrowheads/pickerelweed, and submerged vegetation. The power boats and docks also offer limited hiding places. Submerged wood is minimal. The pond as a maximum and average depth of 32 ft and 21 ft, respectively. Click here for a depth map and additional fishing information. The bass fishing falls under the general fishing rules available here.
Here’s an example of the type of aquatic vegetation along the eastern shoreline of No Name Pond. Notice that we’re fishing in the shadows.
I reach No Name Pond with my 12-year old nephew Christian a little after 7 am. The weather is glorious, with temps in the high 60’s and wind-still conditions. The early-morning start also ensures quiet fishing conditions which are interrupted only by an occasional call from the resident loon. Two younger guys come paddling back in their kayaks to the take-out point. They were fishing for an hour early in the morning and claim to have caught 12 largemouth bass between the two of them, several of which weighed 3+ lbs. That sounds very promising! We start fishing along the eastern shoreline, as opposed to the western shoreline, in order to stay in the shadows of the quickly rising sun for as long as possible. Brightness tend to push the fish out of the shallows and deeper down into the water column.
This big guy fell for my floating Rapalla while trolling on the way back to the access point
I switch between a buzzbait and a 5” soft stickbait, whereas Christian is using just a buzzbait. We slowly work our way down towards the southern end of the pond, focusing our attention on the available aquatic vegetation along the shoreline. Over the next hour or so, I catch two smallish largemouths (13” and 15”) on the stickbait, and Christian lands two largemouths (14” and 18”) using his buzzbait. We both also miss several other bass. The fish aren’t suicidal this morning, but there’s definitely some action. We’ve now moved well over half a mile down towards the outlet and have to paddle back to the boat launch to head out to the next pond on my list. It’s actually too bad because we have definitely reached the best largemouth bass habitat in this pond… We switch our lures to 5″ floating Rapallas so that we can troll while slowly paddling back. I like that approach because it keeps a lure in the water at all times. And the approach works because I get a tremendous hit within five minutes which yields a fat and feisty 19” largemouth bass! I like No Name Pond and recommend it for further investigation.
This tiny perch also hooked itself on Christian’s Rapalla on the way back to the access point. What was that fish thinking??
The results: I caught 3 largemouth bass (largest = 19”) and Christian caught 2 largemouth bass (largest = 17”) in 1.5 hours of fishing.
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