Tag Archives: trolling

Fishing for landlocked Atlantic salmon on Bryant Pond in Woodstock, Oxford County, Maine (August 16, 2024)

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The boat launch by the outlet is hard-topped and provides plenty of parking.

 

Bryant Pond (a.k.a. Christopher Pond) is a 278-acre body of water located in Woodstock and Greenwood, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 10 B5). To access this pond, drive on Route 26 and turn off on Old County Road. Drive for about 1 mile before turning left on Rowe Hill Road. The public access point will be immediately to your right and is clearly marked with a blue sign. It is located in a small municipal park next to the pond’s outlet. The boat launch is hard-topped and provides plenty of parking area.

 

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Fishing for brown trout on Stearns Pond in Sweden, Oxford County, Maine (August 2, 2024)

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The boat launch is unimproved but wide and provides lots of parking space.

 

Stearns Pond is a 255-acre body of water located in Sweden, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 10 E3). To access this pond, turn off Route 93 (Waterford Road) unto Hardscrabble Road. Drive for about 1 mile and turn left on Wint Road. Then drive for <0.2 miles before turning left on Town Landing Road. The unimproved boat launch is located at the end of this short gravel road. Plenty of parking is available next to the launch.

 

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Fishing for brook trout on Long Pond in Sullivan, Hancock County, Maine (June 8, 2024)

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Look for this trail sign next to pole 282 to turn off Pumpkinville Road towards the gate.

 

Long Pond is a 58-acre body of water located in Sullivan, Hancock County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 24 E4). From Route 1, turn on Pumpkinville Road next to Sumner Memorial High School, and drive for about 1.5 miles down that road (I forgot to measure the exact distance). The access point will be on your left, down an unmarked road. Look for an electrical pole at the turn-off with a dark blue sign and the number 282. Next to that pole is a discrete wooden sign for “Long Ledges Preserve” and “East Side Trail”. Drive down that road for a couple of 100 ft. until you reach a closed metal gate. Leave your vehicle parked by the gate and walk for 5 minutes down a well-maintained gravel road until you reach the pond. Only hand-carried craft can be launched from the access point which consists of flat slabs of rock.

 

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Fishing for brook trout on Fox Pond in T10 SD, Hancock County, Maine (June 8, 2024)

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The public access point next to Route 182 consists of an unimproved sandy boat launch.

 

Fox Pond is a 77-acre body of water located in T10 SD, Hancock County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 24 D5). Its northern shoreline abuts Route 182 (Black Woods Road). The pond is just to the northwest of Tunk Lake. The public access consists of an unimproved dirt launch next to Route 182 at the northeastern tip of the pond. The launch can accommodate small, trailered boats. A few vehicles can be parked by the launch.

 

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Fishing for landlocked Atlantic salmon and brook trout in Pierce Pond, Pierce Pond Township, Somerset County, Maine (May 27 and 28, 2024)

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Six of us are on our annual extended Memorial Day weekend fishing pilgrimage to Pierce Pond, located at the end of a long dirt road off the grid in Somerset County, just east of Flagstaff Lake (see the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 30 A2). We are staying for four days in one of the cozy cabins at Cobb’s Camps located across from Lindsey Cove. I love staying at Cobb’s because of the camaraderie among the guests who have been gathering at this place for decades, the honest home-cooked food, the super-friendly staff, and the authentic “sports camp” atmosphere from a bygone era. Also, the lack of electronic connection to the outside world forces everyone to unplug, slow down, and focus entirely on the business at hand, which is to catch salmonids.

 

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Fishing for landlocked Atlantic salmon on Panther Pond in Raymond, Cumberland County, Maine (May 19, 2024)

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The boat launch by the dam at Mill Street is unimproved and parking by the road is limited

 

Panther Pond is a 1,439-acre body of water located in Raymond, Cumberland County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 5 B2). This lake can be reached by boat via two public access points: one is located at the dam by the outlet on Mill Street; the second is represented by the public launch on Crescent Lake but requires navigating for about 15-20 minutes through the shallow and meandering Tenney River. I choose the former this morning. Keep in mind that the Mill Street access point will be closed between June 1 and September 2024 due to dam renovation work. Also, that boat launch is unimproved and offers only limited parking space for vehicle with trailers along the shoulder of Mill Street.

 

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Fishing for lake trout and landlocked Atlantic salmon on Pocumcus Lake in Sakom Township, Washington County, Maine (April 26 and 27, 2024)

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Sitting by the boat launch on Bottle Lake and studying the map to find our way to the camp site on Junior Bay

 

Pocumcus Lake is a 2,201-acre body of water located in Sakom Township, Washington County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 35 B2). It is part of the enormous hydraulically interconnected system that includes West Grand Lake, Scraggly Lake, Junior Lake, Junior Bay, and Sysladobsis Lake. We access this waterway via the public boat launch on Bottle Lake in Lakeville (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 35 A1), which links to Junior Lake via Bottle Lake Stream. For the record, Bottle Lake Road, which connects Route 6 in Springfield with the boat launch, is paved all the way and is therefore readily accessible even during mud season in late April. My son Joel, nephew Salvy, and I reach Bottle Lake in mid-morning. We overload our boats with all our camping and fishing gear and slowly navigate for one hour and 45 minutes to an unmarked camp site located at the tip of the peninsula that separates Junior Bay from Junior Stream. That will be our base camp for the next four day. We are here to experience the tremendous landlocked salmon and lake trout fishery that is awakening from its long winter slumber following ice out. One nice perk of camping in late April is the total lack of the dreaded hordes of mosquitos and blackflies. On the other hand, early spring can still be quite chilly in these parts of Maine.

 

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Lead core line: a highly-efficient way to troll!

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My blog readers know that I spend a LOT of time trolling in the winter, spring, summer, and fall. This technique can be a bit boring but is a great way to target salmonids (click here and here for examples) and non-salmonids (click here and here for examples) by probing large areas of their habitat using multiple lures. I deploy two distinct sets of “tools” to support my trolling habits: lead core line and a portable downrigger. This blog discusses the former, and more specifically the setup that I have used for years, and which has worked well for me. For the record, I also troll for smallmouth bass using floating Rapalas, but that approach is fundamentally different from placing lures at depth and is therefore not discussed further.

 

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The portable downrigger: an efficient way to troll

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My blog readers know that I spend a LOT of time trolling in the winter, spring, summer, and fall. This technique can be a bit boring but is a highly-efficient way to target salmonids (click here and here for examples) and non-salmonids (click here and here for examples) by probing large areas of their habitat using multiple lures. I deploy two different sets of “tools” to support my trolling addiction: lead core line and a portable downrigger. This blog discusses the latter, and more specifically the setup that I have used for years, and which has worked well for me. For the record, I also troll using floating Rapalas, but that approach is fundamentally different from placing lures at depth and is therefore not discussed further.

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Fishing for landlocked Atlantic salmon on Pleasant Lake, Casco, Cumberland County, Maine (March 19, 2024)

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View of Pleasant Lake from the boat launch

 

Pleasant Lake is a 1,332-acre body of water found in Casco, Cumberland County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 5 A1). Access is super easy: drive through the center of Casco on Route 121 and turn unto Mayberry Hill Road. The hard-top public boat launch is located a few hundred feet down that road on your left at the very southern tip of the lake. A large dirt parking area is situated right across from the launch.

 

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