Tag Archives: Washington County

Fishing for smallmouth bass on Scraggly Lake, Pukakon Township, Penobscot County, Maine (May 7, 2025)

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View of the short and deep thoroughfare connecting Scraggly Lake to Junior Lake seen in the background.

 

Scraggly Lake is a 2,758-acre body of water located in Pukakon Township, Penobscot County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 35 A2). The Gazetteer shows an unimproved public boat launch on Hasty Cove off the Amazon Road along the eastern shore of the lake. I do not know the quality of this launch nor how drivable the Amazon Road is during mud season. Feel free to let us know via the comment section below. Instead, I gain access using the public launch on Bottle Lake (see map 35 A1) which connects to Junior Lake via a 1.5-mile-long shallow thoroughfare called Bottle Lake Stream. I then cross Junior Lake and enter Scraggly Lake via a short but deep and wide thoroughfare. The Bottle Lake launch is found at the end of a paved road and remains fully accessible even during the worst of mud season in April and early May when the surrounding gravel roads may be impassable. Duck Lake (see map 45 E1) also has a boat launch which connects to Junior Lake via a 0.3-mile-long unnamed thoroughfare. I have not used this launch before but have motored up from Junior Lake into Duck Lake in early May without a problem. The shallow and bouldery thoroughfares from Bottle Lake and Duck Lake can easily accommodate motorized craft in early spring when water levels are high. However, beware that passage gets trickier later in the year when the water levels drop.

 

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Fishing for landlocked Atlantic salmon on Pocumcus Lake in Sakom Township, Washington County, Maine (April 28, 2024)

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Click here for the previous day’s fishing story.

 

 

Wakey-wakey! It is time to go fish hunting!

 

Salvy and I crawl out of our cozy sleeping bags at 4:45 am, dress up warmly, and get ready to troll the Golden Hour to try to emulate the angling success from yesterday morning. Over the next three hours, we fish the Narrows (i.e., the deep channel that connects West Grand Lake to Junior Bay), the deeper eastern half of Junior Bay, and Pocumcus Lake. We come up woefully short, with only one hit to show for all our early-morning efforts…

 

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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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Fishing for landlocked Atlantic salmon on West Grand Lake in T6 ND BPP, Washington County, Maine (May 7, 2023)

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A gorgeous view of the northern end of Marks Island.

 

West Grand Lake is a large, 14,340-acre body of water located in township T6 ND BPP, Washington County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 35 B3). The public access is found by the dam at Grand Lake Stream. The launch is paved and spacious. It is easily accessible from Route 1 by driving down Grand Lake Stream Road, which is paved, for about 10 miles. Plenty of parking is available by the launch which is also equipped with a convenient primitive rest room facility.

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Fishing for landlocked Atlantic salmon and smallmouth bass on West Grand Lake, T6 ND BPP, Washington County, Maine (October 3, 2021)

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What a sight to behold!

 

West Grand Lake is a 15,920-acre body of water located in township T6 ND BPP in Washington County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 35 B3). Public access is via two boat launches located at the village of Grand Lake Stream by the outlet of the lake. I cannot describe the lay-out of those launches because I accessed the lake from elsewhere in the watershed.

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The TOP Ponds Stocked with Brook Trout for the Spring of 2017 in Washington County, Maine

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This blog identifies the TOP ponds in Washington County, Maine that provide the best odds of catching brook trout during the spring of 2017. A pond is considered TOP due to its trout stocking density: all else being equal, the more brook trout that are stocked per acre of pond, the greater the chances of catching those fish! Most of these ponds cover less than 50 acres and are therefore relatively small. Trout activity typically peaks between late April and mid-June, after which the fishing slows down in response to rising surface water temperatures. Check out this blog on trolling techniques for catching trout.

 

All of the ponds discussed below are closed to ice fishing. Most were stocked last fall, whereas a few are also stocked in the spring. Fish that were released last fall will therefore have had 7 to 8 months to fatten up a bit. More details are provided in the stocking reports compiled by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. It is recommended to check the regulations about special fishing rules that may apply on these ponds, such as daily bag limits, use of live bait fish, artificial lure requirements, limits on outboard engine size, etc. Note also that the list of TOP brook trout ponds excludes “kids-only” ponds.

 

The TOP ponds stocked with brook trout for this spring in Washington County are listed below in alphabetical order:

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Best ice fishing ponds for catching large trout in Washington County, Maine (winter of 2017)

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This blog highlights the ponds in Washington County which provide the best odds of catching larger stocked trout during the 2017 ice fishing season. About a dozen and a half ponds open to ice fishing in this county are stocked with trout each fall. Most of these fish are relatively small (7” to 12”), but plentiful, in order to provide fast action. The state also spiced up some of the ponds with larger trout, which are defined here as fish measuring 13” or more, and weighing at least 1 pound. Click here for tips to increase your chances of catching more brookies through the ice.

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TOP brook trout ponds for the 2017 ice fishing season in Washington County, Maine

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The TOP brook trout ponds for the 2017 ice fishing season in Washington County are highlighted below (in alphabetical order). A pond is considered “top” based on its stocking density. Simply put, the more trout are packed per acre, the higher the chances of catching them through the ice!

For the purpose of this blog, I’ll define a brook trout pond as a body of water with a surface area of less than about 100 acres (with some exceptions) which is stocked in the fall with hatchery-reared brook trout to support ice fishing. These ponds tend to freeze over early in the season and are typically safe to fish well before the bigger lakes become accessible. This provides early-action opportunities for those of us (myself included!) who just can’t wait to get the hard-water fishing season going. Click here for tips to increase your chances of catching more brookies through the ice.

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TOP Brook Trout Ponds for the spring of 2016 in Washington County, Maine

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This blog identifies the TOP ponds in Washington County, Maine that provide the best odds of catching brook trout during the spring of 2016. A pond is considered TOP due to its trout stocking density: after all, everything else being equal, the more brook trout that are stocked per acre of pond, the greater the chances of catching those fish! Most of these ponds cover less than 50 acres and are therefore relatively small. Trout activity typically peaks between late April and early June, after which the fishing slows down in response to rising surface water temperatures.
All of the ponds discussed below are closed to ice fishing. Most were stocked last fall, whereas a few were also stocked in the spring. Fish that were released last fall will therefore have had 7 to 8 months to fatten up a bit. More details are provided in the stocking reports compiled by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Click here to consult the latest law book about special fishing rules that may apply on these ponds. Note that the list of TOP brook trout ponds excludes “kids only” ponds.
The TOP brook trout ponds for the 2016 spring fishing season in Washington County are listed below in alphabetical order:
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Best ice fishing ponds for catching large trout in Washington County, Maine (winter of 2016)

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This blog highlights the ponds in Washington County which provide the best odds of catching larger stocked trout during the 2016 ice fishing season. About a dozen and a half ponds open to ice fishing in this county are stocked with trout each fall. Most of these fish are relatively small (7” to 12”), but plentiful, in order to provide fast action. The state also spiced up some of the ponds with larger trout, which are defined here as fish measuring 13” or more, and weighing at least 1 pound.

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