I knew when I moved to Maine, there was going to be changes. Gone was the steelhead fishing and that meant filling the void in during the winter would be ice fishing. For the record, I have no desire to do ice fishing as I find it boring, because I like to be on the move. I'm sure my girlfriend would find it comical watching me drill hole after hole in search of fish. I did a purchase a fly rod for the warmer months and just down the road was the Presumpscot River which is heavily stocked and fished within an inch of its life, because there's maybe less than a half a mile of fishable water before it widens into a huge stretch of frog water because of the dam downstream. It's one of the few rivers in the area that is opened all year as most rivers to the north are closed from October 1st to April 1st. I fished it in late March and anything that could hold fish was few and far between. I realized why some of the locals dubbed the Presumpscot as the "Aquarium" because it was so clear. The trip itself was more of a scouting expedition and I put it on the back burner for the reminder of the winter. But, prime brook trout and Atlantic salmon waters were a 2 to 3 hour drive from where I lived, so I had to look at other options close by.
A couple weeks ago I purchased an Old Town fishing kayak with a PDL drive. The closest lake from home is Sebago Lake which happens to be a very large deep lake. It's doable in a kayak, but you have to be careful in regards to weather as waves can get large and then there's the boat traffic as I've been told can be heavy during the weekends. But there were plenty of smaller lakes to the north of me to choose from. I pulled out my Maine Atlas and Gazetteer to see what lakes were close by. I studied all of the lakes and there were Peabody and Trickey Ponds and Long Lake. But, it was shape of Hancock Pond that intrigued me and I decided I would go there first.
Hancock Pond is located in Oxford County just outside of Sabago. It's about 850 acres big and has minimal development around. The maximum depth is 59' and most of the deepest water is found at the narrows. The average depth of the lake is about 17'. The three primary species found in the lake are samllmouth and largemouth bass and brown trout. Hancock is one of the few lakes in Maine that is stocked with browns, probably because it's not the most ideal habitat for brook and lake trout.
I get up around 4:00am to cook breakfast and have a cup of coffee. By the time I finish breakfast and open the garage door, it's first light. I load all my gear into the car and then hardest part is getting my kayak on the roof racks. It's a balancing act sliding a 10'6" kayak up that weights nearly a 100lbs onto the racks. Once I have the kayak set, I strap it down and hit the road. The trip itself is about 35 minutes as I take highway 35 west and then turn onto highway 114 north towards Sebago. I drive along the numerous cottages close to the shores of Sebago Lake. Then I turn on to Long Hill drive and it's another 10 minutes or so.
I arrive to the non descript pull off for the boat ramp. I see several signs plastered to trees warning anglers of about milfoil and not to bother the loons. I get out and I'm immediately greeted the swarms of black flies and mosquitoes. I try to get the kayak off as fast as possible and loaded onto the cart. The boat ramp has seen better days as it was heaving and crumbling. I struggled with my cart as the kayak would start sliding off of it when I tried to get over the concrete. I ended up having to slide the kayak on the concrete and pulling it into the water, good thing I was wearing shorts.
I paddled out far enough that the flies weren't going to bother me. I placed the PDL drive into the water and fired up the fish finder. The water was clear enough that I could it was mostly see the bottom which was full of rocks scattered about. I looked at the fish finder screen and I see the surface water temperature was 55F. Most of the bass were probably on their beds caring for the eggs and that meant fishing shallow water. I already downloaded a depth chart of the lake and according to the char, there was a long rocky point that jutted out into the lake just to the west of me.
I used my 7' ultralight rod with small minnow lures and started working along the rocks. It was a sunny morning and the lake was very quiet as most of the cabins were still vacant and I figured most of the people were waiting for the Memorial weekend to open up their cabins. Since there wasn't any wind and the water was clear enough, I decided to stand up in the kayak. I could make out the rocks from a distance and the fish finder told me I was over 15' of water. Using a 3/16oz rapala countdown silver minnow, I basically casted out at the edge of the rocks and started to retrieve in an erratic fashion. I felt a hit and then another one and I set the hook. It turned out to be a 14" smallmouth. I started picking off mostly small bass as I continued towards the westside of the pond.
With the colder water temperatures I was curious to see if any brown trout were lurking in the shallows. I continue to work around the rocks and my lure got tangled in the line. I tried jerking it when all of a sudden a fish struck it at the surface. I was able to hook it and from the shape it wasn't a bass. I reeled it in and it was indeed a brown trout. Nothing large, probably about 15", but it was my first brownie in long time as I've caught a couple in the Rocky past years when I was in Ohio.
As I drifted along a series of docks, I could see several bass on their beds. Some of them were on the large size. As I drifted along, I noticed on the fish finder that this section dropped off quickly from 8' to 25' and I made a mental note that this would be a great place in the summer months to drop shot. I used the outing as a scouting trip as I continue to pedal along the shoreline. It was a variety of shallow featureless flats to rockpiles and steep drop-offs. I crossed over to the otherside of the narrows and there was the other large rocky point that had buoys placed out to warn boaters of the shallow water. Just like the other rocky point, I started picking off smaller bass around that 12" to 14" range. That was one of the reasons why I used the ultralight rod, because I knew most of the fish would be on the smaller size.
A couple other anglers were out in their boats and they were trolling the deeper water probably for trout. I'm sure over the years, some of those small browns stocked have grown into a decent size as the lake has a heathly population of smelt and alewives to sustain the fishery. Maybe over time, as I start to trick out my kayak, I might get a downrigger. But for the time being, I just happy to fish for bass.
Hancock Pond reminded me of the small lakes I use to fish in my youth back in Northern Ontario. They were often found off old logging roads and the only way to get in was either putting a small boat in the back of a pickup truck or canoe. The fish in those lakes never got really big, but there were plenty of them as fishing pressure was next to nothing. Here in Maine, especially in the southern part of the state, these lakes get a lot more fishing pressure.
Overall, it was pleasant outing as I only saw two boats and I soaked up the sun and a pair of loons swim close by me. The final tally was 20 bass and 2 trout, not bad for a first trip. If I was back in Ohio, my steelhead season would be winding down and I would take a hiatus from fishing for the summer. My how things have changed.
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