Category: Maine

Kayak Fishing – Parker Pond

 Parker Pond Info.

This was a great place to go kayaking. The lake has a difficult boat launch so I bet that keeps the weekend warriors mostly out. The shore overall is lightly developed but there still were plenty of houses with docks and boats. Many small islands dot mid western shore. The fishing was just okay. There were a ton of young smallies but only found one of good size and one of okay size. The locals appear to take all the salmon and trout so good luck finding those.

This place is beautiful so it will be worth going back to see if I can find larger bass. If nothing else, there’s great scenery and you could swim from your kayak.

Kayak Fishing – Messalonskee Lake

 Messalonskee Lake Info.

It was a beautiful morning to go kayaking. The launch has ample parking and is made for carry in boats only. The ramp dumps out into a very shallow section of the lake and there’s a narrow path to Belgrade stream on the south west side of the lake.

The south west shore line is not heavily developed so the views are nice. The shallow waters make it great for birds. There was a family of loons, one appeared to be learning to fly, or it just liked to practice the almost take off. A couple osprey went fishing.

In total I spent five hours on the lake and I only made it to the first island. I stopped and had a snack and it was incredible. By kayak, this lake would take days to explore. If you want to see the other side of the lake, don’t worry you don’t have to plan an over night trip, just launch from the real boat launch on the other side of the lake.

This place is definitely worth another visit. There’s so much to explore.

Kayak Fishing – Androscoggin Riverlands

Launch Date: 08/01/2019
Launch Site: Kayak Launch [Turner Boat Launch]
Lake Info: [No Survey Map]
Park Info: [Guide Map]
Fish: Small Mouth Bass, Large Mouth Bass, Northern Pike, Perch

The section of the Androscoggin river that runs along the Riverlands State Park is also known as Gulf Island Pond which exists due to a big hydro electric dam past the south end of the state park.

There was no shortage of wildlife during my visit. An osprey was fishing, loons were diving down, and the fish were biting. I caught my first ever Northern Pike. Don’t let the slow moving water fool you, this is very much a river and use river fishing tactics. There are day use picnic areas as well as designated camp sites. All in all, this is a very cool place to spend a day. Though, be aware, don’t eat the fish and don’t swim. It’s likely that the toxic past of this river still exists within the sediment.

This section of river only exists as the beautiful landscape that we see today due to the result of huge clean up effort. A fellow boater gave me this description of how the river used to look:

The river was covered with orange foam a foot high. The river banks looked like they were hit with agent orange. Everything along the shore was dead.

Congrats to the people who took on the clean up effort for the following generations. Further reading cleaning up the androscoggin river.

Kayak Fishing – Estes Lake

Launch Date: 07/31/2019
Launch Site: Kayak Launch [Google Maps]
Lake Info: [Depth Map]
Fish: Large mouth bass, crappie, perch

Estes Lake, more like a big long pond, is a beautiful paddle. The lake exists due to a dam on the Mousam river. Large sections of the shore are completely undeveloped which allows for beautiful scenery. The official parking for the kayak launch is 1/4 mile down the road. Come with a buddy, come early, or come prepared to get some exercise hauling your boat and gear.

The fishing for my trip wasn’t great. I passed so many places that looked like perfect for large mouth bass and I didn’t see any. I had an aggressive black crappie early on and then nothing until I found a creek chub. I suggest, if you’re there in late July, go closer to the dam. I stayed above the Apache campground and although beautiful, it lacked fish.

Kayak Fishing – Dundee Pond

Launch Date: 07/05/2019
Launch Site: Kayak Launch [Google Maps]
Lake Info: [Depth Map]
Fish: Small Mouth Bass and likely Trout

Dundee Pond is lightly developed and there’s no public boat launch which makes this location a perfect paddle. The kayak launch is on the Presumpscot river just below the dam at the Windham road bridge.

Fishing was sparse but, man was the lake beautiful. Since casting wasn’t working I spent most of the time trolling and that allowed me to take in the sights. Nesting bald eagles, swimming loons, and lots of sun. The water is clear and next time I’ll go for a swim.

Unless you want to hear crowds of people and screaming kids, it’s best to avoid the Dundee Park beach on the north side. The rest of the lake is amazing. This is a place worth several visits.

Kayak Fishing – Androscoggin Lake

Launch Date: 06/23/2019
Launch Site: Boat Ramp [Google Maps]
Lake Info: [Depth Map]

We went for a late afternoon paddle on Androscoggin Lake to relax and so I could do some fishin’. First thing we noticed is there’s no where next to the boat ramp to park. It’s all private yacht club parking. There is a parking lot for a park just up the road which we used. I was a little uneasy because the park itself is for “town residents” only, but it doesn’t say the parking is for residents only.

taking in the view

Once we got on the water, the lake is beautiful. The wind was ripping so we spent most of our time a cove for shelter. The wind kept the air cool while the sun was hot.

Oswin met a fish

This is not a very deep lake, maxes out just under 40′ and there’s a lot of 10′ or less areas. This lake seems ideal for large mouth bass. Due to the wind we didn’t get to see a lot of the lake.

a happy dog

The fishing was good, we found lots of panfish which kept me entertained, and made me wish I had my fly rod. Oswin got to see fish up close for the first time. She was very curious.

All in all, this was a great trip. You can’t beat enjoying the sun from a kayak on the water. Due to the limited launch opportunities and questionable legal parking, I won’t be in a hurry to go back here. Luckily Maine has many other lakes to check out.

Grand Lakes Stream Fishing Trip

Trip Dates: 06/02/2018 - 06/07/2018
Location: [Google Maps]
Lake Info: [Depth Map]

Caught a monster

After a long drive through Maine we ended up at a lake which was pretty much in Canada. We stayed at Shoreline Camps which was a perfect location for fishing Big Lake.

Big lake has “trout” and “salmon”, though we didn’t see any.  Maybe next time I’ll take the fly rod out on Grand Lakes Stream where it’s fly fishing only and

go for salmon. What Big Lake does have is a very healthy small mouth bass fishery. Things were slow in the morning but after noon, the fish become hungry. I’ve never seen black rubber worms catch so many fish.

It was almost every cast. The fish were up on the rocky shores. Soft bottom weed beds produced an occasion large mouth and pickerel. My signature move

was to cast into the trees, totally on purpose of course, flick out the worm, and then get a fish. This worked enough times that I couldn’t help but laugh and say “Into the tree, out of the tree, into fish”.

 

This is a place I want to go back and when I do I’ll definitely bring my kayak. Hopefully those in boats will be willing to tow me to the far sides of the lake.