Region A – Southwestern Maine

This past weekend, my colleague Jim Pellerin took a friend from the Deep South to the Androscoggin River for a bit of smallmouth bass action. This individual, who had never caught a smallmouth, had a 20-plus fishing day using only borrowed spinning gear and brown plastic worms. This example goes to show that you don’t need specialized or expensive gear – or even much experience with your target species – to have great times fishing in Maine. Other good bets for smallmouth bass action include Keys Pond in Sweden, Thompson Lake in Otisfield, and Trickey Pond in Naples. If you want fast action for largemouth bass and other warmwater fish, you might consider Worthley Pond in Poland or Lily Pond in New Gloucester.

Others also having a great time fishing have recently been catching fair numbers of land-locked salmon and lake trout on Kezar Lake in Lovell – including one 22-pound beast of a togue. Another lake trout of note was a 20-pound, 37-inch fish caught on Colcord Pond in Porter. While Colcord Pond is not known for having a robust lake trout fishery, it seems that some lakes that support the remains of a past lake trout stocking program occasionally give up these unexpected wall-hangers. Other good places to target lake trout and salmon include Auburn Lake in Auburn, South Pond in Greenwood, and Sebago Lake in the Raymond/Standish/Sebago area.