A couple weeks from now I’ll be flying to Maine, and because I’m told the landlocked Atlantic Salmon bite on Grand Lake Stream is largely finished, I’m focusing on the smallmouth bass in West Grand lake.
Which means I can leave the waders, wading boots and a lot of other gear at home (nobody who travels with a 2.75 year-old argues against traveling light).
It also means digging out (and re-lining) a few of my (ahem) vintage Abu-Garcia casting reels and Cardinal spinning reels — old reels that work as well as the day they came from the factory, and this despite a lot of use back in my Bay Area days.
It also means an online trip to Bass Pro Shops (finesse worms, hooks, line — and a pair of those topwater poppers that turn smallmouth bass fishing into a spectator sport).
A visit to Bass Pro Shops is like a day at a carnival; everything’s larger (and louder) than life, and the copy is brazenly over-the-top — yet somehow lacking in pretension, which makes it entertaining rather than irritating.
After all, everyone in fly fishing “reveres” the Adams dry fly, but if Kevin Van Dam used one to win a tournament, it would be “Guaranteed to attract bone-crushing strikes via its exclusive “multi-hacklepoint” design that in lab experiments generated a feeding frenzy every time.”
The Fishing Grounds
Check out those dropoffs (I sometimes launch from the little dock in the bottom cutout)
We’ll be staying on the little peninsula in the satellite photo — in rustic old cabins lounging beneath the trees — and every good stillwater fisherman has already noted the shallow water areas and the dropoffs to deeper water.
Some days I’ll simply rig a drop shot worm or a topwater on a casting rod, push one of the small kayaks into the water, and fish my way along the dropoff which runs off the bottom of the photo.
It fishes every bit as good as it looks — especially in those places where big rocks can be found at the bottom of the dropoff (yes, I know where those rocks are).
It’s lazy fishing made all the sweeter by a steady stream of smallmouth bass, who are cranky enough to turn the kayak around, then glare at you with those red eyes once you’ve landed them.
The triangle-shaped offshore shallow area on the left seems hit or miss, though when it’s on, the fish are bigger.
The island at the top hasn’t ever produced anything but small fish, despite the fact the upper shallow area is something of a gateway to a large, shallow (presumably food-filled) bay.
Some mysteries, it seems, aren’t meant to be unraveled.
Other days, we’ll load up one of the Grand Laker canoes and head out for more promising fishing grounds (made so by the distance we have to travel to get there), and no, I’m not producing maps to those.
Clearly, this is an Underground fishing vacation of a wholly different kind, and while this may be the first Maine vacation where I experience anything approaching reliable Internet access, I’m not promising daily reports.
See you in Maine, Tom Chandler.
You come east, I go west. Heading out to SF and Yosemite at the end of the week. Hopefully we’ll find some streams that aren’t still blown out by melting snow.
My boys are old enough now to carry their own gear so if they want to travel heavy they’re welcome to it. Of course, that doesn’t mean I travel any lighter. It just means I can now overload on my crap instead of theirs.
Good luck with the bass.
Steve Z(Quote)
You might be OK on the runoff front. Things are rounding into shape up here, and I don’t think that end of the Sierras got quite as much snow…
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Have fun with those smallies – as a former transplant to Maine (lived there for a few years)I miss the great and under appreciated smallmouth fishing. My local haunt was the Stillwater river in the Old Town area. Evening on the river, all alone, the water placid, cast out that floating muddler, wait…and then BAM! the explosion of water, the fight…ahh I miss it. Have fun!
Anthony(CastingAround)(Quote)
I just had few excellent days of fishing on a super secret little lake in Maine over the July 4th weekend. I’ve fished this lake since childhood but always with spinning gear, never fly. I brought some fly gear up this time and it was, in a word, awesome. Overwhelmingly huge mayfly hatches every night at sundown, with the bass all too eager to feast on dries and emergers. I still prefer catching trout on the fly rod I think, but as takes go I imagine there’s not much that compares favorably to a good-sized largemouth absolutely crushing a big dry.
Enjoy!
MHH(Quote)
I have yet to see a hatch on West Grand Lake, though that might be due to our non-spring timeframe.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Tom,
Forget the spinning gear, you got to fish that on a fly rod. String up the 5wt and whip poppers and those ridiculously expensive pole dancers at them all day. Smallies come out and smack 10″ long Puglisi muskie flies here in Ohio, they are like Boston Terriers that think thye are Pit Bulls. I envy you, bass are so much fun it should be illegal.
Chris S(Quote)
I’ll bring the 6wt, but hell, I like fishing poppers and worms on a casting rod — or finesse worms on a spinning rod. Conventional tackle is also a lot easier to manage in the kayak (these aren’t big, wide-beam kayaks), or in a canoe with another fisherman.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
True, a long stick in a canoe can be a recipe for a hospital visit.
Chris S(Quote)
lucky dog lol. Smallies rule. Be safe this trip and catch lots.
cliftz(Quote)
The best method I have found for fishing to smallies in Maine lakes is to use senko worms (I like motor oil flake, black flake and watermelon flake).
-Get some flexible tubing (you can get at most hardware stores. If I remember, 1/2 inch is the right size, but just bring a worm to the store in case Im wrong to size the tubing. The tube will cost you $.50 to a dollar.
-cut the tubing with a razor into 1/8″ thickness
-slide the tube piece to the middle of the worm
-slide a 1/0 circle hook (for a 6″ worm) point under the tube but not into the worm at all
-cast to the side of structure
-let the worm sink to the bottom (it flutters on both ends and is irresistible)
-when the work hits bottom, reel in and cast again.
-look for slight ticks in the line-takes will be on the subtle side
This method saves worms big time, as you never actually put the hook through the worm.
Hope this helps Tom. Its worked for me time after time. This will take tons on smallies.
Enjoy.
Jersey Jimmy(Quote)
Obviously, with an exposed point, this method doesn’t work as well in the weeds as it does in the rocks, but thankfully, there are tons of rocks in Maine waters.
Jersey Jimmy(Quote)
I find it necessary to raise the dreaded “WUSS” flag …
The first time he has to throw something other than a dry fly he claims he needs a winch, steel cable, and treble hooks in order to feel safe …
Where’s the “when the going gets tough …’ pioneer fly fishing spirit, where you confess that you own a line greater than #4, a Phillipson to match, and your bamboo esthetic is untarnished …
I’d even supply the bass flies if play your cards right, have you no shame?
KB(Quote)
I’ll wear that flag, and proudly. After all, this way I only bring a casting reel and a spinning reel (rods are already there), plus a half-pound of plastics and two topwaters. Maybe just a Netbook instead of a full-blown laptop.
That minimalist load will allow me to walk upright (admittedly briefly) until I absorb the multiple metric tons of Little M’s gear. In other words, this isn’t a sporting choice, it’s a desperate grab at survival…
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Hey Tom, come to Springfield, Mo., and visit Mecca (as the big store is often called around here). It really is one of my favorite things to do in this town–always a spectacle, always an easy way to empty the wallet. Plus, we got plenty of smallies around here–and quite a few trout, too.
Aaron J Scott(Quote)
Aaron,
You couldn’t be more right about the Springfield Bass Pro Shop!
Janet and I visited the mothership several years ago.
Wow- 7 ½ acres of redneck regalia under one roof. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen woodducks splashing next to the camo sleepware section.
She took the opportunity to tease the fellow presiding at the huge fish tank:
“Do they let you take some of them home to eat?â€
“What about that little one over there, no one would miss that one.â€
“How about if one of them dies, what then?â€
Sully(Quote)