I finally made another fishing trip.....my first since early June.....and my first to Maine. I'd been researching the area since last year and selected a few area Brook Trout ponds.
Arrived in Rumford on Sunday afternoon around 1:30 pm. After checking into the motel, I made the 40 minute drive to Spencer Pond, located just south of the Swift River/Rangeley Lake divide. This is a FFO pond with a 1 or 2 fish limit (I believe there is a minimum size length as well). The pond is about 0.6 miles up a trail which takes off ME 17. This was my first carry with the Hornbeck and immediately noticed the canoe was tilting forward during the hike in....not a good situation when hiking up a moderately steep trail. It was close to 3:30 by the time I arrived. I opted to get to know the canoe instead of fishing, so paddled around the pond for about an hour. The second thing I found out was my wading flat boots were too short resulting in wet feet getting into and out of the canoe. This practice run went without incident.
Next morning (Monday), I hiked back into Spencer. This time, I moved everything in my daypack's top pocket into the main pack in an effort to resolve the boat tipping forward. That made no difference and I had to resort to holding the front of the boat up with one hand while hiking. I also found a workaround for the wet feet: I took my ultralight waders and some oversize Teva sandals I'd bought years ago for wading. This worked perfectly (and I still wore the PFD). I fished for several hours, catching two Brook Trout. The first one was about 13 inches long and a bit skinny.
The second was a small hen about 11 inches along. I missed at least 6-7 strikes. One difference between trolling in a canoe vs. a float tube is you're not holding the rod, so, there's about a 1-2 second delay in your hook set while you drop the paddle and pick up the rod. The other issue I found was even a small breeze blows the stern of the boat around making it difficult to cast and fish in one direction. I left between 3:30 and 4 pm and headed back to Rumford.
Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday were forecasted to be rainy. Tuesday morning, I made the drive from Rumford, past Weld, to Beal Pond.
This is another FFO pond with a one or two fish limit and its drive-to. I fished for about 3 hours.....didn't even see a fish.....though the iBobber did show fish. About 1 pm, the rain started and I concluded that day.
(partial post - more to come)
Arrived in Rumford on Sunday afternoon around 1:30 pm. After checking into the motel, I made the 40 minute drive to Spencer Pond, located just south of the Swift River/Rangeley Lake divide. This is a FFO pond with a 1 or 2 fish limit (I believe there is a minimum size length as well). The pond is about 0.6 miles up a trail which takes off ME 17. This was my first carry with the Hornbeck and immediately noticed the canoe was tilting forward during the hike in....not a good situation when hiking up a moderately steep trail. It was close to 3:30 by the time I arrived. I opted to get to know the canoe instead of fishing, so paddled around the pond for about an hour. The second thing I found out was my wading flat boots were too short resulting in wet feet getting into and out of the canoe. This practice run went without incident.
Next morning (Monday), I hiked back into Spencer. This time, I moved everything in my daypack's top pocket into the main pack in an effort to resolve the boat tipping forward. That made no difference and I had to resort to holding the front of the boat up with one hand while hiking. I also found a workaround for the wet feet: I took my ultralight waders and some oversize Teva sandals I'd bought years ago for wading. This worked perfectly (and I still wore the PFD). I fished for several hours, catching two Brook Trout. The first one was about 13 inches long and a bit skinny.
The second was a small hen about 11 inches along. I missed at least 6-7 strikes. One difference between trolling in a canoe vs. a float tube is you're not holding the rod, so, there's about a 1-2 second delay in your hook set while you drop the paddle and pick up the rod. The other issue I found was even a small breeze blows the stern of the boat around making it difficult to cast and fish in one direction. I left between 3:30 and 4 pm and headed back to Rumford.
Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday were forecasted to be rainy. Tuesday morning, I made the drive from Rumford, past Weld, to Beal Pond.
This is another FFO pond with a one or two fish limit and its drive-to. I fished for about 3 hours.....didn't even see a fish.....though the iBobber did show fish. About 1 pm, the rain started and I concluded that day.
(partial post - more to come)
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