|
Date: October 23, 2021 Body of Water: Upper Range Pond, Poland, Maine Moon Phase: Full Moon plus three days; waning gibbous moon Boat: Numenon With: Alone Target: Trout Time: 9:45 AM - 1:45 PM Conditions: Generally overcast (some sun struggled through after Noon); about 40 - 50 degrees F; calm to very mild northerly wind; water temperatures about 60 +/- I thought I'd try some new water. Upper and Middle Range Ponds (it's pronounced "Rang", here) are relatively convenient, two-story fisheries. Neither lake trout nor salmon fisheries (like many of the coldwater lakes here), they are stocked with a variety of trout species (brown, rainbow, brook), and are known to sporadically cough up a big fish. A state-maintained ramp is on Upper, and it connects through a causeway to Middle. I suspected I'd have more than enough water and options to keep me busy. Here's the thing; local ramps are pretty informal affairs. I was surprised to find a very steep, misaligned ramp with no dock and very limited parking. Fortunately, only one other rig was using the facility this quiet day, and I got on the water with no real problems. The causeway to Middle looked very sketchy and shallow, so I turned south into Upper Range Pond. I was a little surprised to have zero mapping information on my Humminbird; I'd have to scout and fish "blind" from an initial structure perspective. Since the shallows (less than 10 feet) were still very weedy, I attempted to target the "edge" from about 12 feet of water out to 20 feet, or so, initially. I started with an S7 Rapala, 85 feet back on mono; and two colors of lead with a small Stinger Scorpion spoon. Since skies were overcast and the water was tannic brown, I chose lures with gold/yellow/red hues. As I approached the south end of the lake, I saw a bass fisherman catch a small bass; it looked like they were throwing jerk-baits over deeper water. I was targeting trout, trolling to cover water, but it was still "nice" to see some action. Shortly thereafter, near the southeastern part of the lake, I ran over a weedy bar. The flat-line bent over, and I assumed it was weeds; but it turned out to be a 13.25-inch smallmouth bass, my first in Maine. At least I'd caught something! I circled around to go through this water again, and noted my first congregation of "bait" near bottom in about 28 feet of water. I spent some time dropping spoons and jigs here, to no avail, before moving on. This scene repeated itself further up the shoreline, and when I was again refused with my vertical presentations, I decided to move deeper and try the downrigger. This turned out to be a decent move. As I scouted the basin, I noted that it dropped into 25+ feet of water, to as deep as 38 feet. Numerous "humps" dotted the landscape, too. After vertically jigging some marks near one that topped out at 22 feet (unsuccessfully, again), I moved further north to set up a trolling pass. My spread now consisted of an emerald shiner Stinger Scorpion spoon, about 50 - 75 feet behind the downriver ball, and a Michigan Stinger (regular sized; small for Lake Michigan but seemingly large, here) in yellow/bumblebee trailing five colors of lead. After circum-fishing the known hump, I continued my troll to the south, encouraged by some marks on the graph. There did seem to be a smattering of bait and individual fish in the bottom few feet over this deeper water. Zing! Fish on! I carefully played the fish on the lead-core line, images of a 4-pound brown and Lake Michigan memories swirling in my head. I was mildly disappointed when a fat bass jumped behind the boat. Smallmouth number two, a nice 16.75-incher came aboard. At about this time, the other boat from the ramp lot trolled by; they too, had a spread of riggers and cores behind the boat, and they were catching some fish, too. Sticking with it, the downrigger produced three fat largemouths to 15.5 inches. Each was between 28 and 32 down and right near bottom. I started imagining working this basin water with a blade bait for a mixed bag of bass (maybe the next trip, since that gear was not on board.) While I expanded my trolling passes to the south, most of the action (for me and the other boat, as far as I could tell) appeared to be in the northern part of the basin. And so I kept returning. Now concentrating on keeping the rigger spoon as close to bottom as possible (although I did get hung top a few times on rocky outcroppings), I was 28 feet down over 30 feet of water, when finally, the downrigger rod jumped with some authority. At this point I was expecting another bass, but I suddenly got very careful with the fish when I saw color; this was a trout! A 19-inch rainbow made my day! I continued for another half-hour or so, but suddenly the logistics of the ramp loomed heavily. Since I had the entire next day ahead of me, I cut the day short when I had to pull lines because the rigger had found some sticky bottom. I was home in good shape to share the evening pleasantly with A; this was, after all, the 40th Anniversary of our relationship. What do I have to say about this? This pond showed some promise! I liked the mixed bag fishery, and it's small enough to cover on foot for ice fishing. It's pretty well protected from weather, too. I shall return! It was nice to catch a couple of decent fish, but the trout really did make my day. Finally, some targeted success! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Steve LachanceRI --> NH --> MI-->MA-->ME Archives
June 2024
Categories
All
|
Proudly powered by Weebly