Remote Maine smallie fishing

[Romo]

I spent last week near the north woods of maine fishing remote lakes. Apparently I was too far south for musky and too far north for pike but there were lots of smallies willing to eat spooks including my pb 5 lber. All the fish were so healthy and fat. A mountain on the east side of the lake provided a delayed sunrise and extra hours of topwater action every morning. Wish I never had to leave!

[DanMarino]

Wow! That looks like paradise!
I need to go there if I only knew where it was.

[YaknBass]

+1

[dpreller]

my dream trip, or boundary waters...one day.

[mweber02]

Those are some great looking fish.
There is definitely something special about catching fish on your own kayak when you travel.

[Mike]

Oh, so jealous! That 21" fish is a fat beast, congrats!

[Romo]

Thanks it was a great trip I got to fish every morning for a few hours and spend time with family the rest of the day. I was hoping I would satisfy my topwater smallmouth craving but I'm afraid I've only made it worse! Floated my home river the schuylkill last night after work with no expectations and was rewarded with no blowups. Been a few years since I've gotten a topwater smallie from the skuke and not for lack of trying. Gotta start investigating the big d or the susky.

[PigPen]

Those are great pictures. I'm trying to get up there to fish for giant brook trout. How were the flies?

[Romo]

I know nothing about fly fishing but there seemed to be hatches every morning and night. Some mornings they were huge white flies with little whispy tails and other mornings it was all kinds. I would've loved to target big brookies but from the knowledge I gleaned from the locals its a very tough game right now with the warm water temps.

Several mornings on that pond I thought I saw brookies (its stocked) rising but they couldve been white perch. The one night I got to fish at dusk there were a few rough looking locals heading out in canoes with lanterns and nightcrawlers. They werent too chatty but I assumed they were targeting brookies. I did catch about a 10 incher dropping a spinner under some random bridge on the side of the road. The next few drops yielded white and yellow perch and fallfish.

As a sidenote I was fishing the outflow of a dam below one of the outlets of the kennebec throwing a gold mepps spinner and hooked what I thought was a huuuuuuge trout or possibly a salmon. When I got it close I realized it was a monstrosity 30"+ fallfish! It was too big to swing on my ultralight and by the time I clambered down the rocks it hopped off. Also had what I think was a brookie with a big orange belly follow up to the rocks before turning away. I did catch a couple 14" smallies from that hole though.

[PigPen]

I know nothing about fly fishing but there seemed to be hatches every morning and night. Some mornings they were huge white flies with little whispy tails and other mornings it was all kinds. I would've loved to target big brookies but from the knowledge I gleaned from the locals its a very tough game right now with the warm water temps.

Several mornings on that pond I thought I saw brookies (its stocked) rising but they couldve been white perch. The one night I got to fish at dusk there were a few rough looking locals heading out in canoes with lanterns and nightcrawlers. They werent too chatty but I assumed they were targeting brookies. I did catch about a 10 incher dropping a spinner under some random bridge on the side of the road. The next few drops yielded white and yellow perch and fallfish.

As a sidenote I was fishing the outflow of a dam below one of the outlets of the kennebec throwing a gold mepps spinner and hooked what I thought was a huuuuuuge trout or possibly a salmon. When I got it close I realized it was a monstrosity 30"+ fallfish! It was too big to swing on my ultralight and by the time I clambered down the rocks it hopped off. Also had what I think was a brookie with a big orange belly follow up to the rocks before turning away. I did catch a couple 14" smallies from that hole though.

That's too cool. I'm embarrassed to say that I was asking about the gnats, mosquito's, and biting flies a.k.a pests. Sorry for the confusion. People I've met from Maine talk about wearing nets on their hats to keep from being bugged insane.

[Shady]

absolutely amazing

[Romo]

That's too cool. I'm embarrassed to say that I was asking about the gnats, mosquito's, and biting flies a.k.a pests. Sorry for the confusion. People I've met from Maine talk about wearing nets on their hats to keep from being bugged insane.

My bad! They weren't terrible especially out on the lake. Around our cabin in the woods though you were live prey. Everyone up there called Off Deep Woods the "Northwoods Cologne." The people we stayed with had bug net hats but they say its only terrible in May and June.

[volboy23]

Great looking fish! It is a lot of fun fishing up there and tons of spots that don't get a lot of pressure. I have a brother that lives in maine and I got to fish up there in late June and the fishing was a lot of fun. We caught a bunch of quality fish. He has a cabin on a pond that is private and we caught both large mouth and small mouth. It is so peaceful and quiet up there!

[Mark]

Romo,

Great trip.

Beautiful scenery and you caught some huge SM Bass.

I fished some remote lakes and rivers in Maine during a weeklong trip once and I was surprised at how large the SM grow in what I assume are relatively short growing seasons. It was in May and there still no leaves on the trees.

Regarding matching the hatch, when fly rodding for SM it can indeed help. But often they are not particular and will hit the old standbys of cork and foam poppers and wooly buggers and Clouser Minnows regardless of what insects are hatching.

[Romo]

This was my second time in Maine and second time with amazing fishing. The first time we camped at Pemaquid pond and the fishing there was truly impressive. We caught largemouth up to 6 lbs and smallmouth and big pickerel. I would actually find the fish in the morning by pedaling out to the middle of the lake and listening for breaking fish! It was all topwater and pretty ridiculous.

This time I was fishing little ponds in the moosehead lake region connected to the kennebec outlets and it was all smallies. I'd like to get up to belgrade lakes area in the next year or two and fish all those ponds for a little more diversity. These were just a small sample of the 10 hours of gopro and dozens of pictures I took up there. It is beautiful and the fishing is spectacular so if you ever get the chance to go to Maine do it!