Dixon Pond is a 17-acre body of water nestled on the flank of Pierce Pond Mountain in Pierce Pond Township (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 30 A1). The pond is remarkably deep for its small size, with a maximum depth of 55 ft. The only way to reach this little jewel is to hike up to it from Pierce Pond via a forest trail. The pond supports a healthy population of native brook trout.
I tie my boat just passed the Caribou Narrows on Middle Pierce Pond and hike the 25-minute to the pond by myself. I love Dixon Pond: its beauty, total isolation, forested surroundings, and fiesty brook trout. The trout don’t get big (the largest one I have caught in this pond over the years was 13″) but eagerly take dry flies. In fact, flyfishing is the only legal way to fish the pond, which suits me just fine.
Perley Pond is located in the town of Sebago (see the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 4 C5). To reach the pond, turn onto Folly Road from either Route 107 (Bridgton Road) or Route 114 (Sebago Road) and drive for 2-3 miles. The pond is clearly visible from Folly Road. An unimproved sandy launch allows access for small trailered boats, as well as hand-carried craft.
Fishing for largemouth bass is a cherished summer activity for many fishermen in southern Maine. The desired quietness and loneliness, however, can be rudely impacted by the unwelcome hustle and bustle of jet skiers, swimmers, speed boaters, other fishermen, general shore activity, or busy road traffic. My goal was to find, and share with you, hidden largemouth bass fishing spots scattered throughout York County. I focused on small ponds less than 50 acres in size, located off the beaten track but still readily accessible by car (no need for 4X4 driving or hiking through the woods!). I also avoided ponds with excessive shore development. A small motorized boat could be launched on a few of these ponds, but most are fishable only by hand-carried craft, such as a canoe or kayak. This selection process ensures that you will likely be fishing for largemouth bass all by yourself in unspoiled, quiet, natural surroundings. The ponds are also small enough that they can be covered in a lazy afternoon or a long summer evening. Finally, I fished each one of them to ensure that they contain largemouth bass, which they did! Click here for an overview of the lures I like to use on these fish. I’ve also identified fabulous largemouth bass ponds in Cumberland County, south coastal Maine, and southern Oxford County.
And the fabulous ponds for York County are (in alphabetical order)….
Boyd Pond is located on the north side of Mill Turn Road, about 0.2 miles east of Route 117 in Limington (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 4 E4). The edges of this 26-acre pond (maximum depth = 19 ft) are completely surrounded by wide, dense beds of lily pads. The surface water is lightly stained. The shoreline is mostly wooded and only one house is visible from the pond.
Little Boyd (or Unnamed) Pond is located on the south side of Mill Turn Road, about 0.4 miles east of Route 117 in Limington (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 4 E4). The shoreline of this 10-acre pond is completely surrounded by a dense mat of floating vegetation. The pond is shallow (maximum depth = 7 ft), and choked with aquatic vegetation. The water is stained a light brown and the substrate appears to consist entirely of a thick layer of organic muck. Only two houses are visible from the pond. The shoreline is mostly wooded.
York Pond is located in Eliot (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 1 A3). The access to this body of water is well “hidden”. Directions are as follows: Drive on Route 91 and turn unto York Shore Drive, which leads through a residential development. Turn right on York Pond Road after 0.2 miles. Go to the end by the circle and look for mail box #6. Get on the driveway but make an immediate left on a rough, stony forest road. The access point to the pond is about 700 ft further down on the right. Even though a small trailered boat could be launched, the fishing rule book states that motorboats with internal combustion engines are prohibited on the pond. So, only craft powered by arm juice or an electric motor are allowed on the water.
View of the access point to Littlefield Pond from Emmond Road
Littlefield Pond is located in Sanford (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 2 C3). Access to the pond is as follows: drive west on Route 224 (Pleasant Street) into Springvale. Turn right on Payne Street . Cross Beaver Hill Road unto Elm Street. Stay on Elm Street for 0.6 miles before turning left on Littlefield Road. Stay on this road for 0.5 miles before turning right on Emmons Road (a gravel road). The access to the pond is 0.2 miles on the right.
I reach the Durham boat launch off Route 136 (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 5 A5) on the Androscoggin River at 7 am. The weather is gorgeous, with full sunshine and a light breeze. The water temp is 70F. The air temp is in the low 70’s and forecast to rise into the high 80’s by early afternoon. I position my boat along the bank across from the boat launch and slowly drift down with the current while fishing the wooded shoreline for smallmouth bass using 4″ soft stickbaits. I get no bites, which is unusual since the bass typically are found shallow early in the morning on this river. I turn the engine on and move further downstream to fish another section of the shore, but with the same result…
I reach the Pejepscot boat launch off Route 196 in Topsham (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 6 B2) with Salvador at 4:30 pm. We want to catch the smallmouth bass that are so plentiful in this stretch of the Androscoggin River. The conditions are perfect: the sun is setting and hazy, clouds are forecast to roll in later in the evening, the wind is light.
I meet up with Tom D. and Tom A. at the Claypits boat launch off Clay Pits Road (see The Main Atlas and Gazetteer map 3 B4) in Scarborough at 5:30 am. We’re going after striped bass which enter the Scarborough River with the incoming tide. We have to hurry up though because high tide occurs at 8:30 am.
We motor out of the river and into the ocean to jig for small mackerel behind Bluff Island. Typically, we’d catch a dozen mackerel in 15 minutes and be ready to go after stripers. But not today… It takes us one hour to catch 4 mackerels, by which time two of them are dead. This is not a good sign, though, because stripers follow the mackerel schools and if the schools are absent, so are the stripers… We return closer to the mouth of the river and fish our remaining live bait close to the surface with a bobber. We see no striper activity, even though large schools of 2″ baitfish are swimming all around the area and the seabirds are having a feast.
Our two mackerels are dead within 45 minutes. We motor back out towards Bluff Island to catch some more. Again, it takes us one hour to catch a handful of fresh ones. We return to shore and let our new baits drift in front of Prouts Neck. Half a dozen other boats are doing the same thing. No one is catching anything.
It’s 9:30 am and the tide has turned. We’ve given it our best but the stripers decided not to come to the party… Fortunately, the weather was gorgeous, with a light southern breeze, no waves, and filtered sunshine. It was definitively worth to be on the water this early in the morning in the company of two friends.
The results: skunked : (
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