It’s a cold morning but I enjoy being in the great outdoors!
Norcross Pond is a 122-acre body of water located in Chesterville, Franklin County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 20 E1). The public access point is found at the southeastern end of the pond where Norcross Hill Road joins Ridge Road. Plenty of parking space is available along the shoulder where these two roads meet.
The fishing is really slow this morning but I’m not going home skunked!
Norcross Pond is a lightly developed water body situated at the extreme southern tip of Franklin County. The State stocked it last fall with 100 12-inch brown trout to maintain a year-round fishery, together with 880 13-inch brook trout to support a winter put-and-take fishery. The State released an additional 25 19-inch brook trout to sweeten the pot. This pond is one of a handful of locations open to ice fishing for salmonids in Franklin County and therefore receives heavy use by the local hard-water angling crowd. The fishing rules stipulate that it is open to fishing year-round, live bait is allowed, and the daily bag limit for brook trout is two fish. The daily bag limit for bass is also two fish but with only one allowed to exceed 14 inches. I study the depth map to find a steep drop-off to target brown trout. I find a promising spot about 800 ft north of the access point along the eastern shoreline. That is where I plan to set up camp this morning.
It took a lot of time to catch this second brookie. The fish are definitely finicky biters this morning.
I reach the access point of Norcross Pond at 6:30 am (sunrise is at 7:06 am) and am glad to see that I am the first person at the scene. The conditions are to my liking: it is a nippy 13°F, but the temperature is forecast to rise into the mid 30’s later in the day. Fortunately, the lack of wind makes the cold quite bearable. The sky is overcast and will remain so all morning long, with an occasional flurry. However, as soon as I walk on the ice, I realize that I will not be able to reach my pre-selected spot. The snow cover is 10 inches thick, with the top inch consisting of a frozen crust. Every step breaks through the crust, making for one exhausting and sweaty walk. I give up on my original plan about halfway into my trek and start drilling holes using my auger close to the shoreline in 4 to 8 ft. of water. The ice is an unimpressive but solid 13 inches thick. I also place my four traps baited with small shiners placed half-way down the water column. Each hook gets garnished with a salmon egg to impart additional taste and color. Finally, I drill about ten jigging holes, close to each other to limit walking distances. I am all set up by 7:30 am. I have had my first flag already, which resulted in a stolen bait. Regardless, I am glad to see this early action.
The parking spots are all taken, the place is hopping!
Unfortunately, the fishing is exceedingly slow over the next 4 hours. I only get three more flags, which yield two of the sought-after 13-inch brookies. The remaining flag resulted in a dropped bait. I quickly send the Power Nymph and jig head combo down to chase the bait mauler and hook my third brookie 15 seconds later. I love it when that works!! Unfortunately, the fish escapes when the lure hooks itself on the edge of the hole at the bottom. Damn, that would have been three brookies! To my surprise, except for that one hookup on the jig, I do not get a single hit in three hours of non-stop jigging. It is as if the brookies are elsewhere with just an occasional fish swimming through my area. It is now 11 am and time for me to head back home. The cove by the access point has filled up with people. I talk to two guys on my way out. The first one has not gotten a single flag. The second is a local angler who is standing outside by his ice shack. He placed his traps further offshore in 10 to 18 ft. of water with his bait fish right off the bottom looking for perch, bass, and pickerel. He has caught two perch so far this morning. He mentions that the hard-water crowd hits Norcross Pond non-stop as soon as the ice is safe to walk on in early winter. He does not bother fishing for brookies on this pond by late January because the stockers have been so severely thinned out by then. I am actually quite satisfied to see that my two brookies are standing up to scrutiny!
The results: I landed two brookies (largest = 13 inches) in 4 hours of slow fishing.
Was the information in this blog useful? I invite you to share your thoughts and opinions. Also, feel free to discuss your fishing experiences at this location.
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This blog is a wonderful resource. I often watch YouTube fishing videos, where repetition is common.
The narrator/fisher will repeat himself and I’ll think, “You already said that.”
Then he’ll repeat himself again.
And again.
You don’t get that with Stan, who is a disciplined writer and respects his readers, imparting information only once. This is why is blog posts are loaded with information and I find the specifics of launching especially useful.
Thank you, Stan!
Thank you for your positive feedback, Katie. It means a lot. I am glad to see that you find my fishing blogs to be concise and useful: four paragraphs, four or five pictures, a 5-minute read. These blogs are definitely a labor of love! My goal is to get anglers like yourself out and about, exploring all the great freshwater fishing that is available in Maine throughout the four seasons. Tight lines!