Chaffin Pond is a pretty 13-acre body of water located in Windham, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 5 C2). Access is super-easy! Drive on Route 302 north into Windham, pass the Home Depot sign (Franklin Drive) and take the next right on Chaffin Pond Reserve Drive (Donnabeth Lippman Park) just before the Sherman Williams store. Our target is a couple of 100 ft down that ruddy dirt road. Ample parking is available. The pond and its surrounding woods once belonged to the Portland Water District which prevented any development (except for a few groundwater pump houses). The area is now a well-used municipal park where young and old come to picnic, walk the many trails, use the playground, or fish, literally smack in the middle of Windham’s busy business district!
My first brook trout of the 2020 ice fishing season. Look at those gorgeous blue spots!
Chaffin Pond was nicely stocked in the fall in anticipation of the upcoming ice fishing season, as follows: 59 7” to 8” brookies per acre, eight 13” brookies per acre, and 0.4 17” brookies per acre. I caught several of those 13” brook trout last month in waders before the ice formed. This pond is managed as a classic “put-and-take” trout fishery geared towards the ice fishing crowd. Its easy access and central location makes it an extremely popular early-winter destination in the Sebago Lakes region, on par with Otter Pond #2 and Otter Pond #4 in Standish. The weather has been unreliable so far this season. It was quite cold late November – early December, which got the ice started on the pond. Then we were hit by several stretches of warmer weather (> 50°F) with lots of rain which severely thinned the ice and made it unsafe. I love ice fishing but do not wish to die for it… I happen to drive through downtown Windham yesterday and decided to take a quick peak. Loo and behold, several people are on the ice! I make plans on the spot to fish here tomorrow.
These two fellas are coming home to the frying pan.
I arrive at the Chaffin Pond parking lot at 7 am, dress up warmly, and place my gear on the sled. The weather is gorgeous, with the temperature at 25°F and no wind. As expected, I have the place all to myself because it is a Monday morning. On the other hand, I can only fish for 1.5 hours before I have to run off to work… I’m not interested in catching the dinky 8 inchers and instead hope to hook into the 13 inch/one pounders. I use my trusted spud to double-check the ice at the access point (safety first!): it is a thin but manageable 3 inches. Just for the heck of it, I also place retractable ice safety picks around my neck as an added precaution… I quickly walk across and set up shop along the eastern shoreline, which will remain deeply shaded from the rising sun. I use my auger to drill four holes in 3 to 8 ft of water. I deploy my tip-ups along the shore baited with 2” minnows. Before pinning each bait, I slide a scented salmon egg on the hook to enhance the attractiveness of my offerings. I also drill multiple other holes all around for jigging. I get a flag when I’m setting up my third trap. That is always a positive signal which shows that the trout are actively foraging this morning. The spool is running at the speed of a rocket when I reach the trap 30 seconds later. I immediately set the hook, bring in 60 ft (!) of line, and land a gorgeously-spotted 13” brookie, the first one of the 2020 ice fishing season for me.
Make sure to fish the eastern shoreline in order to stay in the shadow of the rising sun!
I get four more flags and land two additional 13” trout over the next hour and a quarter. I’m bringing my limit home for the frying pan! I jigged for about 45 minutes but did not generate a single hit, which was surprising. On the other hand, I was not pestered by any of the 8-inch brookies. It is with much reluctance that I gather my belongings at 8:30 am and head off to work. I highly recommend ice fishing Chaffin Pond. It is stocked with the express purpose of generating a lot of fish activity. Keep in mind though that the place gets crazy busy on weekends and that it is imperative to get there at first light in order to grab the choicy spots. Also, I would not fish this location past late January because it gets hit so hard so early by so many people that most of the desirable trout will have been caught and removed by then.
The results: I caught three brook trout (largest = 13”) in one and a half hours of fast fishing.
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