Most of the brookies I catch this morning are of this modest size.
January 27, 2024
Location and Access to Silver Lake
Where is Silver Lake
This 12-acre water body is found right next to the ocean in Phippsburg, Sagadahoc County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 6 E5). If you are quiet and listen attentively when on the ice, you can hear the waves crashing on the nearby beach!It’s a neat experience. My goal this morning is fishing through the ice on Silver Lake for brook trout.
Public Access
To reach this location, drive on Route 209 from Bath and pass Popham Beach State Park. The pond will appear within less than a mile from the entrance of the park. Just before reaching the southern tip of the pond, turn right on Hunnewell Avenue, which is a gravel road that splits off from Route 209. Drive 200-300 ft. on this road and leave your vehicle on the side. The access point will be to your left.
Keep in mind that parking space is limited to a handful of vehicles (note: no parking is available or allowed on Route 209). Parking may also be a problem after a snowstorm when the snow plows have piled up snow on the sides.
This little guy would fit nicely in the frying pan!
Silver Lake Features, Stocking, Depth Profile, and Angling Rules
General Characteristics
Silver Lake is one of my favorite “go-to” early-winter brook trout ice fishing destination in southern Maine. I have ice fished it several times before (click here, here, and here for examples).
Unlike more accessible – and therefore popular! – locations (click here, here, and here for examples), this pond is literally at the end of a dead-end road on a coastal peninsula. Hence, it is only lightly fished, and you are likely to have the place all to yourself. The traffic on Route 209, which runs parallel to the western shoreline, is light and unobtrusive.
Annual Stocking
The other reason I enjoy ice fishing here is that lots of trout are stocked each fall in preparation for the hard-water season. In early December of last year, the state stuffed Silver Lake with 600 9-inch brookies, 50 13-inch brookies, and 10 20-inch brookies, for a total of 55 fish per acre.
I do not care for the little guys and am secretly hoping to encounter one of the lunker fish. However, this kind of stocking density essentially ensures fast action.
Depth Profile
Silver Lake has a mean and maximum depth of 5 ft. and 7 ft., respectively. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information. Its shallow depth ensures that this water body freezes over early in the winter.
Fishing Regulations
Ice fishing on this pond occurs under the general fishing laws applicable to the South Zone. Click here for the full regulations applicable at this location.
The trout are mangling the bait fish but refuse to get hooked…
Fishing through the Ice on Silver Lake for Brook Trout
Arrival and Conditions
I arrive at Silver Lake by 7:15 am. The air temperature is a pleasant 35° F and the sky is overcast, and scheduled to remain so for the rest of the morning. Perfect!
But I am ambivalent about the ice because this pond is right by the ocean. Also, the temperature has been above freezing for the last 48 hours, and it rained the day before. I use my trusted spud to carefully check the situation at the entry point. The lake is covered by an underwhelming 5 inches of ice, with the top inch soft and slushy, but the conditions appear safe.
I put on my cleats and place retractable ice safety picks around my neck before venturing further out on the ice, just in case.
Technique for Fishing through the Ice on Silver Lake
I will fish along the southern shoreline in water 3 to 6 ft. deep. I use my auger to drill four widely-spaced holes and start deploying my traps with small shiners placed halfway down the water column. Placing a salmon egg on the hook provides extra visual and olfactory stimulants of interest to the predators below.
Results of Fishing through the Ice on Silver Lake
I do not get a flag by the time the fourth trap is deployed, which is disappointing. The flag on the next-to-last trap finally goes up as I am drilling a dozen jigging holes. None too soon! The spool is not turning, and the trout stole the bait fish. I send down a jig but find no takers.
I get another three flags over the next half hour in that one trap and the one furthest out. The signal is clear: I pick up the first two traps which have not done a thing this morning and move them closer to where the action is. This flexibility is an important part of my repertoire: I move traps that do not “work” closer to those that do. Stocked brook trout tend to congregate and the active traps are telling you where they are foraging.
Mangled Bait and Finicky Trout
But I notice a definite pattern: my bait is getting mangled or stolen but the trout are avoiding the hook. They are also not consistently falling for the jigging lure I send down after I get an unproductive flag. It is clear to me that the trout are skittish around the bait fish and uncommitted this morning. I will need to work to catch them!
I have had 7 flags by 9 am but have only a 9-inch and a 13-inch brookie to show for all my efforts. And then the flag action dies down, as it typically does around this time of the morning when ice fishing.
The Power Nymph once again came through for me.
Jigging saves the Day!
That gives me the breathing space required to focus full-time on jigging. I use my two preferred lures: a Power Nymph teamed up with a small jig head hook and a tiny 1.5-inch Rapala jigging rap. I swap two jigging rods as I go from hole to hole and definitely notice more action on the Power Nymph, which becomes the winning lure this morning.
Squirting a bit of crayfish juice on the plastic lure each time I go to a different hole enhances the attractiveness of the nymph. The next hour and a half yields only one more flag – and no fish on the ice – but six trout on the Nymph. Boy, I once again proved to myself that jigging easily makes the difference between slow fishing and much better fishing!
It is now 11 am and time to break up camp and head back home. Only two of the eight trout I landed this morning measured 13 inches and I got nowhere near the lunkers. Nonetheless, I caught fish and enjoyed my time on the ice. Life is good indeed!
The outcome of through the ice on Silver Lake: I landed 8 brook trout (largest was 13″) in 3.5 hours of fun ice 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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