Long Lake covers 208 acres and is located in Livermore, Androscoggin County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 A5). Public access is via the boat launch located right off Route 4 (Crash Road). A large and spacious parking area is available next to the launch.
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The first brookie of the morning tells me that the fish stocked five days earlier are still schooling in the immediate vicinity of the boat launch located to the left in this picture.
Bartlett Pond is a 26-acre body of water located in Livermore, Androscoggin County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 B5). Access to this pond is by the outlet right next to Norlands Road via an unimproved dirt boat ramp that can accommodate small, trailered boats. Limited parking is available along the road shoulder.
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The stocked trout are never too far away from their release point in the fall.
Round Pond is a 161-acres body of water located in Livermore, Androscoggin County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 A5). Access to this pond is located right off busy Route 4 (Auburn Road), which connects the Lewiston/Auburn metro area to Livermore Falls. This access road leads to an excellent hard-top boat launch and spacious parking, both of which are embedded in a beautiful softwood woodlot.
Copyright protected by DigiproveCrystal Pond, a.k.a. Beals Pond, is a 47-acre body of water located in Turner, Androscoggin County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 C4). This pond is situated right next to busy Route 4 (Auburn Road), which connects the Lewiston/Auburn metro area to Livermore Falls further north. A spacious parking lot is available by the public access point. Keep in mind that only hand-carried craft can be launched from this location because a boat ramp is unavailable. In fact, access to the water is down a half-dozen cement steps.
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The water level is so low that launching a trailered boat becomes a challenge…
The lower two-thirds of the Androscoggin River flowing through Maine supports a tremendous smallmouth bass fishery (click here, here, here, here, and here for examples). We’ve come a long way since the 1960’s when this stretch of river was an abused and neglected stinking open sewer, contaminated by untreated papermill effluent and municipal sewage. Following the Androscoggin’s re-birth after the passage of the Clean Water Act in the early 1970’s, Maine’s people have discovered its tremendous recreational potential, turning the river into a regional paddling and angling destination. Residual contaminant levels in fish tissue greatly limits the number of smallmouth bass that are harvested annually. As a result, most recreational anglers practice catch-and-release, myself included, resulting in a robust bronzeback fishery. Keep in mind that this stretch of the river also contains serious northern pike. Although I’m not specifically targeting these fish today, I’ve caught them in the past in this general location as an accidental “bycatch”, which is always fun.
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The passageway underneath Range Hill Road. Middle Range Pond is visible in the background.
Middle Range Pond is a 366-acre body of water located in Poland, Androscoggin County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 5 A3). This pond is the second of the three interconnected Range Pond chain-of-lakes (i.e., upper, middle, and lower). The middle and upper ponds actually share a public boat launch which is located off Range Hill Road, at the downstream end of upper pond. A narrow passage underneath this road allows boats to access middle pond. Plenty of parking is available at the launch site. Note that the stretch of water between this passageway and Middle Range Pond extends for about a third of a mile, is really shallow (1-2 ft deep), and overgrown with aquatic vegetation later on in the season. It’s actually a great spot for catch largemouth bass in May and June, but that’s not why I’m here for today.
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The water in the raceway flowing out of the power station on the left is quite powerful. Note that no water overflows the dam present in the background.
I have a couple of hours this afternoon to put my nephew Christian on smallmouth bass. He’s visiting from “away” and hasn’t touched a fishing rod for over two years. I decide to hit the Androscoggin River in front of the Otis hydropower station in Livermore, Androscoggin County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 A5). I’ve had luck at this location in the past. Click here and here for earlier blogs on this spot and for directions on how to reach it. Keep in mind that you’ll need a canoe or kayak because a hard-top public boat launch is not available on this section of the river.
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Joey is a happy paddler this morning!
My nephew Joey is visiting Maine from away and asks me if I could take him fishing before he leaves back home. Are you kidding me? That’s like asking a honey bee if it wants to drink sweet nectar out of a fragrant flower!! Of course I’ll take him out and put him on fish. I want the trip to be as successful as possible though. I therefore choose a location on the Androscoggin River where I had tremendous luck catching fat smallmouth bass two weeks ago, namely in front of the Otis hydropower station in Livermore, Androscoggin County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 A5). Click here for directions on how to reach this location. We have about 2 hours to make something happen because Joey needs to be back on time to pack up and get to the airport later on that afternoon
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The turn-off is in front of this sign next to mailbox #822 on River Road.
My goal this afternoon is to fish the Androscoggin River below the dam and hydropower station located in Brunswick, Maine, across the river from Pejepscot (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 6 B2). Note that I am not talking about the “head of tide” dam/power station located in downtown Brunswick (see The Atlas and Gazetteer map 78 B2, just upstream of the route 24/201 bridge over the river). For the record, I did fish that latter spot this morning and only caught 4 scrawny smallmouth bass in 1.5 hours of intense fishing in what otherwise looked like an ideal location. I suspect that the twice-a-day brackish conditions in this section of the river are less suitable to sustain a healthy and robust bass population. Hence, I didn’t bothered writing a blog about this tidal location.
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Tank #1.
I continue exploring the outstanding smallmouth bass fishery on the middle Androscoggin River by fishing downstream of the Otis hydropower station located in Livermore, Androscoggin County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 A5). To reach this spot coming from Livermore Falls, drive over the Route 4 (Bridge Street) bridge across the river, turn right on Godlin Road immediately after crossing the river, drive no more than 200 ft and then hang a right on Spruce Mountain Road. Park your car along the grassy shoulder of the road, across from mailbox #72. The river will be flowing on your right. This access point is not official and requires dragging your canoe or kayak through 75 ft of brush to reach the water. The dam and the power station are about 1000 ft further upstream.
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