Otter Pond #2 is a 12-acre body of water located in Standish, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 5 D1). My son Joel and I arrive at the largest of the two parking lots off Route 35 by 7:15 am. We place his motorized canoe on canoe wheels, load up the engine and our fishing gear in the boat, and haul everything for about a mile down the Mountain Division Trail. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information. We were quite successful catching trout on this pond in November of last year (click here and here for more details) and are looking for a repeat this time. The state stocked this water body on Tuesday April 9, 2012 with lots of 10” brookies, but spiced up the action with much larger 16” brookies, which are the focus of our attention today.
Waiting for the trigger to release
We launch the canoe, set up our downriggers and start trolling slowly along the shoreline 4-5 ft below the surface with small trout spoons in less than 10 ft of water. The conditions are nice this morning: the water is a surprisingly “warm” 44°F, the sky is overcast and the wind is light. We also notice several guys fishing from shore along the railroad tracks. We troll around this small pond several times and are surprised not to get a single hit. Mmm, that doesn’t look promising. We change lures, fish deeper, move further offshore, vary our speed, but nothing gives. I do end up catching a 10” brookie, which we keep for the frying pan. Seven or eight people are now fishing along the shoreline but don’t seem to have any more luck than us.
One nice brook trout from Otter Pond No. 2
It’s now around 11:00 am and we’re in our last go around before calling it a day. We suddenly hear commotion by the shore. One of the guys is yelping from excitement because he hooked into something big. The fish breaches the surface, makes several rolls, and shoots back down. My goodness, I’d be yelping too! The guy wrestles his catch into submission and hauls it out of the water. Holy mackerel, this fish is huge! We can’t resist to drive towards shore to get a closer look. We marvel at the size of this beautiful brookie: 18” and around 2.5-3.0 lbs. Joel and I also observe that we trolled right over this spot several times earlier this morning… This fish wasn’t for us, so we’ll just keep on fishing and dreaming until our turn comes.
The results: I caught a 10” brook trout and Joel got skunked.
Was the information in this blog useful? I invite you to share your thoughts and opinions. Also, feel free to discuss your fishing experiences on this pond.
