Kayak Bass Fishing in Southwestern Maine
By: John Kumiski
Southwest Maine offers paddlers all kinds of lakes and ponds in which to wet a line, with outstanding warmwater fisheries for both smallmouth and largemouth bass. The two species often live in the same lake (or pond, or river). After spending two summer seasons fishing up here, many nearby waters are still unexplored by me.
All my fishing is on foot or by kayak. I'm currently headquartered in the town of Lovell, on Kezar Lake, 2,600 acres. A considerable amount of my fishing occurs here (on Middle Bay), but I like to fish around, too. I enjoy fishing small ponds with only small-boat access. Kezar Lake is a popular vacation spot, and when the water skiers and pleasure boaters get going, I want a little more solitude than the big lake offers. Plus, I've always felt that the willingness of fish to bite is directly proportional to the amount of sweat equity I'm willing to invest. If only that always held true!
Tackle Needs
I use a nine-foot, four-weight TFO rod matched with a five-weight, weight forward floating line, and I also carry a six-foot spin rod with a Stradic 3000 reel loaded with 15-pound braid. Thousands of different flies or lures can be used to fool bass. For fly fishing I carry Clouser Minnows, bunny-strip eelworms, minnow imitations made from synthetics, and other subsurface offerings. I seldom use any of them. Poppers, gurglers, and sliders make up the top-water arsenal I generally use, and I rarely change flies until I lose one.
For spin fishing I only use lures with single hooks (usually Owner Twist-Locks), almost exclusively soft plastics. Ripple-tail style worms, Senko-type worms, and soft plastic shad make up the spin arsenal. Whether fly- or spin-fishing, baits need to be mostly weedless. Especially for largemouths, you'll be casting around salad and lumber a lot.
Having said all that, a fisherman is best off using any bait they are most comfortable with.
Techniques
Almost every one of my fishing trips in Maine is a search mission. I don't know any of these waters very well, and in many cases, I have never seen them before.
Since we all know bass like structure, the first thing to do is find some. Conventional wisdom says that smallies like rocks, bigmouths like weeds. While there is truth to that, I get largemouths around rocks and smallies around weeds, so be prepared to be surprised. Weeds or rocks, preferably with nearby deeper water, are what I want to find. Fallen timber is also good. I know folks have success around docks, but that has not been my experience here.
Heald Pond, bass habitat.
Recently my wife and I were paddling on Kezar Lake. Of course, I had a fishing rod. Since it is not in the best interest of domestic tranquility to hook one's spouse while fly casting, I had a spin rod with a Senko on the line. A fat bass jumped out of the water after a dragonfly. I tossed the Senko, and minutes later was photographing the fish. It helps when they show you where they are!
Kezar Lake, formed by glaciers, has large rock shoals made up of giant boulders, easily found by the buoys that warn boaters of their presence, a real time-saver. Each shoal is worth spending some time on, casting surface baits (fly rod poppers), slow-sinking baits (unweighted worms or Senkos), fast-sinking baits (worm or Senko on a jig head- expect hang-ups). Fat smallies love the rocks, and you'll get largemouths here, too.
A rare, mid-day bass.
Once the fishy-looking area is found, casting commences. That first fish is SO important! It lets you know you're working the right area, and that they'll actually take whatever doodad is tied on the end of the line. If that fish doesn't come, keep moving! If the fish does come, keep working similar-looking areas.
When fishing around weeds, I use a that Owner Twist-Lock hook, size 3/0. On this hook I'll put a Senko worm or a soft plastic shad, rigged as weedless as I can make it. I'll cast into the weeds, hold the rod tip high, and skitter the bait across the surface. Although lots of strikes are missed this way, those strikes are so explosive, so exciting, that I don't mind. Plenty of fish are caught anyway, both bass and chain pickerel.
When fly fishing in the weeds, I try to do the same thing, although it's harder. The best fly for this is the bullet head slider- it tends not to hang in the weeds. You will still catch plenty of both weeds and fish.
Kezar Lake smallmouth, on a fly-rod popper.
If you set out with the sun high, in the heat of the day, don't expect much. You'll enjoy your best success early or late in the day. One day last summer I made my first (and still only) visit to Heald Pond. It looked awesome. On the west side were hillsides dropping into the lake. The east side was shallow, full of weeds. I had no activity in either place, in spite of working it hard. Then the sun dropped behind the ridge, darkness started coming on, and in short order I got three nice bass.
I've fished after dark a few times, on Kezar Lake and Farrington Pond. Great fishing, every time! Fishing in the dark requires a change in the way you usually process your information (sound over sight), but can be very rewarding once you figure it out.
Other Fish
Kezar Lake has a 150-foot deep hole. The state stocks the lake with landlocked salmon and other salmonids. I have no interest in trolling down-riggers for these, preferring the wild genetics of the unstocked bass.
The lake's weedy areas hold plentiful chain pickerel. Although they don't get as big as pike, the strikes can be equally heart-stopping. You will lose baits to their dentures, though.
Chain pickerel on a soft plastic shad.
Last summer I fished the pool beneath Swan's Falls in the Saco River, casting a small Clouser Minnow, hoping for a smallie or maybe even a brown trout. I had a strike from a decent fish, strong enough to pull serious drag. It never jumped or showed itself and I thought I had that trout. It turned out to be a large fallfish, a type of minnow. While a bit of a disappointment, it took a fly and pulled hard. What more can a fly fisher ask for?
There are various panfish, sunfish and perch, in all these waters.
Some Water Bodies
I've already mentioned Kezar Lake, Farrington Pond, Heald Pond, and the Saco River. I've also fished at least once in Horseshoe Lake, the old channel of the Saco River, and Kezar Pond. I'd love to fish the Kezar River, but haven't figured out how to get a kayak in there.
If you examine the southwest part of Maine on a decent map (I suggest DeLorme's Maine Atlas or Google Maps), you'll see there are hundreds of lakes and ponds there. The glaciers were very generous in their lake-creating! There's no need to drive very far- if you're in this part of Maine, you're near some good fishing.
Conclusion
Southwestern Maine offers everything a kayak fisherman could want- plenty of places to cast a lure, beautiful surroundings, plentiful, largely unpressured fish, and loons. How could we forget about the plentiful wildlife you'll see? As a bonus, the people you meet are invariably friendly, too. I love visiting and fishing this area, and think that, if you visit, you'll love it too.
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