Maine Angler

I headed out last Sunday evening to the lake, and caught some early Autumn bass. I like this time of year. The days get cooler and comfortable, the leaves start to change, etc. Although, for the past week, its been in the 80's and even a couple days hit the 90's. So much for cool and comfortable! My boat motor was giving me a lot of trouble last weekend. It would almost turn over on the first pull, and would not start from then on. So I used my trolling motor only. After taking it home and checking it over, I found that the spark plug terminal tips somehow became very loose and I tightened them back on. Never seen them do that before. Regardless, I gave the motor a couple pulls and it started right up. Fall fishing for bass is a lot of fun in Maine. Most of the fair weather anglers are done for the year, so that means less boat traffic (sometimes NO boat traffic). As I said, usually  its nice and cool. Sometimes the middle of the day can be great for bass fishing this tim

I've been by Phillip's Lake many times in my life, but only started fishing it last year. You can start to see it from busy Route 1A as you drive by the Lucerne Inn. Its surrounded by many hills and mountains; Chase Mountain, Fitz Mountain, Oak Hill, and Peaked Mountain just to name a few. My dad has many memories on this lake from his younger days. He knew many people that lived on the lake, or had camps there. At the public boat launch, a little ways out, there is a small island. On a dare, he swam to the island and back, and claims once he got out there, he started having doubts he could swim all the way back. As you probably guessed, he did, or else I wouldn't be writing this. Typically when I go fishing, I like to fish quiet places. This is quite the opposite. The shoreline is heavily developed with year round residences and seasonal camps. There's almost always constant boat traffic, especially in summer. Then there's the ongoing noise of traf

So after using the kayak a few times, and walking around it with long, awkward stares in my garage, I have my Predator MX setup for fishing that seems to be working well so far! First off, the audio isn't crystal clear in this video, mostly in the first half, because my hand was partially covering the microphone. I adjusted the audio levels throughout the video to make it as even as I could, but you should be able to hear everything fine...it just isn't super clean sounding. Save 10% on all orders at Rapala.com! Just enter code FISH10 at checkout. Some exclusions apply. Anyway, the most custom thing about this setup is the crate system, which is 2 Sterilite filing crates joined together. These can be found at Walmart for $5-$6, and I think they even come in other colors if you want to get super fancy and color match. The rod holder is a "Downeaster" made right here in Maine. You can find some here: https://www.down-east.com/ In the future, I

In this video, I show you how I troll lures to catch bass. It is the only tactic I use in this video. I want to show that this is an effective way to catch bass. As I mention in the video, I started doing this many years ago when I was without a gas motor on my motor boat. I either paddled a canoe or kayak, and sometimes used an electric trolling motor on my jon boat. While doing this, I would cast lures behind the boat and let them sit in the rod holder when I was hopping from one spot to another. I found out that places I normally wouldn't fish held some bass, and even deeper spots off shore. At the time, I remember feeling discouraged that my old gas motor had blown. But the silver lining was that I learned about a lot of places that held fish. I came to appreciate the simple joy of paddling a kayak and canoe, and making it work. Even though I have a working motor now, I still will use a kayak for a quick outing. I learned a lot more about my lake, and some of those

I wanted to do a different kind of video, so I thought it may be fun, and interesting, to do a night fishing video using all black lures. They say bass feed at night based on vibration, sound, and silhouettes, and some say you should use black lures when fishing at night. So let's put that theory to the test. I did catch a few largemouth bass, nothing to brag about, but I did  catch some when it was totally dark, on black lures. I also had a few topwater strikes but was unable to set the hook. I was hoping to catch more than I did, but it was interesting, nonetheless. The fishing has been a little slow, and a little off lately, and the water level is much lower than usual...not that I am making excuses or anything! The only lures that worked were the Heddon Super Spook Jr. (Black shore shad color) and the Booyah Moon Talker Spinnerbait, with a shortened Berkley Powerbait worm as a trailer (black in color). I had high hopes for the black Jitterbug, but for some reason, it

Walking down to the river Let's use some euphemisms: Rather than getting "skunked", call it "scouting". Like: "I was scouting out the river to see if there's any good fishing there, and there isn't."  Or: "I decided to take a leisurely stroll down the bank of the river, and decided to cast a lure every so often. I ended up catching a few small smallmouth...but that's ok, I was there for a leisurely stroll anyway". I am going with the second one. I was hoping to see if there were any schoolies or big stripers in the river. I ended up catching or losing a few smallmouth bass on the small side. Sometimes that's just how it is, but its always nice to be on the water, and enjoy nature, the scenery and wildlife. I went back and forth trying to decide to publish this or not, but I thought maybe some of you may enjoy it, and see a small piece of Maine if you aren't from around here. Scroll down to see some pictu

This is my new updated video on how I set up a canoe with a side mount trolling motor. I originally made a video on this about a year ago. Since then, I have made a few changes, and wanted to make a video that shows those changes. The canoe in this video has been in the family since it was brand new in 1983. It is an aluminum Lowe canoe, 15' in length. I mostly use it solo, so that's how I have it setup, with that in mind. I sit in the bow seat facing back, as you should when using a longer canoe by yourself. I keep my setup fairly simple. I made a bracket out of a single board of pressure treated 2x6, and a few cuts. After it was assembled, I sanded it down and put a couple coats of poly on it. If you have a chop saw, table saw, and other basic tools, this should be easy for you to make. I also added rod holders to this bracket, which can be used for trolling or just holding your rods. I use a Minn Kota 24 lb thrust trolling motor which is about 25 years old. They

Are you a fishing enthusiast? Or, a fan of the outdoors in general? This blog may be for you! This is my first post; think of this as a companion to my YouTube channel. I've been making fishing and outdoor videos for a little over a year now. A lot of what I write will go along with the videos that I post. If you are already a viewer or subscriber, I hope you enjoy the blog! If you happen to stumble upon this little blog, and know nothing of my channel, consider checking it out! There also may be some content on here that has nothing to do with the YouTube channel. If you are interested in my channel, click on the link below: www.youtube.com/maineangler I may also be doing a few posts referencing some of my older videos. Maybe I will even post non-fishing and outdoor posts! Save 10% on all orders at Rapala.com! Just enter code FISH10 at checkout. Some exclusions apply. Stay tuned!