BurrStone

@webertime: I'll be on St. Albans bay in the spring. Good times await.

Ironic I live in CT and go to Washington County ME for smallies every spring, making up in volume what we give up in size (compared to CT-Candlewood/Lillinonah). One could point to Lake Champlain, Lake George, St Lawrence River but that's all relatively big water. Adirondacks maybe ... Tupper, Saranac. Pricey lodging, though. If I had the money I'd go the guide route around Clayton NY and fish the St. Lawrence.

Candlewood and Lillinonanah in CT fit the description but any waterfront real estate at those locations will cost a fortune. But hey you live and work where fortunes are made.

I fished there the day you posted this. Tough day, but caught 4 smallies and a white sucker - first ever at that place. Gruesome fish IMO. Plenty of species in there. Curious how you did.

Grubs x2.

Enjoying these updates, Dave.

Great week of fishing. Caught them everywhere, on almost anything. Best one was 22" but many were in the 16-18" range.

Thanks Tatsu Dave. I saw you on the other thread and figured you'd recognize this spot. I'm looking forward to the trip.

I'll be there this time next week w/a few days of fishing. Anyone know about this body of water? I'll have boat.

I fish these lakes with some regularity and have good days & bad days. I fish mostly plastics, finesse fishing. I always have a chance fishing Lillinonah with a roboworm drop shot, which seems to work well there. But that lake has the snaggiest bottom anywhere I've ever fished. Laydowns are everywhere which is good, but man ... As far as Candlewood also drop shots, ned rigs, heck I caught my PB smallie there last spring on a grub. Have had good luck w/t-rigged senkos working shallows, too, at both lakes. Best thing to do is keep moving ... that's what the smallies are doing.

Quonnipaug is a good place to wash your lures but that's about it. You need to head up rte 8 past Torrington. Lots of good, small ponds up there. Burr Pond, Lake Winchester, Stillwater ...

Not a Mainer but spent 10 summers up there as a kid. This year = 2 week-long trips. Washington County in June, Kennebec County in July. Love the bass fishing in Maine.

Been a long time fan of Cabin Creek. Their salty spider parts on an 1/8 oz jig are hard to beat for smallies. They make some great craws, too.

My UHD 93Sv comes preloaded with lakevu g3. 1' contours, basically, wherever you go. Then there are the Garmin "elite survey lakes" available with the ultra download. I checked Garmin's list for their ultra coverage and in CT other than Candlewood none of the places I fish are listed with that feature. From what I can tell reading through all the marketing-speak it seems the elte survey is really what you're buying this for. Or did I miss something? Maybe it's worth it just for Candlewood. But there are some rock cribs just below the waterline where I fish in Maine. I would pay $200 to avoid those things! But that lake isn't listed. Hmmm.

That's the best part of the story right there. I caught my first decent bass with the same setup, back around 1975. Also, I have the same tackle box, 13.5" end to end ... just got back from the garage attempting to scale it out and I'm calling that an 18"er.