The Flowage
Around the turn of the last century when a train was the only way to get here, progress set in. They tore up the railroad tracks and Canada/America decided to flood the West Branch of the St Croix River and put in a Hydro Dam. They flooded thousands of acres of forest and thus created the Grand Falls Flowage: One of the best bass fisheries in the region.
No, they never cut the trees down, they just flooded the woods. Now, over a hundred years later, this is what you’re fishing in and over. The trees above the water line are for the most part, gone. The stumps of those trees, however, are not. Whether you're fishing in 2 feet of water or 17 feet, the stumps are still there and right up to or near the surface.
The Grand Falls Flowage consists of many coves, peninsulas and some islands. It's not like fishing in one big bathtub. A lot of places to nook into corners. Just because a windy day comes up doesn't mean you have to go out and get tossed all over the place. Many hiding places. We do have our deep spots but for the most part, you would be fishing in 3-8 ft of water, even on the hottest days.
*Click images to enlarge on desktop
The Fishing
There is no "best" time to come fishing. It's different here than it is in the southern areas of New England. The fishing starts around the 2nd week of May, stays consistent all summer, then starts to peter out sometime in late September. It's not the normal--start out good--die off when it gets hot--come back later in the year.
For fishing lures and equipment, just bring what you're comfortable with back home but bring a little extra because you tend to lose a little more in this water (Between the stumps and the fish).
There are too many variables to tell you a number of how many fish you'll catch in a day. A bad fisherman on a bad day will get 2. A good fisherman on a good day will get 100. Let's put it this way, you're not going to find an area of the country where you're going to get much better smallmouth fishing. If you don't do well here, I don't know what I can tell you.
I CAN come close to telling you what sizes of bass you'll catch. For the most part the bass will be in the 13 to 18 inch range. You will get a few smaller than that and you will catch bigger than that too. Catching a 2 to 2 and a half pound bass is a most common event. Check out our Photo gallery
We do have other species of fish here. Everyone comes for smallmouth but for your info, we have loads of good size largemouth too, from there it’s pickerel, yellow perch, white perch, catfish (brown bullhead), American eels and the occasional landlocked salmon. The primary baitfish are golden shiners, alewives, and crayfish.
Image above from Maine.gov water survey *Largemouth bass are on list *Acreage closer to 10k *No redbreast sunnys
Boating and exploring
There are almost 10,000 acres just in "our" water alone. If that's not enough for you (and it will be), you can boat to the West where you’d have another 15,000 acres to poke around in. In a typical 8 hour day of fishing, you might see 6 boats and most of those would be from our place. Check out the satellite imagery using these maps to look around and explore!
The Flowage is not exactly a place you want to speed around aimlessly for fear of ruining your lower units or props. There's very little rock and much wood. Don't let the stumps scare you away though, we have large bass boats here all the time. You will just have take it easy until you get familiar with the general pathways. If you're not a speed freak and have an ounce of sense, you'll have no problem. If you want to water ski or zip around at 5O mph, this is NOT the place for you. We are always available on-site and would be more than happy to show you around or give you helpful tips during your stay here. We are proud to offer some of the best customer service in the business.
The Campyard
We've been here over 40 years and believe it or not, we have a few guests who have been here longer than us. Our guests know us and we know them. We are 90% full all season long from regular customers. This website is here to fill in the remaining 10%. I love to see one new guest a week. Everyone here is friendly and very helpful to new people who are "good eggs". Whether you’d like to keep to yourself, socialize, or join us at the waterfront for "liar fire" at night, all of our guests are welcome to do whatever they feel comfortable doing.