By Mike Roche

This column is being written from a deck overlooking Webber Pond in Vassalboro, Maine.

This writer hauled the Tahoe Fish’N Ski boat behind the Silverado last Saturday to a rental lake house where wife Penny, her twin sister Pam McDade, Pam’s husband Norm and your truly are enjoying a little quality time in America’s Vacationland just north of Augusta.

The twins spent time every summer growing up visiting their mother’s farm, which is now two golf courses. They enjoy touring the places they remember and checking out antique stores for treasures. There is also a mandatory stop at the home base of the TV show “Cabin Masters.” Penny follows the show and there is a restaurant and shop that are both interesting places, and we found good food and decent craft beers for Norm and myself to enjoy.

Webber Pond is 1,200 acres and has excellent fishing. We have been here twice in early June, and it was obvious from the instant that we stepped onto the dock where we tethered the boat that fish were spawning.

There must have been a dozen “beds” which are actually called redds that male fish make by using their tails to create a shallow depression which females will use to deposit eggs to be fertilized by a male. Different species spawn at different times, with their being a sunfish on each bed in the small shallow bay. The crappie and bass will follow as the water warms.

Every shallow bay (they warm first) held aggressive black crappie (AKA calico bass), yellow perch, and small (usually male) largemouth bass. Without exaggeration, there were spells when every cast of a crank bait (the chartreuse bodied red head Rapala Shad Rapala was magic) resulted in a hookup or a fish (or several) following the lure to the boat.

Although not counting, there were probably 100 small fish landed, but none of the three-pound or larger largemouth bass we were seeking – until Norm, using a Texas-rigged Senko soft bait, landed one that weighted 3.1 pounds on the digital scale.

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Things, however, had not started out well at all. When we launched the boat upon arrival Saturday afternoon it started right up and idled for a couple minutes while Norm drove the truck off the launch ramp. When shifted into gear, however, the Mercruiser 5.0L I/O stalled and would not start.

After 15 minutes of frustration in a light rain, the MotorGuide Trolling motor was lowered and used to drive the boat to the dock, which was a little over 500 yards from the ramp. There we wracked our brains to figure out what was wrong. With a number of distractions and activities in early June, there had been no time for the normal “shake-down” cruise. The boat had been stored and, after the winterization was reversed, started, and run “to temperature.”

To make a long story short, Norm’s experience suggested a fuel issue, so we drove to WalMart to buy starter spray. When that did not work, we wracked our brains Saturday night and decided to check and see if the fuel filter had water in it. Experience should have taught this boat owner to store the boat with a full tank of gas to reduce the chance of water being drawn into the engine, but that was not the case.

We ended up driving to West Marine (an hour away in Portland) Sunday when they opened to buy a gasoline water filter and we changed the filter (a job that involved removing the starter battery to create enough room to use a filter wrench) and that ultimately led to the engine starting and running fine.

So, we finally got into our fishing mode and over two days were able to get into a couple of spots where the fish were actively feeding and ran a little bigger. Two more legitimate three-pounders and 100 or more of the smaller fish were landed as we fished early and late while accommodating the ladies with lunch and shopping. The food was excellent and the Augusta area has lots of interesting things to see. With most days having a stiff breeze come up around midday, it was fine and everybody was happy.

We had made our mandatory stop at Kittery Trading Post on the way up. The primary reason was to purchase the required invasive aquatic weed sticker for $60. The Maine Lake and River Protection sticker raises funds to fight invasive weeds which are a huge problem across the Northeast. Webber Pond has a pondweed which makes fishing a lot of the pond a challenge, but the State of Maine does not classify the weed as invasive.

We found weedy areas to hold some nice bass and although using crankbaits was a problem, weedless swimming baits or soft baits rigged weedless were productive. We still have another day of fishing after this was submitted so maybe the “big one” will show up then.

Mike Roche is a retired teacher who has been involved in conservation and wildlife issues his entire life. He has written the Sportsman’s Corner since 1984 and has served as advisor to the Mahar Fish’N Game Club, counselor and director of the Massachusetts Conservation Camp, former Connecticut Valley District representative on the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, a Massachusetts Hunter Education Instructor and is a licensed New York hunting guide. He can be reached at mikeroche3@msn.com.