Fishing at Little Soldier Pond, Penobscot County, Maine

• Overview

  Little Soldier Pond is a Penobscot County water, in Maine. The country round it is mixed forest from end to end. Surface area runs to about 19 acres — small enough to read in one session. It is one of the smaller waters we list in Penobscot County. The nearest town is Millinocket, 10 miles away. East Millinocket is 12 miles and Medway 14 miles. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Little Soldier Pond

  Our records carry no depth, so judge it from the bank. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Survey and observation records for Penobscot County include Atlantic salmon, brown trout, smallmouth bass, chain pickerel and rainbow smelt. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. On Little Soldier Pond the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages move between 12°F in January and 67°F in July. Winter shuts the surface down for months. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around mid April. The water is typically free of ice between mid April and early December. The middle of summer slows a little, with dawn and dusk carrying it. At Little Soldier Pond the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Some banks are open only from a marked point. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Soldier Pond, 0.6 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. None of that is settled for Little Soldier Pond in what we hold.