Fishing at Patrick Lake, Washington County, Maine

• Overview

  Washington County, Maine, is where Patrick Lake sits. Salt water lies 9.1 miles off. Roughly 322 acres of surface: treat each bay as a water in its own right. With 3.8 miles or so of shoreline, boat anglers cover ground the bank cannot. Ground here is low by Maine standards. The nearest town is East Machias, 9.4 miles away. Machias lies 12 miles off, Machiasport another 12 miles. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on Patrick Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Survey and observation records for Washington County include alewife, Atlantic salmon and rainbow smelt. At least one recorded species is protected in parts of its range; read the local rules before targeting anything. Read Patrick Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 66°F for July and 17°F for January. Winter shuts the surface down for months. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about mid April. Averages suggest open water from about mid April through to roughly mid December. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. Time your trip to Patrick Lake by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. A slipway is marked about half a mile from here. Parking sits half a mile out, which makes for a walk with tackle. A rest area sits about half a mile from the water. Toilets show in mapping about half a mile away. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Gray Cove, 3.5 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Treat access at Patrick Lake as something to verify.