Kezar Lake Maine Upper Bay

[BassB8Caster]

I'm thinking about hitting up the upper bay of Kezar Lake here in Maine.  Would love some tips to find some action. Fishing is hard to come by with a 10 day old newborn. Plan is to get there around first light and fish until 10 or so. I'm fishing out of a kayak so can't go too far. My thoughts are launch at North site and head west around the islands and shore where 2 rivers come in. My search shows depth up to 27 or so from islands west. So start shallow and work deeper with swimbaits, frog, worms (5" senko and 10"), chatterbait, spinners, TR plastics in grasses etc. I have 1 baitcaster with 30lb braid and another with 12lb mono.

Any tips or suggestions?  Thanks in advance. 

[Myles]

First off I like to say I am from Maine. However I have never fished lake Kezar, but I fished many other Maine lakes and I think I could be able to piece together some pretty decent tips for your outing! In the morning start off by throwing spooks and poppers very shallow. Just cover as much water as you can because any smallmouth will eat the top waters if they see it. Once you get to 8 am or so the topwater bite may die off, if your still catching fish on it, great! Keep fishing it till 10! However if you feel like the topwater bite is dying, then pick up a drop shot, wacky rig, or finesse jig and fish docks and any cover off the shore a little bit, (swimout docks mored boats etc). If the wind is blowing use moving baits (jerkbaits , chatter baits, swim baits, spinner baits, etc). If there are fish shallow, then fish shallow because there up there to feed. If you find there out deeper as the day progresses use a drop shot or finesse jig. I hope my tips helped, just keep in mind I have never fished Kezar but I've fished many Maine lakes with more smallmouth then largemouth which is what Kezar is.

 

 

["hamma"]

Definately  a good lake to fish,... the area chosen should have some fish in it, but possibly not many.,.I do remember that the southern side of the larger island has some huge boulders just off the shore that drop to deep water in a hurry. and the streams have some defined channels thru shallow waters as they enter the lake.,.. the shallow waters should have some thick weeds by now.

Its been many years since Ive fished there,... but good luck, theres some incredible bass in there

[Mainebass1984]

 This is my favorite lake to fish. I used to live on the lake and grew up in the area. I have fished it many many times and done plenty of tournaments there.  In my opinion it is the best place for big bass in the state of Maine. The area you will be fishing isn't a bad area. I've done really well and caught some lunkers in the north end.  If you want smallies I would fish a topwater popper or a spook in 25 ft of water out form the northern shore. There are some largemouth in that section of the lake to. The mouth of the biggest river has some weeds around either side of it. Other then that, there isn't much for weeds I that area of the lake. Id fish a jig, casting to cover and structure. I will be out there all day Sunday.

[BassB8Caster]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I have been in the hospital with our newborn until last night (she is great btw), so i have not been able to get on here much. 

So i did fish kezar a bit last wednesday. Did not do very well. I was hoping to get there while it was still dark. I have been wanting to do some night fishing, but with my schedule, newborn etc its been nearly impossible. I got the green light from my wife to fish so i was hoping to get on the water at dark and get a taste of the night fishing. But....i didnt end up getting to the water until around 530. I left the north ramp and followed the north bank heading west. I hit a few spots along the bank on my way to the weedy area by the first river coming into the lake. I tried a frog and swimbait first off. I got a few hits on the frog, but nothing much. The weedy north end was very thick, but i did not see any fish (besides really small bass and bluegill and perch). Once i got to the inlet, i fished all around it, thinking the bass would be hanging in the cooler fresher water from the river. But didnt have any luck. As i moved off shore i would try deeper and deeper searching for suspending fish (im in a kayak without any electronics, so could not target underwater structure). i hit the west side of the islands running south and nothing. There was a very shallow rocky hump west of the islands that looked promising. I fished the shallows as well as the drop offs with swimbaits, chatterbaits, lipless cranks as well as a deep diving crankbait. Nothing. From there i went west to the lower inlet and fished the shoreline now heading north along we west side. Just north of the lower inlet there were several large boulders and i could see some good size fish below me. Looked like decent sized smallmouth. At the time i had a 10" worm that i was fishing deep on that they showed some interest in (would follow a little) but not bite. I also had a small spinner on the other rod that they also showed some interest in, but no bites. I decided to quietly paddle offshore away from them and switch to a weightless TR senko and cast back to that spot. I was able to get a small ~10" largemouth to bite. But nothing else there. I then went more north to another weedy cove that had a ton of small bass, perch, blue gill. I did see some decent size largemouth swimming around. I had a weightless TR swimbait that i fished a bit in there. Got several hits but that was it. I fished the weeds more and more shoreline as i split the islands and headed back to the boat launch. I went in around 11. Just had trouble finding them. 

Its tough because i know they like to go deep now with the warm temps, but without electronics, its a shot in the dark finding structure or any underwater cover. i do the best i can using the shoreline to identify points but its tough. I tried a little of everything, and probably not enough patience with just a few baits. Im dying to be able to put in the time with the big 10.5" worms i have and run in to a big fish. Just finding the deep ones is tough for me. One thing someone mentioned above was to throw a spook over deeper water. I did not do this. I do know that smallmouth can be (and i have seen it as well) very aggressive. I didnt think to try a topwater over deep water. i usually stick to shoreline, docks etc. I was unable to get to many docks, as there was a boat fishing that exact area when i got there. So not a very succesful day, but it was nice to get back out. I usually stick to the small ponds, but i just know there are big ones in the larger lakes around me, and im just hoping i can run into one. Thanks again for the input guys, it will help me the next time i go out. No matter where i go! 

[Mainebass1984]

Keep going out there ! I was at Kezar Lake yesterday fishing around upper bay. It was a deep bite. My friend and I caught almost all of our fish on drop shots in deeper water. I did get 3 smallies on a big zara spook first thing in the morning, biggest was 2-13. We fished 630 until 3 and caught 24 bass mostly smallies. If you were fishing in less then 15 ft of water you weren't catching fish.

[BassB8Caster]

42 minutes ago, Mainebass1984 said:

Keep going out there ! I was at Kezar Lake yesterday fishing around upper bay. It was a deep bite. My friend and I caught almost all of our fish on drop shots in deeper water. I did get 3 smallies on a big zara spook first thing in the morning, biggest was 2-13. We fished 630 until 3 and caught 24 bass mostly smallies. If you were fishing in less then 15 ft of water you weren't catching fish.

Makes sense of what i was experiencing. I have yet to try drop shotting, but eager to try. I will definitely give this a try as the summer rolls on. Great feedback. That really helps. Where is the best area to find the fatties (5+lbs) on Kezar?

["hamma"]

This time of year? The main lake points should produce some quality fish, I'd start early with a popper then switch over to a deep water presentation like  dropshotting, or jigheaded grub, or big worm

 There are 5 lbers and better there, just got to hit it right

 Again its been a long time for me on kezar, but many days I spent there leaving home at 2 am to get there for first light

[Mainebass1984]

7 hours ago, BassB8Caster said:

Makes sense of what i was experiencing. I have yet to try drop shotting, but eager to try. I will definitely give this a try as the summer rolls on. Great feedback. That really helps. Where is the best area to find the fatties (5+lbs) on Kezar?

 Lower Bay and Upper Bay are my go to areas. I have got lunkers in both areas.

 

2 hours ago, Keith "Hamma" Hatch said:

This time of year? The main lake points should produce some quality fish, I'd start early with a popper then switch over to a deep water presentation like  dropshotting, or jigheaded grub, or big worm

 There are 5 lbers and better there, just got to hit it right

 Again its been a long time for me on kezar, but many days I spent there leaving home at 2 am to get there for first light

There are giants in there. A 5 lber is a good one. I saw a 9lb 9 oz largemouth weighed in a tourney in 1998. My friend weighed in a 8.01 around 5 years ago in a tournament. My personal best came from here. I know of two verified officially weighed fish over 10 lbs from here. It can be  super tough place to fish but there are giants in there.

[BassB8Caster]

Mainebass1984 why would you say it's tough to fish? Lots of pressure? Lake size? The more challenges I'm aware of the better I can be at attacking the lake. 

I'm sure there are big ones in there. That keeps me wanting to go back. And being only 30 minutes from either launch makes it even more appealing.

[TonyB]

If your only 30 min from either launch I would put in at the narrows and fish lower bay and middle bay. 

[MikeOGNR]

19 hours ago, BassB8Caster said:

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I have been in the hospital with our newborn until last night (she is great btw), so i have not been able to get on here much. 

So i did fish kezar a bit last wednesday. Did not do very well. I was hoping to get there while it was still dark. I have been wanting to do some night fishing, but with my schedule, newborn etc its been nearly impossible. I got the green light from my wife to fish so i was hoping to get on the water at dark and get a taste of the night fishing. But....i didnt end up getting to the water until around 530. I left the north ramp and followed the north bank heading west. I hit a few spots along the bank on my way to the weedy area by the first river coming into the lake. I tried a frog and swimbait first off. I got a few hits on the frog, but nothing much. The weedy north end was very thick, but i did not see any fish (besides really small bass and bluegill and perch). Once i got to the inlet, i fished all around it, thinking the bass would be hanging in the cooler fresher water from the river. But didnt have any luck. As i moved off shore i would try deeper and deeper searching for suspending fish (im in a kayak without any electronics, so could not target underwater structure). i hit the west side of the islands running south and nothing. There was a very shallow rocky hump west of the islands that looked promising. I fished the shallows as well as the drop offs with swimbaits, chatterbaits, lipless cranks as well as a deep diving crankbait. Nothing. From there i went west to the lower inlet and fished the shoreline now heading north along we west side. Just north of the lower inlet there were several large boulders and i could see some good size fish below me. Looked like decent sized smallmouth. At the time i had a 10" worm that i was fishing deep on that they showed some interest in (would follow a little) but not bite. I also had a small spinner on the other rod that they also showed some interest in, but no bites. I decided to quietly paddle offshore away from them and switch to a weightless TR senko and cast back to that spot. I was able to get a small ~10" largemouth to bite. But nothing else there. I then went more north to another weedy cove that had a ton of small bass, perch, blue gill. I did see some decent size largemouth swimming around. I had a weightless TR swimbait that i fished a bit in there. Got several hits but that was it. I fished the weeds more and more shoreline as i split the islands and headed back to the boat launch. I went in around 11. Just had trouble finding them. 

Its tough because i know they like to go deep now with the warm temps, but without electronics, its a shot in the dark finding structure or any underwater cover. i do the best i can using the shoreline to identify points but its tough. I tried a little of everything, and probably not enough patience with just a few baits. Im dying to be able to put in the time with the big 10.5" worms i have and run in to a big fish. Just finding the deep ones is tough for me. One thing someone mentioned above was to throw a spook over deeper water. I did not do this. I do know that smallmouth can be (and i have seen it as well) very aggressive. I didnt think to try a topwater over deep water. i usually stick to shoreline, docks etc. I was unable to get to many docks, as there was a boat fishing that exact area when i got there. So not a very succesful day, but it was nice to get back out. I usually stick to the small ponds, but i just know there are big ones in the larger lakes around me, and im just hoping i can run into one. Thanks again for the input guys, it will help me the next time i go out. No matter where i go! 

Never really fished Kezar, but I can say and chime into the offshore fishing without electronics. The way I attack lakes and bigger bodies of water that I fish sometimes in the canoe meaning anything bigger than 150 acres. What I'll do is I like too run 3 baits a lot nowadays t rigged curly tail worm in 7 or 10in size a 3/8-1/2ozjig with a race craw trailer for warm water temps or an uncle josh pork frog in colder temps more subtle a action. And the old school hula popper or jitterbug for top water. These are my go toos. Now for my plan of attack what I'll usually do if available is get a general contour map of the lake which you. Can get. Google navionics web app. It'll come up invaluable tool. What I look for is steep changes, points, flats, any kinda structure. Now I head to the water  what I do from there is fish the heavy jig cast it out.... DONT MAKE A LONG CAST LIKE A CRANK short accurate casts to get the most feel. Now slowly let that jig  fall all the way to the bottom then raise your rod tip a couple of inches upward like your dragging a t rig on the bottom. What your. Doing is basically letting the jig be your sonar if it bumps off anything could be rocks if it pulls there's vegetation. "Side not if you feel weeds don't just keep yanking rapidly you'll get a boat load of salad on the jig instead give less pressure let it sink down then apply a swift pressure up to shake the weeds off". That's pretty. Much what I do . And if all else if you can't get a contour of the place you wanna fish I'll look at the shoreline for any coves, steep banks, islands etc. and if that doesn't work fish the shoreline about outward of 20-25 yards and usually for most natural lakes about 20 yards from the bank is where it starts to taper to a different depth. Best of luck and another thing keep grinding don't just throw the jig and give up after 20 minutes. Fish it thoroughly enjoy.

[Mainebass1984]

12 hours ago, BassB8Caster said:

Mainebass1984 why would you say it's tough to fish? Lots of pressure? Lake size? The more challenges I'm aware of the better I can be at attacking the lake. 

I'm sure there are big ones in there. That keeps me wanting to go back. And being only 30 minutes from either launch makes it even more appealing.

It gets a lot of pressure at times. That lake can completely shut off even when there isn't any other boats fishing it. It is tough sometimes to get bites. You can fish hours with no bites and then get 3 5s in 3 casts. It is a grind it out lake most of the time. This weekend there is an open out there. I wont be fishing it. Check out the weigh in.

[BassB8Caster]

MikeOGNR and Mainebass1984. Thank you very much. I have been to Kezar now twice.  The first time i put in at the narrows and went south all the way to the lowest part of lower bay and by the outlet. I did decent that day, having a lot of strikes. Biggest was around 2.25lbs. Alot of hits on frog. Smaller fish i believe. I paddled a ton that day. Really more than i want to on an outing. I have yet to venture up to middle bay. Second time was upper bay last week. As far as maps, the state of maine has mostly all lakes and ponds i fish with write ups of fish and depths of the water. I know they are  not totally accurate, but give me a decent idea of depths and points. I have used navionics as well but have found that they are basically duplicate depths of what is on the maine state site. 

What i would like to do one day, whether it be upper, lower or middle bay is to get to the water around 3-4 while it is still dark and hit up docks (around marina) and other areas that the big ones may be hiding at. Looking at google earth it appears that from the marina north up until it opens up looks to be great water to try out. I have read many a night fishing threads on here and consensus is during summer months, night fishing can get the big ones. I do recall people referring to a shutdown just before dusk for a couple hours. Is there a bite turn off early morning before light as well? 

As far as pressure, i do check the list of tournaments listed on the maine state site. I would not fish right after a tournament. Thanks again for all the tips especially specific ones to a body of water i fish. THose tips are very helpful. 

[TonyB]

Night fishing in that lake can be phenominal. The cove in front of the old campground, across to ferringtons beach up to the narrows has done me well.

[MikeOGNR]

1 hour ago, BassB8Caster said:

MikeOGNR and Mainebass1984. Thank you very much. I have been to Kezar now twice.  The first time i put in at the narrows and went south all the way to the lowest part of lower bay and by the outlet. I did decent that day, having a lot of strikes. Biggest was around 2.25lbs. Alot of hits on frog. Smaller fish i believe. I paddled a ton that day. Really more than i want to on an outing. I have yet to venture up to middle bay. Second time was upper bay last week. As far as maps, the state of maine has mostly all lakes and ponds i fish with write ups of fish and depths of the water. I know they are  not totally accurate, but give me a decent idea of depths and points. I have used navionics as well but have found that they are basically duplicate depths of what is on the maine state site. 

What i would like to do one day, whether it be upper, lower or middle bay is to get to the water around 3-4 while it is still dark and hit up docks (around marina) and other areas that the big ones may be hiding at. Looking at google earth it appears that from the marina north up until it opens up looks to be great water to try out. I have read many a night fishing threads on here and consensus is during summer months, night fishing can get the big ones. I do recall people referring to a shutdown just before dusk for a couple hours. Is there a bite turn off early morning before light as well? 

As far as pressure, i do check the list of tournaments listed on the maine state site. I would not fish right after a tournament. Thanks again for all the tips especially specific ones to a body of water i fish. THose tips are very helpful. 

Another thing I like to do because I am a avid swimmer is I snorkel under neath a lot of places I fish and looked to physically see what is actually there. I have been successful a lot of times doing this and I have found most of my spots on northwood lake that produce. Another thing a lot of fish in natural lakes tend to stay in the weeds from 10-15ft of water it's not like down south where there's schools of shad every where in these natural reservoirs. 

[BassB8Caster]

13 minutes ago, TonyB said:

Night fishing in that lake can be phenominal. The cove in front of the old campground, across to ferringtons beach up to the narrows has done me well.

Good to know. Are you referring to the northwest cove?

[BassB8Caster]

51 minutes ago, MikeOGNR said:

Another thing I like to do because I am a avid swimmer is I snorkel under neath a lot of places I fish and looked to physically see what is actually there. I have been successful a lot of times doing this and I have found most of my spots on northwood lake that produce. Another thing a lot of fish in natural lakes tend to stay in the weeds from 10-15ft of water it's not like down south where there's schools of shad every where in these natural reservoirs. 

That must be pretty interesting. Back in college i got my scuba certification as i was in school majoring in marine Biology. 12 years later i am not using that degree and have not gone diving since. I def like fishing grass and thick stuff and i know fish tend to find deeper water when its hot, especially during the day. Without electronics finding these deeper grass spots can be tricky. But i do try to fish them almost exclusively (along with rocks for smallies). I appreciate the insight.