Icy Stronghold Traditional Cache
law1646: Time to let this one go as well as all other caches. Thanks for looking for them. The sport is no longer the same. Law1646
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Last Ice Fishing Geocache of 2009
My thirteenth and final ice fishing geocache for 2009 is at Porter Lake in the towns of New Vineyard and Strong. The other ice fishing caches are as follows: first Cold Rain Pond GC1KFT4, second Worthley Pond GC1KGXC, third Horne (Pequawket) Pond GC1KVV0, fourth Robson (Woods) Pond GC1MFAZ, fifth Bunganut Pond GC1MBFN, sixth Sand Pond GC1MFEN, seventh Keoka Lake GC1MFFK, eighth Anonymous Pond GC1MFG5, ninth Hancock Pond GC1MFGH, tenth Christopher Lake (AKA Bryant Pond) GC1MQRV, eleventh Lovewell Pond GC1MQV6, the twelfth at Burnt Meadow Pond GC1N7NJ.
There are thirteen weekends in ice fishing season, hence thirteen ice fishing geocaches. This is my favorite fishing hole, probably because I have spent more time ice fishing this pond than any other in the State of Maine. The fishing can be hot and cold. Several years ago there was an illegal introduction of bass which caused the trout fishery to decline. You can still catch decent size togue. The pond is stocked with salmon which have phenomenal growth rates because of the large amount of smelt in the lake. There is also a put and take fishery for brook trout.
Porter Lake is a 527 acre lake with a maximum depth of 86 feet. There is a hardened boat ramp in Strong and a hand launch boat ramp in New Vineyard. According to Maine IFW, the pond was stocked with 1000 10” Brook Trout (5/5/08), 1100 13” Brook Trout (10/2/08), 300 8” Landlocked Salmon (5/16/08) and 300 13” Landlocked Salmon (10/22/08). The local bait dealer informed me that the state made an error and they stocked the above listed number of fall salmon and fall brook trout twice. As a result fishing was great all winter.
You could not have asked for a better weekend for fishing. The weather was gorgeous and the flags were flying. We caught several fish only one of which we decided to keep. See the gallery for fishing pictures. If you walk out on to the lake and look back towards the boat ramp there are spectacular views of Mt. Abraham, Sugarloaf and Saddleback to the far left. See gallery for images. On shore the ice is as much as 30” thick (3/22/09). There were a number of trucks on the ice. I would not recommend taking your vehicle on the ice as there are a number of spring holes which could cause you and it to disappear. There were a ton of birds near the boat ramp as the locals are feeding the birds with bread and with bird seed.
Fishing Report on day of placement: 3/22/09.
We caught several fish. See the gallery images for pictures of a couple of the fish.
Cache: Small camouflaged dry container. There is FTF prize and small trade trinkets. Please don’t leave any spoilers in the log notes. If you find this cache and have the time and ice conditions are still favorable you can walk from ramp to the island in the lake and find the Sweets Pond Cache (GC1DP6M). You can also paddle over in the spring, summer, and fall. The cache is currently accessible (3/22/09). It is approximately a .65 walk or paddle to the island. See notes for Sweets Pond Cache for paddling conditions/warnings.
Directions:
Take RTE 27 out of the town of Farmington. As you come into the town of New Vineyard you will see a sign for RTE 234 on the left. Turn left on to RTE 234. If you pass Maine Wood Turning Inc. or MY Wife’s Place you have gone too far. If you are coming from the north the turnoff will be on the right just after Maine Wood Turning, Inc. About a mile after your turn on to RTE 234 you will see the lake on the right. This is the New Vineyard side of the lake. You will continue on RTE 234 for a couple more miles. You will see a boat ramp sign on the right. You will want to turn on to Pond Road. Once on Pond Road you will want to watch for boat ramp sign. You will be turning on to and following Beanies Beach Road to the boat ramp. The boat ramp is currently plowed. It is a little rough and may require a 4x4 if it gets muddy. The boat ramp/beach is only open from 7am to 10pm.
Good luck!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
1. Vg'f ohevrq va gur abgrf.
Treasures
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