Powers Lake in East Lyme is a 144-acre, spring-fed lake with no houses or paved roads on its shore; The Fisherman calls it some of the cleanest water in Connecticut. The only public access is the state launch, and the slow speed limit makes it a quiet lake for kayaks, canoes and small boats chasing largemouth, pickerel, crappie and panfish.
When to fish
- Low light and night: The Fisherman says serious bass anglers fish here at dawn, dusk and after dark, when the fish are active and there's no boat traffic.
- Through the seasons: the lake is shallow, about 12 feet at its deepest, so it warms and cools quickly.
Where to fish
- The northeast tip: dense milfoil that thins out quickly as the water deepens; cast along the weed edge for pickerel, bass and crappie.
- The coves and shoreline: four or five coves, and a shoreline lined with glacial boulders and fallen trees over an otherwise flat, muddy bottom. Motorboats need to watch for the boulders.
- Lily pads: small clusters along the shore are good for popping bugs aimed at small bass and big bluegills.
How to fish it
Kids do well with worms for sunfish and perch. Fly anglers cast surface poppers around the lily pads. Some largemouth over 10 pounds have been caught here, though they aren't numerous in a lake this size. White catfish are here too; The Fisherman's writer caught one on a chunk of sunfish.
Getting there
The state launch is at 179 Whistletown Road (from Route 1, go north on Upper Pattagansett Road and bear right onto Whistletown Road), with a dirt lot for about 20 cars and no dock or toilets. The land around the lake is private, so you can't fish from shore or land a boat anywhere except the launch. There's a low speed limit and no water-skiing.
From the water
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