1 Like
Great lake with beautiful campsites, and you have 3 rivers to choose from - Magaloway and Rapid coming in, and Androscoggin going out.
Yes. I’m gonna have to go back to explore more.
Nice fish! I have had a bit of “luck” fishing Umbagog, but am way more consistent fishing nearby Androscoggin river where I can “read” the water (current flow). Probably would do better on the lake if I took along my Hobie Rev 13, with the fishfinder, up there. Much more work cartopping the Hobie than with my kevlar canoe…
-sing
The Rapid has world class trout and landlock slamon fishing in its class III/IV rapids. I used to drive the logging roads to within 1 mile of “Pond on the River” and hike in on an obscure foot path to catch beautiful wild fish. I then traded in my 4x4 for a Subaru. On one of my trips in with the Sub. I hit a ditch and cracked my front axle. Was lucky to make it back out from the backwoods. That was my last trip. I recently traded my Honda hatchback for a Rav 4 SUV. May attempt that fishing trek again before I get too old…
-sing
1 Like
Tx. I was mostly catching pickerel+ changed it up and went deeper. I’m on a cheap kayak - pelican catch 100 . Think that kayak is more suited for what I usually do - small ponds ECT.
1 Like
Same. Usually catching pickerel and the occaisonally modest smallie. But I’ve read and seen videos of kayakfishers catching some sizeable smallies out of Umbagog. These folks know that lake and the bottom contours. Looking at depth charts, Umbagog seem mostly 7’-11’ in the area around the south public launch and NH state campground. I have not been able to locate any significant fish holding structure. The smallies I have hooked seemed pretty random.
-sing
IMO SUV’s are not designed for off-road travel like a 4X4 trucks - regardless of what they show on the commercials. Learned my lesson last week. 
We hiked up the Rapid River while camping at the Cedar Stump Campsite located where river enters Umbagog - very pretty. This is S-Turn at low water.
Hey look - there’s your car.
Just kidding…
Sounds like a “Yikes!” Warning taken but if nothing else, the Rav 4 has way more ground clearance than my old Subaru hatchback with AWD. I had gone into the backwoods logging roads ok, working around boulders and dips. It was that one time, not paying enough attention. The “ditch” or runnoff ran across the road. Didn’t notice until too late. Just deep enough to take half of the front wheels and axle.
Nice pics of some of the Rapid River’s rapids. I had some nice pics of the old middle dam below Pond in the River that is now gone; the old Louise Dickenson Rich’s (“We Took to Woods” author) house overlooking a steep bank and a deep pool of the Rapid, First Pitch, Second Pitch, Smooth Ledge, etc. All the pics of the River sections and fish caught were posted on Webshot and now gone, since I didn’t have backups, when the website folded…
C’est la vie. Things change, come and go (except for the natural places that outlast us)… The local fisher who led me through the maze of logging roads and foot path down to the Rapid just passed away last month. But, I might still be able find my way in, if I am feeling ambitious, using those new fangle GPS thingies. LOL.
-sing
1 Like
My lesson was more about tires than ground clearance. The real heavy duty tires don’t come sized for an SUV. Lots of sharp rocks on those dirt logging roads…
1 Like