Sebago Lake is the deepest and second largest lake (after Moosehead Lake) in Maine. The lake is 12 miles long and its shoreline stretches 105 miles. It is surrounded by the towns of Casco, Naples, Raymond, Sebago, Standish and Windham. On the lake itself is the town of Frye Island. Sebago Lake is connected to Brandy Pond by the Songo River and eventually to Long Lake in Naples. The Sebago Lake watershed includes all or parts of 24 towns and covers approximately 300,000 acres. Water from this entire land area eventually reaches Sebago Lake, some directly and some indirectly (after flowing into and then out of other lakes such as Brandy Pond). Development of watershed properties in these towns as well as the approximately 4000 lots that are within 200 feet of the lake can have a substantial impact the water quality of Sebago Lake.
The lake contains natural populations of land-locked salmon (Salmo salar sebago) and smelt because when the last major glaciers retreated, the entire watershed was under seawater, and populations of these marine animals became established as the land rose and seawaters retreated. Sebago Lake also holds a legendary place in Maine fishing lore as the home of the onetime world record (and still state-record) landlocked salmon — a 22.5-pounder caught Sept. 12, 1907, by Edward Blakeley of Darien, Conn. Another memorable Sebago salmon was caught by Jack Sharkey, a former heavyweight boxing champion who landed a 28-inch fish that weighed 10 pounds, 2 ounces on April 21, 1948. A more recent lunker was recorded on July 25, 1999, when Roger W. Kolterman hooked a salmon that weighed 8.84 pounds and was 27 inches long. Recently, however, some of the biggest fish to come out of Sebago have been Northern pike, which were introduced illegally and first documented in the lake in 2003. Northern pike were put into a number of Maine waters, fisheries biologists believe, by people trying to improve the fishing without regard to the serious consequences for native fish populations. A 17½-pound, 41-inch pike that was caught on Sebago March 16, 2010, had a 13-inch salmon in its stomach. Other game fish found in Sebago lake include lake trout, brook trout, brown trout, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass.
Sebago Lake is the primary water supply for the Portland Water District (PWD), which serves the Greater Portland region and about 15 percent of Maine's population. It’s a fundamental fact of life that water flows down hill. That’s why PWD and LEA have a strong working partnership and share the same big goal — protecting the Sebago Lake watershed, which stretches for 361 square miles, including 71 square miles of lakes, ponds and rivers. “We’re at the bottom of the hill,” said Paul Hunt, PWD environmental manager. “And LEA is at the top of the hill. So our feeling is that every drop of water that LEA protects benefits us." The average clarity for all Maine lakes monitored in 2010 was 5.6 meters, according to PWD. In 2010, the average clarity of Sebago Lake was 9.7m in Lower Bay, and in 2011 it was 10.1m, making Sebago Lake one of the clearest lakes in Maine, PWD reported in its State of the Lake 2012 Report.
