View of the boat launch on Worthley Pond
Worthley Pond is a pretty 42-acre body of water located in Poland, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 5 A3). Drive north on Route 26 and turn right on Route 122. Go down this road for 1.4 miles before turning right on Worthley Pond Lane, located about 0.1 mile past the entrance to Range Pond State Park. This dirt access road through the woods is rough but passable with a regular car. The boat launch is rather shallow and sandy but could probably accommodate a small trailered motorized craft.
View of Worthley Pond from the boat launch
Worthley Pond is relatively long (about 1 mile) but quite narrow for its length. It has two basins: a smaller and shallower one by the boat launch and a much larger and deeper one at the other end. The entire shoreline is wooded and completely undeveloped, except for one small house and the cabins belonging to Camp North Star, a summer facility for kids. The State stocks this pond annually with brook trout (spring and fall releases) and brown trout (fall releases only).
General view of Worthley Pond
The surface water of Worthley Pond is crystal clear and the substrate in the shallow areas appears firm and sandy. The pond has a maximum depth of 46 ft and a mean depth of 14 ft. The quality of the largemouth bass habitat is marginal and sparse due to a paucity of aquatic vegetation or other submerged structure along the shoreline. General fishing law applies (click here for more details). Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information.
Typical view of the Worthley Pond shoreline
I reach the launch area at the north end of Worthley Pond at 12:30 pm. The sun is blazing high in the sky and a gentle breeze blows in from the south. I paddle my canoe into the wind to the other end of the pond and let the breeze blow me back towards the launch while I fish with a soft 5” stickbait along the shoreline. My past experience with this pond is that the largemouth bass population is abundant but that the individual fish are small. I suspect that the larger fish are hiding from the sun deeper into the water column and may feed in the shallows only in early morning and late evening. My efforts yield three miniscule largemouth bass (each about 10”) in 45 minutes of fishing. I really need to revisit this pond after sunset to gauge the full potential of its largemouth bass fishery.
The results: I caught three tiny largemouth bass in 45 minutes.
Was the information in this blog useful? I invite you to share your thoughts and opinions. Also, feel free to discuss your fishing experiences at this location.
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