I did not anticipate this situation… I ended up hauling my canoe up to the pond.
Lake Wood covers 16 acres and is located in Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island (MDI) in Hancock County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 16 B3). Access to this pond is via Lake Wood Road off Crooked Road. Be aware that you will need a pass to legally park your car anywhere inside the Park, including here. The pass can be purchased on-line or at the visitor center on MDI, among other places. I reach Lake Wood Road at 2:30 pm and am surprised to see that the park gate is closed. Crap… I park my truck on the shoulder of Crooked Road and walk around the gate to reconnoiter. It is about a half-mile stroll up and down a good gravel road to reach the parking lot and then the pond itself. Unfortunately, I left my canoe wheels at home because I did not anticipate this situation. And I do not want to carry my canoe all the way in. So, I head back out, put on my hip boots, pick up my ultralight spinning rod and reel, and walk back in. I start casting out a #2 Mepps spinner full of anticipation when I suddenly feel water trickling into my right hip boot. You have gotta be kidding me! The boot sprung a leak somewhere. I grit my teeth, walk back out, offload the canoe on my back, and walk back in. I then make one last trip to bring in the rest of my fishing gear. Thank goodness, I can finally start fishing one and a half hour behind schedule, and four miles later!
Lake Wood is pretty and undeveloped, but only a few minutes drive from Bar Harbor!
Lake Wood is a small picturesque pond located about 3.5 miles outside of Bar Harbor. This water body is stocked each fall with around 600 8″ brook trout. These fish provide ice fishing fun in the winter. The survivors are then available to be caught in the spring. However, none will make it into the next fall because this shallow pond lacks either a thermocline or cold-water refugia (e.g., springs). As a result, the fishery shuts down by late June when the surface water gets too warm for trout survival. Hence, the brookies are invariably small because none can live and grow from one year into the next. So, I do not expect to catch anything bigger than about 10″. Note that the launch can only accommodate hand-carried craft. Spring fishing at this location occurs under the general law rules applicable to the south zone. Lake Wood has a maximum and mean depth of 11 ft. and 7 ft., respectively. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information.
All the brookies in Lake Wood are about this size. The granite cliffs in the background are popular with swimmers in the summer.
The day has been quite windy, totally overcast, and rather cold (mid-40’s). That’s quite typical for early May on Mount Desert Island! A stiff breeze is blowing from the northwest. I paddle off and start by letting the wind push me along the eastern shoreline of Lake Wood, all the while casting my #2 Mepps spinner. I paddle upwind and drift downwind several more times but am unable to generate any interest from my scaly friends below. The time has come to switch things up and start trolling. I remove the spinner from my ultralight spinning road and replace it with two ACME Phoebe lures, with the second lure tied to the hook of the first one by 2 ft. of monofilament. These small spoons have done very well catching brook trout for me in the past, so they are a definite trolling lure in my arsenal. I also pinch a large splitshot 4 ft. above the swivel to bring the lures about 2 ft. below the surface.
That’s the big sister of the first brookie 🙂
I am retooled and start paddling downwind with the rod in between my legs and the two Phoebes trailing behind the canoe. I get my first hookup ten minutes later. Finally, I’m on to something! The action is consistent over the next 1.5 hours, yielding a total of six same-sized brookies, trolling both upwind and downwind. But I am exhausted at this point because paddling into the wind by myself takes a lot of effort. Plus, I have to maintain some gas in the tank in order to carry my canoe and gear back to the truck… It is time to call it quits. I am glad I went to the effort of fishing Lake Wood. It’s a pretty little pond, and a pleasure to fish. Plus, I saw no one else on the water, which is always a bonus.
The results: I landed six 8″ to 10” brook trout in two and a half hours of fun fishing.
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