Accessing North Pond by motor boat requires navigating through two large culverts. This one passes underneath Johnny’s Bridge Road.
North Pond is a 284-acre body of water located in Woodstock and Greenwood, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 10 B4). This pond does not have a public launch area and access to it is tricky. For the record, hand-carried craft can be launched directly into North Pond from a small picnic area on Route 26 next to the pond. However, the ramp for trailered boats, called the Mike Giunta memorial boat launch, is found by Howe Hill Road off Route 26 (Main Street). I had to look for it because it was not clearly indicated either on Route 26 or Howe Hill Road. The hard-topped ramp is narrow, quite steep, and next to deep water. Plenty of parking is available. I found it challenging to retrieve my boat at the end of the trip because I had to place the trailer mostly out of the deep water and on the steep launch. It took a lot of arm juice to manually crank the boat up unto the trailer… Access to North Pond from this location occurs through two separate road culverts. With the ramp in your back, navigate to the upper left-hand corner of the (unnamed) water body to pass underneath Route 26. From there, navigate to the upper right-hand corner of that second (unnamed) water body to pass underneath Johnny’s Bridges Road to reach North Pond. It takes about 15 minutes of no-wake boating to reach your destination from the boat ramp.
The “trollable” portion of North Pond in the summer is restricted. Outlining the fishable area on a depth map greatly helps me focus my efforts.
North Pond is picturesque, with five small islands nicely framing its southern shoreline. The pond is moderately developed and surrounded by multiple wooded hills, with Moody Mountain looming over the eastern shoreline. The Mount Abram ski resort is also clearly visible from the water. I identified this lake as an angling opportunity using my proven search strategy. The State typically stocks it each fall with 275 11- to 14-inch brown trout, which results in a sparse stocking density of about 1 fish per acre. That is the going rate for this species and never results in “fast” fishing…. As part of my pre-trip research, I checked the historical temperature and dissolved oxygen data for this pond, which I obtained from Lakes of Maine, to determine the depth of the thermocline. The available data are somewhat sparse (mostly collected in August) and a bit contradictory. However, they show that this narrow warm-to-cold water transition layer occurs between 20 and 23 ft. below the surface and is typically devoid of dissolved oxygen, as is another 2-3 ft. of water above it. I need to place my lures 16 to 18 ft. down, but no deeper, in order to stay in somewhat cooler but still oxygenated water. This pattern means that the brown trout and their local food source (e.g., rainbow smelt) are forced to stay in a very narrow band of water marginally too warm but containing enough dissolved oxygen. The fish cannot spend any time in the well-oxygenated but warm water above or in the cold but oxygen-deprived water below. This key factor makes it much easier to find the brown trout and removes much of the guesswork from the catch equation! It also shows the critical importance of fully understanding the local water temperature and dissolved oxygen profiles when targeting salmonids at depth in the summer. It would be easy to troll in the anoxic thermocline 20-23 ft. below the surface and catch … nothing. This pond has a maximum and mean depth of 37 ft. and 12 ft., respectively, making it relatively shallow. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information. Most of the “trollable” water (i.e., > 22 ft. deep) occurs in a relatively small area to the north of the five islands. That is where I focus all my efforts this morning. Before leaving home, I printed out the depth map for North Pond and marked the approximate 22-ft. contour so I know exactly where to go after I arrive. That way, I waste no time finding my fishing area. Open-water angling at this location occurs under the general fishing laws applicable to the south zone, with no additional restrictions.
A nice early-morning view of North Pond. I love the vibe and the quietness.
I arrive at the ramp at 5:45 am, load up my gear in the boat, and put-put away towards North Pond. Because sunrise is at 6:10 am, I can still take advantage of the Golden Hour when light levels are low and the fish are actively foraging. The conditions are also to my liking: air temps in the low 50’s and forecast to climb into the mid 70’s later today, a water temperature of 69°F, overcast with some fog, and little or no wind. I also realize that the presence of Moody Mountain right along the eastern shoreline will block the rising sun for a long time, which is a plus. I deploy my usual trolling paraphernalia: a portable downrigger teamed with a spinning rod, and lead core line teamed with an 8-weight fly fishing rod. The spinning rod uses three Thomas Boyant T101 1/6-ounce trout spoons tied back-to-back, whereas the fly rod fishes with three small one-hook smelt imitator streamer flies also tied back-to-back. I place both sets of lures 16 to 17 ft. below the surface. I keep the fly rod in my hands and constantly rip the line to impart action to the flies below. I have been fishing for no more than 5 minutes when I get a hit on the lead core line. It is only a small fish and I suspect that I hooked a white perch, which is indeed the case. I have reported on this pattern before (click here and here for examples). I do not care to catch these fish but am nonetheless pleased with the confirmation that my lures are not placed too deep. Precise depth control is always on my mind when trolling close to de-oxygenated water in the summer. I catch seven more white perch over the next hour or so. Interestingly, all are caught on the smelt-imitating streamer flies and none fall for the spoons (not even a bite)! OMG, it is striking to see how those fish are aggressively schooling and chasing bait right above the thermocline in the early morning hours! But if the white perch are doing their thing down there, where are the brown trout?
The white perch are actively foraging in the deepest oxygenated water found above the thermocline. But where are the brown trout?
The white perch bite abruptly stops around 7:30 am as the sun climbs above Moody Mountain and the sky starts to clear. The perch are done feeding and have dispersed. Darn, did I miss my chance of catching a brown trout this morning? I continue trolling around in the deepest section of North Pond when I get a tremendous hit fifteen minutes later on the streamer flies. Ahah! That one is no little white perch!! The fish fights hard and low and refuses to come to the surface, even when circling around the boat. Yes siree, I caught myself a brown trout. After a splendid fight, the exhausted fish is netted, photographed, measured, and quickly released back to its watery world. I take the opportunity to swap out the spoons that have not produced anything and replace them with three DB Smelt spoons. I am eager to get trolling again to catch another trout but the fish gods decide otherwise. I do not get one hit either on the streamer flies or the spoons over the next 1.5 hours. The bite is truly over. The white perch bite once again shows the importance of starting at the crack o’ dawn to take advantage of the early-morning foraging frenzy that typically occurs deep down at that time. I have experienced this pattern too many times before to ignore it. Also, trolling for brown trout is – by definition – a slow affair that requires much patience… The low annual stocking density of around 1 fish per acre only yields small populations that result in slow action. But the rewards are great for those willing to put in the time to target these magnificent creatures.
Success at last!!
The results: I caught one hard-fighting brown trout (19 inches) in 3 hours of trolling.
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Tight Lines, y’all.
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