Fishing for brook trout on Bryant Pond in Woodstock, Oxford County, Maine (October 13, 2024)

 

The boat launch for Bryant Pond. The dock is gone for the winter. The outlet is at the back of this picture towards the right. The grassy berm is also visible.

 

Bryant Pond (a.k.a. Christopher Pond) is a 278-acre body of water located in Woodstock and Greenwood, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 10 B5). To access this pond, drive on Route 26 and turn off on Old County Road. Drive for about 1 mile before turning left on Rowe Hill Road. The public access point will be immediately to your right and is clearly marked with a blue sign. It is in a small municipal park next to the pond’s outlet. The boat launch is hard-topped. Plenty of parking spaces are available.

 

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Fishing for brown trout on North Pond in Woodstock and Greenwood, Oxford County, Maine (September 7, 2024)

 

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.

 

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Fishing for landlocked Atlantic salmon on Bryant Pond in Woodstock, Oxford County, Maine (August 16, 2024)

 

The boat launch by the outlet is hard-topped and provides plenty of parking.

 

Bryant Pond (a.k.a. Christopher Pond) is a 278-acre body of water located in Woodstock and Greenwood, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 10 B5). To access this pond, drive on Route 26 and turn off on Old County Road. Drive for about 1 mile before turning left on Rowe Hill Road. The public access point will be immediately to your right and is clearly marked with a blue sign. It is located in a small municipal park next to the pond’s outlet. The boat launch is hard-topped and provides plenty of parking area.

 

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Fishing for brook trout on Little Concord Pond in Woodstock, Oxford County, Maine (June 11, 2023)

 

 

The 3/4-mile foot trail leading to Little Concord Pond starts behind this kiosk.

 

Little Concord Pond covers 30 acres and is located in Woodstock, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11A1). To reach the pond, drive down Shagg Pond Road (note: the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer calls it Redding Road), pass the unimproved boat launch on Shagg Pond, and drive another 0.5 miles until you reach a small parking lot across from the wooden kiosk announcing Little Concord Pond State Park. The pond is another ¾ mile walk from the parking lot down an old closed-off tote road. While the first half of that trail is nice and smooth, the second half is bouldery and steep. As a result, anglers cannot use canoe wheels but must instead carry their craft on their backs. The launch by the pond is not immediately obvious. Fallen trees, floating logs, and aquatic bushes obstruct the area where the trail meets the pond. Instead, a discrete but steep foot trail along the shore to the left crosses over a small rocky knoll before reaching the actual launch which is surrounded by a dozen locked canoes.

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Fishing for splake on Shagg Pond in Woodstock, Oxford County, Maine (April 30, 2022)

 

 

The boat launch is spacious but unimproved.

 

Shagg Pond covers 64 acres and is located in Woodstock, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 A1). The public access point is found along the western shoreline right off Redding Road, also called Shagg Pond Road in Google Maps. The boat launch is sandy and unimproved but can accommodate trailed boats. Parking is limited to a few cars along the shoulder of the gravel road.

 

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Fishing for brook trout in Washburn Pond in Woodstock, Oxford County, Maine (June 19, 2021)

 

 

The boat launch is narrow and rather shallow.

 

Washburn Pond covers 12 acres and is located in Woodstock Township in Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 A1). To reach this pond going north, drive down Redding Road and turn right on Washburn Pond Road right before reaching Sagg Pond. This 0.3 mile-long dirt road ends at Washburn Pond. Although it is rough in spots, the road will accommodate two-wheel drive cars. The pond has an unimproved and rather shallow sandy boat launch. I had to back my trailer about 30 ft. into the water before my boat would finally float off. The launch is also hemmed in by emergent aquatic vegetation on both sides. Hence, space is lacking to park the boat on shore AND back the trailer into the water at the same time. I was glad I brought my hip boots so I could place my boat in the vegetation to the side, back my trailer into the water, and then float the boat onto the trailer.

 

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