View from the public access point of Hutchinson Pond with the mountains in the background. She is pretty!
Hutchinson Pond is a 93-acre body of water located in Albany Township, Oxford County (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 10 C4). The pond can easily be accessed by driving down Hutchinson Pond Road (off Hunts Corner Road) for exactly 1.4 miles. The state-leased public access point is marked on the left of the road by a small Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife sign. The pond is reachable via a rough 150-ft tote trail which can only accommodate small hand-carried craft, such as a canoe or kayak. A few cars can be parked along the shoulder of the road next to the access point. Hutchinson Pond is quite a beauty! It is framed along the northeastern horizon by three tall hills, namely Lovejoy Mountain (1792 ft), Peabody Mountain (1575 ft), and Patch Mountain (1565 ft). The watershed is completely forested. Parts of the shoreline are moderately developed, supporting less than two dozen houses and summer cottages. One thing strikes me immediately upon arrival: none of the docks jutting out into the water display power boats, jet skis or pontoon boats! I assume that’s due to a lack of a boat launch, which limits the release and retrieval of these larger craft. It also means guaranteed peaceful quietness for property owners and fishermen alike.
Typical view of the shoreline of Hutchinson Pond: sparse aquatic vegetation, boulders, a few docks
Hutchinson Pond is relatively deep with a maximum and mean depth of 38 ft and 14 ft, respectively. The surface water is clear and clean. The substrate is firm, consisting mostly of sand, gravel, cobble, and boulders. The bass holding structure along the shoreline is quite sparse, consisting of small stands of pickerel weed/arrowheads with their leaves and stems sticking out of the water. With a few exceptions, lily pads are mostly absent, as is sunken wood. The available habitat appears better suited for smallmouth bass instead of largemouth bass. The best shallow-water largemouth bass habitat is present in about ten or so shallow and more weedy coves scattered all around the pond, including three located straight across from the launch. The pond also has two shallow and weedy semi-submerged treeless islands. The State manages Hutchinson Pond specifically as a brook trout and brown trout fishery via an annual stocking program. The State of Maine fishing rule book stipulates that no size or bag limit exists on smallmouth or largemouth bass on this body of water, presumably to promote the harvesting of these two species and to enhance the trout fishery. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information.
This one finally took pity on me…
I arrive at Hutchinson Pond a little after 9 am. I’ll be fishing alone this morning. The sky is completely overcast and looks quite menacing. The air temperature is a rather cool mid 60’s. The wind is coming in from the east and is fortunately quite light. I’ve got the pond all to myself, except for two kayakers who are quietly paddling around. The local loons are also serenading, which causes me to smile and take a deep contented breath; we are truly blessed living in gorgeous Maine surrounded by woods, mountains, water, and wildlife! My first impression is that this pond is pretty but lacks many of the attributes of a largemouth bass pond. I stick close to the shoreline and fish all available holding structure which consists mainly of large emerged and submerged boulders, small patches of aquatic plants, and a few docks. I switch between a 5” soft stickbait and a buzzbait, with an emphasis on the latter. I get two bites on the buzzbait in the first 45 minutes but no landed fish. The small bays along the shoreline, particularly the ones across from the launch area, provide promising habitat with their shallower water, softer substrate, and more extensive vegetation interspersed with some submerged wood. However, I don’t generate a single nibble in those spots, which is quite disappointing. A largemouth bass (the only one…) hiding underneath a small submerged tree trunk outside of the bays takes pity on me by pouncing on the buzzbait and staying hooked. He puts up a spirited fight with several jumps before giving up. The fish measures 17”. I end my morning by fishing the shallows by the treeless island for about 15 minutes. That generates a strike on the buzzbait but no additional fish.
Overall, I like the setting of Hutchinson Pond, particularly the lack of power boats and the quiet surroundings. However, other ponds in the region provide a better largemouth bass fishing experience and probably deserve more attention.
The results: I caught 1 largemouth bass (17”) in two hours of fishing.
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My wife and I spent a pleasant late-August evening on Hutchinson and I got 10 – 12 smallmouth bass flyfishing a leach pattern. Most of the fish were small, 7-9 inches, but there were a lot of them and I missed many strikes. I only caught one mature fish, of about 12″, but the fact that there are lost of young smallies indicates that they are reproducing well. The pond is incredibly clear and utterly strewn with boulders; it looks like great smallie habitat. And the shorelines, especially all the coves, seemed to have ample weed growth of all sorts, enough to provide plenty of holding areas. This is a beautiful, peaceful pond, highly recommended.