The weather is cold, gloomy, and overcast. But, fortunately, the wind is quiet.
Worthley Pond is a 354-acre body of water located in Peru, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 11 A3). The public access point is found on East Shore Road and is clearly indicated by a blue boat-launch sign. This well-maintained hardtop launch is spacious, accessible to large craft, and offers plenty of parking spaces.
Some of the brookies stocked six weeks ago are still loitering around the boat launch!
Worthley Pond is a fully developed lake surrounded by numerous forested hills situated just south of the Androscoggin River. The state sustains a popular salmonid fishery via an annual stocking program involving rainbow trout, brown trout, and brook trout. In 2022, 900 11-inch rainbow trout were stocked in the spring, whereas 400 12-inch brown trout and 300 13-inch brook trout were stocked in October. These numbers suggest that the state manages this pond primarily as a rainbow trout fishery. The release of 15 19-inch brookies three days ago on November 22 grabs my attention. Fifteen is a small number but those fish are three-pounders. I expect them to behave the way hatchery-reared fish do by schooling together and staying close to their release point, which I suspect is the boat launch. The pond is open to fishing between October 1 and December 31 using artificial lures only and with the stipulation that all salmonids must be released at once. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information.
This brown trout is also hanging around the launch many weeks after it was stocked.
I reach the public access point on Worthley Pond at 1:30 pm and am glad to see that I have no competition. The conditions are gloomy and cold: the air temperature is 33°F, the water is a frigid 38°F, the low and misty cloud deck spits out occasional raindrops, but the wind is mercifully absent. I layer up like crazy, don my waders, and enter the water 15 minutes later. I am pleased with the general layout: the substrate is sandy and firm, no submerged aquatic plants are present to foul my hooks, and the depth increases very gradually, allowing me to safely walk way out. I use my ultralight spinning rod, small reel spooled with 6-pound monofilament line, and a bronze #2 Mepps spinner. I slowly wade to the right of the launch, systematically fan casting the lure in front of me. I let the spinner sink towards the bottom, get the blade turning, and then slowly reel in the lure while constantly twitching the rod tip to impart a random flickering to the blade. I hook and land a 13-inch brookie within the first ten minutes. Great! This fish was stocked over six weeks ago and has been hanging around the launch area all this time!
A totally unexpected guest. And I caught two of these 16-inch rainbows!
The bite is steady over the next hour. I catch three more 13-inch brookies, one 14-inch brown trout, and one 16-inch rainbow trout. I am careful to walk back slowly to shore every time I hook a fish because I want to fight and net it away from where the others are swimming in order to minimize the chances of spooking the lot. However, the inevitable happens: the bite stops completely and I cannot catch another fish. I return to the launch and start fishing towards my left. Nothing is happening over there either. At one point, I am rapidly reeling in my spinner because it has entangled itself. To my surprise, I see two large swirls right behind the lure. I will be damned: something is actively chasing it! I quickly untangle the lure, recast it out well past the swirls, and start the retrieve. I get a hookup five seconds later followed by two jumps out of the water by another 16-inch bow. What a great spectacle! However, that is my last fish of the afternoon. By now, my hands and legs are freezing cold, and my two feet are totally numb. I am also chilled to the core and shivering. It is time to call it good. I did not catch the sought-after 3-pounders but still consider this trip highly successful. I landed four brookies and one brown trout stocked a month and a half ago, proving that these hatchery fish tend to linger for a long time around their point of release before fully dispersing. The two 16-inch rainbow trout were completely unexpected and represent a wonderful bonus. I leave a thoroughly-chilled but happy angler.
I caught a trifecta of trout species this afternoon: brook trout, brown trout, and rainbow trout. That is just awesome.
The results: I caught seven trout (largest = 16 inches) in 2 hours of cold but fruitful fishing.
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