The float tube is my secret fishing weapon this afternoon!
Round Pond is a picturesque 11-acre body of water located in Albany (White Mountain National Forest, WMNF), Oxford County (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 10 C3). To reach this spot, drive up to the Crocker Pond camp ground managed by the US Forest Service and leave your vehicle at the head of the Albany Brook Trail, located about 300 ft past the campground entrance. By the way, this clean and well-maintained campground is a great base to explore the tremendous hiking and fishing opportunities in the surrounding WMNF. Round Pond is an easy 1-mile hike (about 30 minutes) from camp. A serious limitation is that, unlike Baxter State Park, the Forest Service does not store a canoe along the shoreline of remote ponds for day use. Hence, you’ll have to bring your own floatation device. Two people could conceivably drag in a canoe at great metabolic cost. I carry my much lighter float tube since I’m fishing by myself this afternoon. For the record, quality fishing from shore would be a real challenge at this location because the entire shoreline is surrounded by dense shrubs
Bell Mountain with its granite cliffs along the shore of Round Pond
Round Pond is a little gem! It is framed by Bell Mountain with its exposed granite cliffs to the east and Albany Mountain to the west. The whole surrounding region is deeply forested and untouched. The relative isolation and lack of on-site boating accommodations virtually ensures that you’ll have the place all to yourself. The pond is specifically managed as a brook trout fishery. Over the last several years, the State has stocked it every fall with 350 brookies measuring 6”, which yields a respectable 32 fish per acre. The surface water is crystal clear. The pond is quite deep for its small size, with a mean and maximum depth of 20 ft and 29 ft, respectively. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information. General fishing laws apply to this body of water, except that: (a) the pond is closed to ice fishing, and (2) use or possession of live fish as bait is prohibited. Click here for more fishing rules pertaining to this pond.
The caddisfly imitator is doing its job.
I reach Round Pond by noon. I’m immediately assaulted by vast hordes of blood-thirsty black flies and mosquitoes as soon as I reach the shoreline. I’m clearly on their menu plan today! The sun is high and bright in the blue sky. I’m hoping that the warm conditions will entice bug hatching on the water because my plan for this afternoon calls for dry-flying. The situation with the stinging critters quickly improves as I hurriedly paddle away from shore on my float tube and into the warm breeze over the water. I only noticed two rises to the left of the access point while I was gearing up, so I decide to paddle around the pond starting on the right side and look out for surface action. An hour later, after slowly paddling around the periphery of the entire pond, I’ve yet to see a single rise… I’ve now returned back to my original departure point and see several rises! Damn, I should have started fishing here from the very beginning!
My little corner of Round Pond is filled with eager brookies this afternoon.
The strong breeze is a pain because it continuously shifts direction and causes my float tube to move this way and then that. But the trout are now constantly rising all around me. I can’t quite figure out what they are feeding on because I see few if any hatching bugs on the surface but the fish are definitely interested in my brown caddisfly imitation. At first, I get six strikes but all fail to connect, which is very frustrating… I change to a smaller caddisfly which finally starts catching fish. I have a wonderful time over the next 2.5 hours, hooking 18 trout and landing 11 of them. They’re all small (9” to 11”) but what they lack in size they more than make up in beauty, vigor, and fighting spirit. I leave Round Pond at 3:30 pm deeply satisfied by my experience.
You are one gorgeous and beautiful wild creature!
The results: I had 26 strikes on the dry fly, 18 hook-ups, and 11 landed brook trout (size range: 9” – 11”) in 3.5 hours of fun fishing in a beautiful setting.
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