The access point on Beaver Pond with view of the large island and a hint of Pleasant Mountain in the background
Beaver Pond is a 128-acre body of water located in Denmark, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 4 B3). The pond is situated off Denmark Road, which connects Route 302 (Bridgton Road) with Route 160 (West Maine Street). Public access is available at a town launch sited at the end of Beaver Pond Road. This dirt road is unmarked but can be found right next to house number 347 on Denmark Road (look for a red barn). Note that this road is not named in the Maine Gazetteer but appears on the Google map at the top of this article. The pond is located 0.3 miles from the Denmark Road turnoff. The sandy launch can accommodate small trailered boats, but is best suited for hand-carried craft. Only a handful of cars can park “rough” in the woods around the launch.
A typical view of the vegetation along the shoreline of Beaver Pond
Beaver Pond is a gorgeous gem!! I just love finding, and writing about, out-of-the-way places such as this one. The pond sits at the base of 2006 ft-high Pleasant Mountain, which is a popular regional hiking destination (click here for an example). Only 2 or 3 camps are discreetly tucked away in the woods along the shoreline, providing a distinct sense of “remoteness”. The entire surrounding region in this part of Oxford County is also deeply forested. The pond has three small island, the largest of which is nicely wooded and has an unmanaged camp site on it. I talk to one of the campers who tells me that the site is “first come – first serve”. I can definitely see the charm of spending a long weekend on this pond camping, grilling, fishing, looking at stars at night, and enjoying the great outdoors.
Christian’s nice largemouth bass caught on Beaver Pond
The surface water of Beaver Pond is only slightly colored. The substrate is firm and sandy, covered by a thin layer of organic material. Bass-holding structure consists mostly of arrowhead/pickerel weed beds interspersed with other species of floating and emerging aquatic plants. The vegetation isn’t overwhelming. I’m finding only sparse submerged wood along the shoreline. The pond is also extremely shallow, with a maximum and average depth of 8 ft and 5 ft, respectively. Interesting enough, though, little or no aquatic vegetation grows away from the shoreline. The bass fishing rules fall under the General Law provisions. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information.
Beaver Pond in its full glory
I reach Beaver Pond with my 11-year nephew Christian at 8:45 am. The cloud deck is quite low and completely hides Pleasant Mountain from view. It’s like the mountain doesn’t exist! The air temperature is in the mid 60’s and humid. The sky is supposed to remain mostly overcast this morning but the wind is quiescent, which will make our fishing pleasant. I’m immediately smitten by the general setting of the pond, a feeling which only increases over time. We launch my canoe and paddle to the left of the access point to fish in and amongst the aquatic vegetation along the shoreline. I rely on my trusted buzzbait to quickly scan a lot of area, while Christian uses a 5” purple soft stickbait with a paddle tail. I don’t generate a single hit using my loud and obnoxious lure, whereas Christian catches four largemouth bass in about an hour. But all these fish are small, measuring between 10” and about 13”. We’ve now reached the back of the large island with the camp site and decide to troll back to the access point. I switch to a floating 5” Rapalla, whereas Christian continues to place his trust in the paddling soft stickbait. And he is soon rewarded by a hard, splashy hit when a 17” largemouth shoots up from the bottom and pounces on his lure! He’s ecstatic, and so am I! I briefly chat with a fisherman who’s fishing about half way between the campsite island and the boat launch in the deepest part of the pond (8 ft). He says that he’s caught 11 bass this morning, but only a handful of which exceeded 13”. It’s time for us to move on. I highly recommend Beaver Pond for its beautiful setting and quiet surroundings, even though the largemouth bass appear to be stunted.
The results: Christian caught 5 largemouth bass (largest = 17”) in 1.5 hours and whipped uncle Stan who left this pond skunked : (
Was the information in this blog useful? I invite you to share your thoughts and opinions. Also, feel free to discuss your fishing experiences at this location.
~ ~ ~ ~ ><« ({(« º >
Great posts! Beaver Pond is a real (almost hidden) gem that is well known to locals (and I can tell you why…not all the bass are stunted, hint, hint). This is one of my favorite ponds for float-tubing in the warm evenings during the weeks either side of the summer solstice. Just as the sun goes down on most nights an incredible mayfly hatch occurs (Hexagenia limbata) that must be experienced to be believed. These huge bugs start popping up to the surface right at dusk, and within a few minutes what was once a quiet, placid pond, starts to boil. It sounds like bricks are falling from the sky or toilets are flushing all over the place. The frenzy usually lasts an hour or two and then suddenly shuts off. Only then do you notice that it’s pitch dark, your forearm hurts, and you have 6,000 mosquito bites…but who cares!
heard from 2 different people years apart this is where state record was caught.
used to live in denmark. try little moose. stream that goes out of it also