Penney Pond near Belgrade: Fishing Spots, Seasons and Access

• Overview

  The Kennebec County end of Maine holds Penney Pond. Height above sea level is 276 feet. The water covers some 39 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Around 1.4 miles of margin, front to back. Belgrade sits 2.7 miles from the bank. Then Sidney, 5 miles, and Manchester, 5.9 miles. Near neighbours: Joe Pond 0.3 miles away, Gould Pond after 0.6 miles, Doctors Pond 0.7 miles away, Silver Lake after 1 mile and Fairbanks Pond 1.2 miles away. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on Penney Pond

  Nothing we hold settles how deep this runs. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Kennebec County records list brown trout, Atlantic salmon, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and black crappie among the fish reported. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Penney Pond fishes better once you know its edges.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Average temperature peaks around 69°F in July and bottoms out near 18°F in January. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around early April. On average, early April opens the water and mid December closes it again. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. Penney Pond runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Ownership and access are not documented in what we hold. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Mapping shows an empty shoreline: no ramp, no jetty, no marked entry. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. Joe Pond, 0.3 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Rules at Penney Pond are worth checking on the day.