North Pond (Belgrade Lakes)
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The Belgrade Lakes are a chain of lakes around
Belgrade, Maine Belgrade is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. Its population was 3,250 at the 2020 census. However, its population approximately doubles during the summer months as part-year residents return to seasonal camps on the shores of Gre ...
. The flow sequence is from East Pond to North Pond to
Great Pond A great pond in the United States is a pond or lake that is held in trust by the state for public use. Generally, any natural body of water that is larger than in size is public water. In certain New England states, this legal definition exists ...
to Long Pond to
Messalonskee Lake Messalonskee Lake is a body of water in the Belgrade Lakes region of Maine. It is bordered by the towns of Oakland, Sidney, and Belgrade. The lake is a 9-mile-long, narrow, natural creation, resulting from continental collision and glacial scou ...
and thence via Messalonskee Stream to the
Kennebec River The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 river within the U.S. state of Maine. It ri ...
at Waterville. The lakes have long been an important resort area for fishing, boating, and swimming; and shoreline development includes residences for individuals employed in the cities of Waterville and Augusta.


East Pond

East Pond is the headwater pond of the Belgrade chain of lakes. The south end of the pond is in
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
, and the north end of the pond in Smithfield overflows westward approximately through the village of Smithfield into the east side of North Pond. Algal blooms have been observed since the 1990s for about a week in June and again through the last month of summer.


North Pond

Weedy North Pond covers the boundary of Smithfield to the east,
Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader ...
to the northwest, and Rome to the southwest. It is the shallowest lake of the chain. North Pond tributaries include Sucker Brook and Clark Brook joining the overflow from East Pond, and Leech Brook, Bog Brook and Pattee Brook flowing into the north end of the pond. There is a public boat launch area near the outlet of Bog Brook. The south end of North Pond overflows through Great Meadow Stream, which forms the eastern border of Rome and western border of Oakland and Belgrade for approximately before reaching the northwestern bay of Great Pond.


Great Pond

At , Great Pond is the largest of the Belgrade Lakes and forms the boundary between Rome to the north and Belgrade to the south. Tributaries Rome Trout Brook and Robbins Mill Stream enter the north end of Great Pond. Great Pond overflows westward approximately to the east side of Long Pond north of the narrows. Although Great Pond is more than twice as deep as the previous lakes in the chain, it similarly becomes uniformly warm through the summer and unsuitable for native trout or salmon.


Long Pond

The northern basin of Long Pond in Rome is of similar depth as Great Pond, but the basin forming the western boundary of Belgrade and eastern boundary of Mount Vernon south of the narrows is fifty percent deeper with cooler deep waters. There is a public boat launch area at the south end of the narrows. Tributaries Whittier Brook and Beaver Brook drain Whittier Pond, Beaver Pond, Watson Pond, Round Pond, Kidder Pond, and McIntire Pond into the northern basin of Long Pond. Stony Brook and Ingham Stream drain Moose Pond and Ingham Pond into the southern basin. Smaller tributaries like Graveyard Brook and Sandy Cove Stream drain the eastern shores of the southern basin. The south end of Long Pond overflows through Belgrade Stream and Wings Mills Dam, reaching the south end of Messalonskee Lake after flowing eastward.


Messalonskee Lake

Messalonskee Lake is the deepest at , and second largest of the Belgrade Lakes with similar cold water habitat to the south basin of Long Pond. The north end of Messalonskee Lake overflows through Messalonskee Stream to the Kennebec River.


Smaller ponds

The McGrath Pond and Salmon Pond overflow into the east side of Great Pond. They have extensive shoreline development and are sometimes called the sixth and seventh Belgrade Lakes.


Fishing

The lakes provide suitable habitat for chain pickerel, white perch, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass. Early angling focused on
brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...
from the tributary brooks and
Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are ...
in the deeper lakes; but tributaries lack sufficient spawning and nursery habitat to replace angling success. Attempts to sustain the salmon population by stocking hatchery fish caused dramatic decline in the late 1970s of the population of rainbow smelt which had been the primary prey of native salmon. Stocking then introduced
brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...
with greater tolerance for warm water lake conditions. Local interests seeking alternative angling opportunities illegally introduced northern pike and
black crappie The black crappie (''Pomoxis nigromaculatus'') is a freshwater fish found in North America, one of the two types of crappies. It is very similar to the white crappie in size, shape, and habits, except that it is darker, with a pattern of black sp ...
. Eutrofication from residential development of the shoreline has reduced Secchi disk depth to 4 meters, and dead algae has reduced oxygen levels in deep water.


Sources

{{authority control Lakes of Kennebec County, Maine Lakes of Maine