Pond 101

From the folks at Cape Cod Outdoors. The best, area specific, outdoor site.

Most likely you've moved to the Cape or vacation here near a pond. If you fish, and what civilized person would pass up the opportunity, you will be curious about what might be in your pond.
Curiosity is good. Catching is better. This treatise is about catching the most from your local pond(s).
Let's assume you are new to your pond's waters. Then first you have to get aquainted.
Of course you don't have to spend any time really learning your pond before fishing. You can just head out and start throwing rapalas or spinners at the shoreline or jigging the depths. Given the fertility of most Cape ponds, you will probably catch something.
But if you don't catch anything or only catch the small stuff you will be in need of more information for better choices. Then nothing beats a good look around. If you have never checked out a whole pond before you will be surprised all you can learn in an hour or two.
You can discover your pond on foot or afloat. Either way, you want to circumnavigate its shoreline. Get a pocket notebook and then roughly sketch the outline of the pond on three or four pages. Each page is for recording another feature of your pond: shoreline features, depth, structure and activity. Then head for the pond.
If you are afoot, go prepared to wade. Some land owners take umbrage at having fishers in their backyards. As if we might damage their sand with our footprints or ask to use their bathroom. No problem, just step into six inches of water and continue on your way. Smiling shyly and saying good morning helps.
Chest waders are best because shorelines have a way of dropping off or becoming, let us say, soft. Chest waders will keep you dry but wearing an old pair of jeans and tennis shoes will do when the water warms up a bit. Boys know this.
The advantage of walking a shoreline is finding those same dropoffs and soft places. Record them in your notebook for later. These are almost the only "structures" on Cape ponds (besides rocks) and as such are important fish holding areas.
If you are boating, follow the shoreline closely enough that you can just see bottom. Choosing a calm or nearly windless day will aid you in your survey.
Again, you are looking for structure and watching the depth. By following the shoreline at the six to ten foot depth contour, you will get a feeling for the shape of the pond basin.
A bit of geology.
Most Cape ponds are kettle ponds. A glacial front formed (morained?) the Cape and then retreated with the end of the age. Cape ponds were formed from the holes left by calved chunks of ice. Most are remarkably deep for their size and bowl shaped from their sandy composition.
Twenty five feet of depth in a twenty acre pond is usual and forty not uncommon. Long pond in Harwich is seventy five feet deep. A few ponds are dammed marshes. These may be large by Cape standards but only a few feet deep. The "Reservoir" in Harwich is only six feet at it's deepest but forty acres or so in surface area.
Ponds connected to the ocean are the most fertile. This is because of the anadromous fishery that influences them. Alewives and american eels migrate to these ponds to spawn or mature and then contribute to the forage base and balance of the freshwater fishery.
Back to fishing.
The next good look you should take is the deep view. If you have a depth dounder, all the better. If not, a stout cord knotted every five feet and a sash weight will do the trick. Check the depth first the long way through the middle of the pond. This is your base line. You will probably find the deepest hole near one end. Cross check this spot going perpendicular from shore to shore and check another perpendicular across the base line between the deep hole and far shore. If you recorded the depths as you traversed the pond, you will now have the means to picture its hidden shape.
Don't neglect to feel for the bottom as you go. Is it firm and sandy or soft and muddy? Did you hang up on brush somewhere or feel the hard knock of a rock. Make a note too of these "bottoms" as you go.
After surveying your pond, you will have a much better idea of the type of pond you are on. It may be mostly clean and sandy or mostly weeds and mud. The cleaner the shoreline, the deeper you will probably be fishing as the fish use depth in place of cover. The softer the bottom the more structure in the form of weeds and pads you will find and the fish will likely hold shallower.
Now you've found the points, deeper water dropoffs and boulder fields, if any. You know where fallen trees or branches are submerged. You've found, by sinking your feet or observing the change in plant growth where the shoreline springs are.
Armed with your notebook and any sightings of breaking fish you observed, you can make up a plan and have a go.
Assuming you are not a novice, you will have your own favorite technique. But just in case you want some ideas, try these.
If flyfishing, try the wooley bugger. This ought to be called the Cape Cod fly. Browns and greens seem to work best but everything in freshwater (except eels) has hit this fly for me. Fished in two to ten feet of water, this fly is remarkable.
Ultralight fans would do well with very light spinners, #1 and #0, in white and chrome. Fished near the bottom and slowly, these are deadly on trout, bass and pickerel.
Spincasters have good success throwing the standard gear such as: diving plugs, spinnerbaits, jigs and plastics. It pays to think yellow/brown for smallmouths or perch and white/black for largemouths and 'gills.
Bait fishers will do well with nightcrawlers and shiners, of course. Try the crawlers deep, 15' or more in summer. Let the minnows do their thing next to weeds or pads. Use the lightest pencil bobber you can.
Ice fishermen (just don't see many women doing this) can catch a mess of yellow perch and pickerel (trout too) on Cape ponds. Try small shiners or chubs in the shallows for pickerel and deeper for perch and trout. Jigging can be very successful on perch and a swedish pimple or tiny fiord spoon tipped with a bit of worm can fill a bucket if you cut enough holes.
Whether flyfishing or icefishing, the success of any fishing technique is largely dependent upon knowing the shape and cover types of the water you are fishing. If you've taken the time to get to know your pond, then you will know the likely places to fish and you will have success at getting the most fishing enjoyment from your pond.
It's a couple of hours well spent. And in this case, a little knowledge is more than a dangerous thing. It's deadly . . . to the fish.

Author's note: Perch are an incredible resource, fish responsibly and take only what you will eat fresh. mge

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