CTFishTalk.com: Black Pond 10/13 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

I decided to fish Black Pond with TurtleKiss (aka Kira) based on her recommendation of it as a pond with a deep dropoff from the shore. Just so you know, she wasn't kidding about that! Very Happy

I got on the water in my Hobie at 9:15 am, after talking with a couple of pretty cool shore fishermen. They gave me the lowdown on the locations of the old bait shop and the steepest dropoff. I pedaled around for just a bit before Kira showed up around 9:30 am. It was cold in the shade, probably around 50 degrees, but the sun was already hitting the water on the western shore. it soon warmed up to 60 degrees. The water was clear down to four feet and the water temperature hung around 60 degrees. There was a steady northwest wind that was probably around 10 miles per hour. Here's a map of the pond:

After Kira launched, she headed straight for the shallows and the pads in the northwest corner. I was skeptical that largemouth bass would hold in such shallow water at these temperatures, so I headed down the western shore. I tried to troll a large black spinnerbait with double willow blades in about 10 feet of water, but had trouble staying on that depth. It seemed like I was always either in four feet or 16 feet of water. There were still enough submerged weeds that trolling in less than eight feet of water was tough. When I got to the south end of the pond (small green circle on map), I saw that trout were rising all over the place. And by rising, I mean actively feeding on the surface and sometimes leaping completely out of the water. Surprised

I saw many that were at least 18 inches long. I switched to a little white crankbait and got a good hit from a trout on my second cast, but it spit the hook after only a couple of cranks of my reel. After that, I got nothing. At this point, I was determined to land one, so I tied on and tried a smaller silver crankbait and a small chartreuse spinnerbait, but the trout weren't interested. In the meantime, Kira had given up on the shallows and allowed the wind to blow Dinghbat down to where I was.

While I was futilely trying to land a trout, I saw a green jonboat with a small motor head from the launch and into the cove in the southwest corner of the pond. When the boat came back out, I noticed that it was heading straight to me. It was only then that I realized it was a DEP guy. Yes, I answered my second survey of the year and provided my Conservation Identification Number for the second time. When I was done with the survey, I told the DEP guy that Kira wouldn't be too thrilled to have her Conservation Identification Number checked, again. However, when he turned and saw her, he yelled, "Koopa!", and I knew that they knew each other. It turns out that he's a friend of Kira's. but that didn't stop him from getting her Conservation Identification Number. . . for the 10th time! Evil or Very Mad

Of course, she has it memorized.

While Kira was taking the survey and catching up with the DEP guy, I decided to head into the cove in the southwest corner of the pond. There's a canal of sorts through heavy pads and weeds that goes through a chokepoint, underneath some high tension power lines, and into a clear cove next to Thorpe Avenue and Birdsey Avenue (large green circle on map). Is it just me or does anyone else get the creeps when pedaling/paddling underneath high tension power lines? Shocked

The buzzing noise kills me. When I got to the cove, I pulled out the wacky five inch pumpkin/red flake Senko and finally landed a fish. It was a 15 inch, one pound, nine ounce largemouth bass:

As I worked my way around the cove, I landed another largemouth bass, only a 12 incher, also on the wacky Senko. Kira finally made it back to the cove and started working her way around it, so I decided to throw the black spinnerbait in eight to 12 feet of water. I cranked it slowly so that it would run deep. While Kira was being asked by a guy on the shore to join the Meriden PBA, which is a club that's located right on the cove, I landed an 18 inch chain pickerel:

Yes, I finally got a decent pickerel. However, after landing so many large northern pike in Lake Champlain, my opinion of what size of pickerel is decent has changed. I used to think that 18 inches was decent, but am now thinking that 24 inches fits the bill. However, it was still fun when the pickerel hit the spinnerbait.

I had to get off the water by 3:00 pm and wanted to fish the big part of the pond before I left, but Kira couldn't leave the cove because she still had the skunk on her boat. So I left her there, and headed through the channel and back to the south end of the pond. The trout were still rising, but they didn't want my little white crankbait. I spoke with a couple of guys who were in a jonboat with a dog. They said that they were fishing for trout, but hadn't landed any. I think that a fly fisherman would have kicked butt out there today. I worked my way along the eastern shore and back to the launch, pitching my wacky Senko toward the shore, but I didn't get any hits. The eastern shore drops off very steeply. 15 feet off of the shore, the depth is already 20 feet. Unfortunately, my finder didn't mark any fish on my way back in. Where the heck did they go?

Anyway, Black Pond is a beautiful pedal/paddle, but the fishing was very challenging, to say the least. Hopefully, Kira landed at least one after I left. I think she yelled that she was getting some hits on a jig when I saw her last. She'll have to fill in those blanks.
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weekend angler · Joined: 09 Sep 2009 Posts: 112 Location: trumbull

Whats a Conservation Identification Number for?
I'm just curious, in case I need one.

Nice fish Peco
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PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

The Conservation Identification Number is the number on your fishing license. I hope that you have one. . . . Shocked

You definitely need one.
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DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

Nice job Phil! I knew you were out somewhere catching pickerel Wink

weekend angler · Joined: 09 Sep 2009 Posts: 112 Location: trumbull

oh,
of course I do , why dont you just say he checked your fishing license?
Very Happy

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PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

He actually wanted just the number. He said, "I'll need your Conservation Identification Number." Very Happy

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TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

Unfortunately, I have only scenery photos to contribute. Nothing was biting for me, but double digit license DEP interviews was one of my goals for the year, so I'm actually pleased about that. Also, I saw the back cove area for the first time. Quite a bit of rowing/pad evasion/prop cleaning was involved which is why I've been avoiding it for so long. There's a niiiiiiiiiiiice launch back there, owned by the Meriden police, which finally explains why I hear so many gun shots every time I go there. I wasn't being asked to join the PBA...I was finding out how to use the launch without getting fined. To do that I'd need to be sponsored ...probably helps to be a Meriden resident too. Loved that whole area I'd never seen, buzzy power lines and pads galore. I threw a lot of stuff...jig, spinnerbait, worm, frog, crankbait, creature bait...the fish were having none of it. A few nibbles and one false strike on the frog.

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Kira

*~ "Not everything about fishing is noble, reasonable and sane..." -Henry Middleton ~*

Daryl · Joined: 24 Sep 2010 Posts: 70 Location: Simsbury, CT

Nice report! What a beautiful cove!

Phil, you're the pro at self-shots! Laughing

Love the scenery Kira! Do you shoot with a Digital SLR, i.e. Canon Rebel? I'm just guessing since nothing else really grabs the foliage like that!

Daryl

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

I actually aspire to one day get photos that are as good as Bluegill Terminator's! Very Happy

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TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

Daryl · Joined: 24 Sep 2010 Posts: 70 Location: Simsbury, CT

Motorola Droid! Try out the compass application that lets you GPS tag spots. I've been using it this year and it really is handy! Just go on the market and search "compass" I believe its made by a company named Snaptic Inc. Once you tag a spot on the program, it prompts you to download a note taking program called "3Banana Notes" which is also free. It saves the tags in the note taking program, which you can make descriptions, etc within the notes yourself. Then later when you are back at the same lake you can view the note, click on it and open in in Google Maps, and then use the gps to navigate back to the same spot. Very clutch indeed!
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Daryl

"Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers." - Herbert Hoover

TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

davoforty · Joined: 29 Jul 2010 Posts: 32

thanks for the report

Johnny Skeeter · Joined: 06 May 2007 Posts: 700 Location: Vernon Ct

Now thats a fishin report!
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