Deep Pond

I got out on Deep Pond to target big chain pickerel and trout.

Deep Pond is a little kettlehole nestled in the woods on a boy scouts camp in eastern Long Island. The boy scouts limit the access to the pond to weekday use only with a NYS land access permit required. There are also some other restrictions as well. The only permitted access entails a quarter mile carry down a steep hill. It is a good idea to travel light for the haul back to the car.

Despite the time restrictions and difficult access, the pond is fished heavily. A cursory look at the sign-in sheet in the angler parking lot shows fishing activity of 2 – 4 fishermen per day.

Even though the pond is heavily fished, it is an excellent fishery for big pickerel, quality yellow perch, and the occasional holdover brown trout.

Pickerel is the biggest drawing card. The strict regulations and abundance of perch keeps Deep Pond one of the best big pickerel fisheries in the state. However, overfishing led to a drastic decline in the overall pickerel population. As a result, a no-kill restriction on pickerel is now imposed. This regulation is key to keeping this pond a trophy pickerel producer.

The deep oxygenated water of the pond and abundant perch population helps the stocked brown trout to holdover in Deep Pond. Occasionally, you will see thick pods of brown trout cruising the bottom on your fishfinder. Normally, these fish are foraging for food and actively feeding so try to get a presentation to them quickly before they move on. You will also see trout rise to late afternoon midge hatches as well. These fish are keyed into the hatch and will generally ignore other offerings.

With a late start, I wasn’t on the water until 4:30 pm and fished until dusk.

Over that time, I had a solid pick of quality fish working the drop-offs and structure around the little pond.

I caught and released four big chain pickerel, each between 22” and 24”.

I caught numerous yellow perch, but two quality specimens at 12” and 14.5” respectively. The latter qualifies for a NYS Angler Catch & Release Achievement Award. This is my second of the season and third qualifying NYS fish in two years (my others were chain pickerel and largemouth bass).

I caught all my fish working a Gulp paddletail on a lead head. I was working the lower half of the water column from the shoreline to 10’. Once my jig hit the bottom, the pickerel and perch would pick it up during the split second it was still. Usually, this occurred near the kayak.

For the second straight year, trolling for trout was unproductive. I used both a spinning rod and leadcore, neither of which yielded a hit. With the small size of the pond, it is difficult to get enough momentum for a good troll. For that reason, I recommend using leadheads here.

I caught no trout. At the end of the day, trout started rising on chironomids  and actively fed on midges until near dusk, when the dwindling light kept the hatch down. I didn’t have a fly rod, but actively worked these fish for about a half hour at the end of the day in 17’.

At one time, I marked a big pod of trout that moved through. This pod looked like a mini version of some of the readings I have seen on the Housatonic River or the Elizabeth River so it appeared as though they were actively feeding and directly under my kayak. So, I dropped my leadhead down to the bottom and started vertically jigging.  As soon as the jig hit the bottom, I lifted and got a solid hit, but I didn’t hook up. I quickly fan-casted the area, but it appeared as though the browns had moved on. The prior year, I had caught a big brown trout in the same area in the same situation.  It is a testament to the forage base and quality of fishing that I may have had a shot with holdover trout two years in a row. These were definitely not recent stockies, as it was a very good mark. I believe the lake holds a few trophy trout. Maybe if I had the entire day my result could have been different.

Otherwise , I only had a couple of light hits working the trout that were fixated on the midge hatch. Although the trout were slurping midges, I doubt I would have had much success if I had brought my fly rod and some midge patterns. The trout seemed to be mostly spooked by the kayak, and generally kept about 20’ away. I doubt I have the skill to cast a size 28 midge larvae 20’ sitting from the kayak.

At dusk, the hatch had stopped and the rising trout ceased, so I made my way back to the car. The carry back to the jeep was certainly a workout, but very doable and worth it. The more I fish this little pond, the more I want to come back.