Fishing Reports Central > Lake Reports | Menu
Last | Next

Author:
PECo
Date:
May 13, 2010
Subject:
Ball Pond 05/13
Message:
I drove out to check out Ball Pond today. I didn't catch much, but I'm still glad I went. It's almost totally surrounded by private homes, but it's a really nice pond. I'd love to have a house on it. The boat launch is on the south end of the pond. I got there at about 9:30 AM. I had just gotten out on the water, when a DEP fisheries truck showed up. They backed down the ramp and threw netfuls of brown and rainbow trout out onto the ramp. Over the loud diesel noise of the truck, I heard one of the DEP guys tell a passerby that they were unable to find the spot where they were [i:4c8f83c75a]supposed[/i:4c8f83c75a] to unload the fish. Some of the fish didn't survive the procedure. I spent most of my time taking a tour of the pond, working counter-clockwise around it. The grass carp are everywhere and they're huge. I found out later that they're on their fifth year of carp stocking and some of them are now over 40 pounds. I caught a pretty little brown trout at the north end on a little shad rap. In addition to the carp and the trout, I saw a few small largemouth bass (15-inches or so and smaller) and a lot of panfish. I saw only one small bass on a bed; I think they're just on the verge of coming into the shallows. The only bass I hooked was out in the middle of the pond, toward the shallow south end. It struck the shad rap, but was able to jump the hook in spectacular fashion. On the south end, you could pull up a newly stocked trout on just about every cast of something small and shiny. There were some local guys on the shore pulling them in and throwing them back out for an hour or so. They had an aluminum boat on a trailer, but were headed out for bigger water; Squantz Pond, I think. I pulled out at about 1:00 PM. While I was drying off my kayak, I met an older guy who asked how the paddling was today. I told him about the DEP fisheries truck and he got really angry. He said he's on the Ball Pond Advisory Committee. I think his name is George Buck. Anyway, he said he's really pissed because he arranged with the Director of Inland Fisheries to have the trout stocked in a deeper part of the pond. He said between the fish killed by dumping them on the boat ramp and the unlicensed "poachers from the city", half the trout would be gone before you know it. He even complained about predation by flocks of cormorants, which he said will herd the trout into the shallow of the south end and gobble them all up. Funny thing, when I mentioned the DEP guys who told me about the 26-inch largemouth bass they documented while electrofishing the pond a few days ago, he laughed and said, "Well, it was only 23-inches." I guess fish always keep getting bigger after the fact! Ball Pond reminds me of a small largemouth bass pond in the Poconos in eastern Pennsylvania where my in-laws keep a trailer year-round. It has a lot of lily pads on the shallow south end, and a few more here and there around the pond. The water is clear and there's aquatic plant cover over the entire bottom. If you want to catch some trout, head over there soon. If I had brought a cooler with some ice in it, we'd be having freshly stocked trout for dinner tonight!
Author:
FishinViciousPete
Date:
May 13, 2010
Message:
Thanks for the post I enjoyed reading it. Jigs and soft plastics work well at Ball. I have had 20-40 fish days on Ball. The opposite end from the launch always produces for me .
Author:
weekend angler
Date:
May 13, 2010
Message:
Awesome post, I fish from a kayak as well, it's great. As for those idiots not doing there job, they can ruin it for everyone else :shock:
Last | Next
Home | Topics | Menu