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LONG POND HARWICH
Steve Goodman shows off the kind of fish you can catch at LP Harwich. Predominantly a small mouth fisheries, Long Pond does have some very big large mouth. Recently (2008) the towns of Brewster and Harwich have treated the pond for the chemical imbalance and the small mouth have really benefited. The lake has a herring run and the alewives are the predominant food source, along with the perch and crawfish. The lake seems to have a shelf around the shoreline that goes to 8-10 feet and then it drops into the various "deep" areas. Some of these 8 foot areas are quit wide and far from the shoreline, other areas are steep embankments. Not too many areas have weedbeds, there are a few, but the fish follow the food source. Starting with the spawn, you should keep the boat in 8 ft of water or less. The long wide flats are the best areas, and with the clear water, you can see the beds from far away. In 2009, the Freedom trail had a tournament on 5/30. The fish were still spawning and spawned right into June. The largemouth were also on the beds at this time. With the cold fronts that were prevalent during this time of year, made the fish come up and then go back deep. If they weren't on the beds, they were deeper and either waiting to come up or had just spawned, and were not biting. I talked to many fisherman who thought the same, or at least had the same results- no fish. When the water finally warmed up and remained warm (65-70) the fish were predictable. The largemouth were close to the shorleline grass in some of the coves. Senkos and top water in the mornings were taking a lot of fish. It seemed that on cloudy days, the small mouth would move into the shallower water and you could catch both species in the area. Usually the small mouth would be just on the breakline around 8-10 ft. The tournament fishing pressure isn't prevalent in the summer months, because you need a town sticker to park in the parking lots. Once Labor Day has come and gone, the fishing pressure starts in again. Most anglers look for the bait fish at this time of year. The water is usually still pretty warm and the fish are active. However, there is tons of bait everywhere, and locating the small mouth and largemouth and getting them to bite can be frustrating. Some anglers I have talked to, like to fish the deeper break line around 18-20 feet, and still others like to fish shallow. Lures which can be fished horizontally seem to do the best around September and early October, than the verticle lures seem to be better. There are always times when this generality is proven wrong, so be flexible. I've tried to improve on the maps made for LP Harwich and I've highlited some areas and described my techniques for fishing them below. I find that it is really important to "read" what the fish are doing on a particular day on this body of water, more so than any other pond I fish. May 29,2010- Freedom had a tournament and Vern and I fished it, finished 6 out of 12. Water temp was 67, I was convinced that the largemouth were coming onto the beds and we should fish for them. After the first hour of looking for LM beds, we decided to go for small mouth. Most of the small mouth caught by the winners were on beds and caught early. Vern and I rallied, two of our small mouth were not on the bed, but 3 were. This was the only time I fished here in 2010. I have picked some areas on the map of Long Pond Harwich to talk about. Pan the mouse around the lake and when it changes to a hand; click on the area and I will tell you some of the bottom structure and features in the area. The brown area on the map signifies relatively shallow water, under 10 feet. There is scattered grass along these areas, but I find that they change yearly. Some of the brown areas will have rocks of various sizes. The small mouth will use these areas for spawning and feeding in the spring and fall. The blue color is the deeper portion. Some areas drop very quickly from shore into almost 30 feet of water, some into even deeper water.
2011- I only got to fish LPH once this year. The RJ’s tournament was in June. There were a few fish on the beds, but mostly they were off, especially the small mouth. Vern and I caught largemouth on the beds and small mouth cruising. You had to fish a lot of bed areas to find one or two fish actually on the bed. If you got lucky, as I did, the big fish bit. The two big fish I caught came from the same log. One was in it when I arrived, I didn’t see it, I just threw an ultravibe speed craw towards it, and the fish came out and ate it. Vern was fishing a bed for a small mouth, when we both saw the other big largemouth “cruise” into the log. Vern threw the senko in there for 5 minutes without seeing the fish- I threw the ultravibe– 4 casts and it ate it!!! Go figure!!!
2014- I didn’t fish Long Pond very much in the last 3 years. The Rod Jockeys had 2 night tournaments here in that time and boy did we do well. In the early evening the largemouth were cruising shallow especially around the docks. The small mouth were hanging in around 12 feet, around the flats. When dusk came, I put on a black spinnerbait, and a top water bait. I fished the flats near the deep water and caught some really nice small mouth. You had to wait until the other boat traffic went away, too much and the fish didn’t come up. When it got dark, I would fish around the 10-12 ft areas that might hold some structure- moorings, logs, trees, small points, or the tips of points. In the spring of 2014, the ABA, held a tournament here and I finished 2nd. I was throwing a grub on a jig head. This is something I used to do a long time ago, and I got away from it. Others were throwing the jerk bait and having success as well. I tried to stay around 12 feet and throw in to the shallows and bring it out. The Easterbunny tournament is also a favorite here in the spring. Most of the anglers head to the east end of the pond, where the big ridge running across the pond is located, and even down to the end where the water is deep and then shoots up into the flat areas. 2015- I was very fortunate this year at LPH during the tournaments!!! I didn’t fish the pond in the spring, but the RJ’s decided to have a night tournament for big bass and I won. I didn’t get anything on a top water or on a spinnerbait. Others in the club did catch them on it, but not big ones, I saw a big largemouth being caught and lost by the bog area. After dark I went to the break lines and caught them in 10-12 ft with a jig and craw. The big one was 4.8 lbs.
I fished the pond about 6 times during the months of Sept. and Oct. As I said in the “Johns Pond” recap, I started using my electronics and trusted them. (On the big motor )I would chart the fish from 16-25 ft along the deep water breaks. I would see them on the sonar, which had a broader beam and then see them on the down scan, which put them right under the boat. I would put a way point and continue on and either go right back and fish them or try to mark another “group” near them. I didn’t wait too long to fish them. It worked!! I used a tube or jig to catch them. Those are my “go to” baits. If I charted the fish while on my trolling motor , I would continue forward for a little ways and throw my tube to the back of the boat and just jiggle it- I caught a lot of fish this way- and I showed it to about 4 non boaters, who started trying it and getting success.
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2016-2017 I didn’t fish very well in Long Pond in 2016. I didn’t fish until early May and I found the fish to be pre spawn. I was fishing at tournaments and the small mouth on the beds were easy to catch. The largemouth were in the shallows in the east end. Some were tight along the banks and around the docks. I found the fish, but I didn’t execute well enough to catch them. I used a small sluggo, something that hasn’t been used in a long time, replaced by the senko. I had 2 very nice largemouth run off with it, but I failed to get them in the boat. In the fall, I was hoping to find them as I did, in 2015, in the 15-25 foot area. I did find some, but not enough to win the tournament. In 2017, I did a turn around, and executed well ! In the spring, the small mouth were spawning, and I had 5 year old way points to show me the area where the beds were. The beds were within a few feet, of my way points !!!!!! I also was able to catch the largemouth pre spawn. The largemouth were “holding” on some type of structure– usually a piece of wood. I would throw a drop shot and “wait” the fish out. Eventually I could entice them to bite, one was over 5 lbs. I also was able to catch some pre spawn small mouth in 10-15 ft, and one was over 4 lbs. During July I fished during the evening until midnight. I used everything, top water, spinnerbaits, jigs, jigging spoons, senkos, and still couldn’t catch anything. When the sun was still out, I did catch a few small largemouth in the east end, around some moorings and tree limbs. Around 11:00 pm, I caught 3 nice small mouth along moorings that were in 10 ft of water. I used a 1/4 oz jig with ultravibe. In the fall, the ABA, held their annual fall tournament there and I managed to start with largemouth in the east end, but then started scrambling. I went for broke and started charting areas where I found the grass and bait fish in 15-25 ft. I managed to chart 5 small mouth and catch them. I didn’t win, again, I got beat in the last hour because the winner started to fish docks and pulled out 2 big ones. |
