I recently moved to Huntington-- previously I lived on Forge Pond and then about a mile from Laurel Lake, but unfortunatley my interest in fishing did not "explode" until I moved to Huntington. Anyway, back to the topic.

I have been driving around with my Hagstrom map checking out all the ponds on the map within my area. I looked at Fresh Pond in Northport and Blanchard Lake near Eaton's Neck. I am restricted to fishing from shore so in both cases I was faced with extremely limited access to the ponds and the minor area that did have access was not a good spot.

I finally came accross Twin Ponds and found that it has easy access and has numerous spots around the one accessible pond which can be fished. Has anyone fished Twin Ponds for bass? Any tips? Where are the better areas to fish from? If you have fished it and have been successful, what types of lures have worked for you? Any help would be appreciated.

[ April 15, 2002: Message edited by: Brendan ]

Rob, I have fished all three of the ponds you have mentioned as well as a few ponds in that area that few if any fish due to the local residents. Balnchard Lake has a healthy population of Bass and some very large white perch, Fresh pond has a real nice population of small bass with an occasional good fish but in the summer becomes weed infested. Twin ponds is a nuture perserve that is stocked with trout (some real good ones) only one of the ponds is accesable and it has alot of small bass with acoulple of good ones every now and again. Stoney brook village has two real good ponds as is the pond next to the Hotel on Centershore road in Centerport. Good bassin' Dan Bass

Dan,

Thanks for the great info. I've driven by the pond next to the motel on Centershore Rd. to check for access. Do you think that there's fish left or has the chinese restaurant next to it cleaned out the pond? I'll definitley check it out.

Also, I'm right next to Hecksher Park in Huntington Village. I heard that there was some great fishing in there but about two years ago it was dredged. I know that the pond was almost emptied during this project except for a small corner of the pond. Have you heard anything about this pond in the last two years?

By the way, Blanchard and Fresh Pond...did you fish them from shore or boat. If you fished from shore, can you give me tips on acessing areas?

Rob

[ April 15, 2002: Message edited by: rob ]

Rob, Heksher park was dredged at least five years ago and it still has a large Bass population as does the pond up in West neck in West Neck beach park and Cuamset beach parkboth are fish at your own risk!! Fresh pond and Blanchard I have fished from shore and from a boat with very limited access. In Smithtown there is Bill Richards park and Millers pond both have Bass in them as does Blydenburgh park. All have access and all can be fished from shore you just have to look!! If you would like to explore their is a pond on the south side of jericho just past the telephone building back in the brush it has some real nice Bass in it but you have to work for it. If you are interested in learning more about Bass fishing locally in general please contact me offline. Good Bassin' Dan Bass

Hecksher Pond has alot of bass, most 10-14 inches. They dredged it two years ago and removed over 500 bass up to 4lbs. The bass were held at Cold Spring Hatchery and returned to the lake after dredging. It is not uncommon to catch 20 bass in an hour. However, the pond is closed to fishing, although there are no signs stating that. If you live close its not a bad place to fish, if they ask you to leave, just leave.

Thanks for your insights on Hecksher. I decided yesterday after work to take my chances there with some crappie fishing. The crappie fishing was not so good but I accidentally caught five bass over the course of an hour. I was using a 2" grub. First bass was about 12", the second about 8", and the last three were about 15". The last one snapped my line and I was about to tie another grub on when a park attendant started coming around to close the bathrooms. I decided not to ruin a good thing and left. Again, thanks for the input.

In case anyone (from outside NY state) is wondering why I went crappie fishing in the above post it is.... it is because bass season is not yet open in NY.