Herring Pond Fishing Spot

• County: Barnstable - Eastham
• Acreage: 43
• Public Fishing: Yes
• Mean Depth: 18'
• Max Depth: 35'
• Website: http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/habitat/maps/ponds/pdf/dfwherr.pdf
• Last Modified By: vinny60 on 09/27/09 02:14 PM
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Herring Pond is a 43 acre natural kettlehole pond with an average depth of 18 feet and a maximum depth of 35 feet. It is drained by the Herring River but saltwater can sometimes wash into the pond from the river at the highest tides. Transparency is very good, extending to 18 feet, and the bottom is composed primarily of sand. The 1.1 miles of shoreline is moderately developed with houses. Herring Pond is located in the middle of Eastham, south of Great Pond and southwest of the Cape Cod National Seashore Visitors Center on Salt Pond. It can be reached from Route 6, heading north, by taking a left onto Samoset Road; left onto Lawton Road, and left onto Herring Brook Road. Access is provided by a town beach and fisherman's landing next to the outlet for Herring River. It is primarily suited for launching cartop boats and canoes. There is a three horsepower limit on engines used at Herring Pond. All motorized watercraft need to have an annual inspection sticker from the Eastham Natural Resources Department. Fish Populations: Herring Pond was last surveyed in 1988, at which time nine species were recorded: pumpkinseed sunfish, golden shiners, yellow perch, chain pickerel, brown bullhead, banded killifish, white perch, brown trout, and rainbow trout. A fisheries survey performed by consultants preparing a diagnostic/feasibility study later in the same year also found American eel and alewife.

Herring Pond is annually stocked in the spring with brook, brown and rainbow trout. It has a reputation for producing some good holdover brown trout fishing. This can be attributed to the excellent forage base in the form of sea-run alewives which swim up the Herring River from Cape Cod bay to spawn in the pond. The buffering effect of alkaline sea-water which periodically enters from the Herring River has spared this pond from the acidity characteristic of most of Cape Cod's kettlehole ponds. During high summer, look for the trout in a narrow depth range around 23 feet.