Sandy Pond

By Spider Rybaak

Angry, the large northern swims just below the surface as if trying to figure out how to handle its tormentor.

Sandy Pond has always had a reputation for dishing out monster northern pike. Still does.

The difference between then and now is that once upon a time pike were recognized as fresh water tigers, second only to muskies, their larger cousins, in terms of ferocity. Toothy critters with a propensity for violently attacking lures--and hands that got too close to their mouths--anglers treated them with respect and admiration up until the end of the 20^th century. Indeed, it was customary to cut off the heads of large ones anddisplay them by nailing them over garage doors and trees—and porch posts on Halloween.

Nowadays, the majority of anglers don’t have time to consider the fish’s noble characteristics. Oh sure, people still travel from all over the world to pike hot spots like the pond in hopes of tackling with a trophy; but to most, they’re a pain in the... because they’re too hard to handle.

Still, many are taken incidentally by anglers participating in the pond’s numerous bass tournaments. You see, this is the best largemouth spot on Oswego County’s stretch of the Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Wetland Area, a fantastic, 17-mile-long collection of sand dunes, bays and ponds. And even though there’s usually money at stake and every second lost to unhooking a pike means less time to fish for the tournament winning hawg, sportsmen who appreciate the mystery of nature’s wisdom see northerns as an important component of the aquatic world and treat pike with patience and reverence.

So when my good buddy Pat Miura uttered “Oh-oh…I think I just nailed something big…maybe a musky” during a recent walleye/bass trip on the pond, I had a feeling it was a large northern.

We were jerking Smithwick Rogues over breaks and the edges of weed beds for walleyes. When the northernfelt the sting of the hooks, it took off like a jet ski in the direction of the outlet.

“The only way to handle a fish this size, especially with treble hooks hanging from its mouth, is to let it tire itself out completely,” Pat reasoned.

A professional guide for almost 25 years, he’s an old hand at controlling large, uncooperative leviathans like trophy steelhead, monster landlocked Atlantic salmon, and boss hawgs.  Within a few minutes, the pike was circling the boat in an exhausted, last ditch attempt to avoid meeting the man up close and personal.

When it was at the side of the boat, Pat jerked the rod tip gently to see if the beast had another round of battle in it. Nope…It just lay on its side, gasping.

Close up: Note the 6-inch Smithwick Rogue in its teeth.

Oh yeah...We got largemouths, too.

And some more largemouths.

After a while, even the biggest grows tired.

Pond Hawgs

 Pat with an average-size Sandy Pond bucketmouth.

Sandy Pond is mostly known as a splendid sandy beach bordered by majestic sand dunes where sunbathers toast themselves to a symphony of high winds, roaring waves and the cries of water birds of every feather.

On the other side of the dune sits the real Sandy Pond. Covering roughly 2,400 acres, it’s the largest embayment in the Eastern Lake Ontario Dune and Wetland Area, a 17-mile long natural barrier system containing the tallest sand dunes between Cape Cod and Lake Michigan.

The beauty of the place makes it extremely popular. Much of its shoreline is developed with camps, homes, and campgrounds. The place gets so crowded in summer, I never gave its warm weather fishery any thought.

However, I always knew “the Pond” was a well for northern pike and perch in winter, and crappies after ice-out. Some guys I normally consider reliable sources of information claimed it was a bass hot-spot in summer, but when I went with them, we got skunked every time. So I ignored it from then on.

That was, until I went fishing on Oneida Lake with Pat Miura last July (see blog post of Aug. 2, 2011). One of the most popular fly-fishing guides on the Salmon River (315-777-3570; pmiura@aol.com ), Pat spends his summers pursuing bass.

As often happens, our conversation drifted around our fishing experiences. I mentioned my lousy luck on Sandy Pond.

“Really!” he said, incredulously, “There’s a lot of bass in Sandy Pond…Some really big ones, too.”

“Oh yeah,” I countered, “Prove it.”

“OK,” he replied.

Late last month we fished the place and I’ve been eating humble pie ever since.

Only averaging 8 feet deep, it’s loaded with bass habitat: docks, creek mouths, windfalls, sprawling weed beds, boating channels leading to campgrounds and summer camps, reed fields, you name it. The problem is, you gotta look for the stuff.

You see, Sandy Pond has…lots of sand; sandbars stretching for hundreds of acres, in fact. And you wanna avoid fishing over these barren spots.

Once we located a fishy looking area, all the usual suspects worked: floating lures like Zara Spooks and buzzbaits in calm areas, Berkley Powerbaits, especially Texas-rigged  4-inch Finesse Worms and Carolina-rigged 6-inch Finesse Worms in and along weed edges, Smithwick Rogues jerked in deep water and Berkley’s Heavy Weight fat Sink Worms fished wacky style.

During the heat of the day, I found finesse presentations extremely gratifying. A good braided line like Nanofil on my spinning reels and Spider Wire Fluorobraid on my Abu Garcia Revo and Toro Winch allowed me to feel even the slightest take.

This time of year the pond prepares to hibernate.  Most of the boating crowd has gone back home. With hunting and salmon seasons just around the corner, a lot of local pressure is removed from the waves, making it possible to find some peace on the pond.

Pat says autumn is one of the best times to fish Sandy Pond. The bass are big, fat and cooperative, the scenery is colorful, and the days are brisk, making for the kind of trips you’ll be telling your grandkids about.

 Casting to some heavy brush.

 Bassin' in the reeds.

My biggest of the day came out of some heavy cover clinging to a sand dune.

Early June Yellow Perch and Walleyes

David Oulette unhooking a juicy Salmon River jack perch.

Brothers Dave and Stan Oulette invited me to go for perch in the Salmon River last Thursday.

Launching at Pine Grove, we headed downstream. Just past the bend in the river, we anchored 10 yards from shore, in 12 feet of water and cast upstream between the two islands.

Using a 2-inch YUM grub, I caught perch ranging from eight to 11 inches in each of my first 10 casts, and then it was every other throw after that.

The brothers kept pulling in perch in rapid succession on minnows. In less than two hours, we had enough to feed us and our families a couple times over; and that's after releasing the 20% that was less than eight inches.

"Spring perch fishing used to always be like this," claims David. "Then the cormorants did a number on them. The DEC's cormorant controls reduced the birds' numbers to the point perch populations are coming back."

Stanley says they'll be here as long as the water is relatively cold, for another week or two.

While we were getting the minnows, Karen Ashley, employee at the local bait shop on NY 3 in Port Ontario, told us she and a some family had good luck with walleyes ranging from 18 to 22 inches in Sandy Pond last week. As proof, she showed us the fillets.

"Troll worms on Stico Spinners in front of Carnsey's Wigwam restaurant," she advises.