Mendon Ponds Park(Rochester Ny) 2024

1nstinct reply :

Looking to try mendon park tomorrow was wondering if anyone has any luck there. Im a non boater so im limited shore . Should i try 100 acre first or devils bathtub?

thanks for the help

tom

Marty reply :

The ponds in Mendon Ponds Park have bass, pike and panfish. Access from shore is limited.

Hundred-Acre Pond--you could try the boat launch and old bathing beach on the east side and Hopkins Point on the west.

Deep Pond--this is connected to Hundred-Acre at its north end. There's a footbridge at the south end from which you could cast only into the shallow channel that leads to the main pond. If you walked the trail around the pond you'll find three or four openings from which you could fish. Using waders would help you cover more water from these openings.

Deep and Hundred-Acre--there's a footbridge where the two meet and you could cast south into Deep and North into Hundred-Acre.

Round Pond--this can be fished from Douglas Road at the west end of the pond.

Devil's Bathtub--I have no idea if there are any fish in it, but access is almost non-existent except from a small spot on the east side where casting would be difficult. A number of people think Deep Pond is Devil's Bathtub because the sign is so close.

If you're not real familiar with the park, there's a map on the County's site.

P.S. There's also Quaker Pond with limited access. A footbridge on the east side near the south end and an area on the west side on the south part but well north of the east side footbridge. The first time I tried the footbridge I caught a 16" LMB.

1nstinct reply :

thanks marty, what do you thinking i should throw tomorrow, lures/jigs or should i get some live bait?

thanks tom

Marty reply :

It's now too late for any advice for Thursday. I don't use live bait, but I suppose one can't go wrong. As to artificials, I think this time of year anything would work that you can fish that'll work with the existing cover, most likely weeds. I'd like to know where you fished and how you did.

ww2farmer reply :

I can help with your bait selection, seeing as this in NYS, NO LIVE BAIT for bass untill the 3rd Sat. in June.

Marty reply :

On 5/20/2011 at 8:53 AM, ww2farmer said:
I can help with your bait selection, seeing as this in NYS, NO LIVE BAIT for bass untill the 3rd Sat. in June.

Good point, that fact totally escaped me.

clayton86 reply :

Yeah you can't target bass with live bait till 3rd sat in june. However if you are bullhead fishing with worms and catch a bass u just have to release it as quick as possiable without harm. I was fishing the other week and had that scenario they almost kept it till I said something it was a SMB 1.5 lbs maybe

1nstinct reply :

Thanks i forgot live bait also. As for fishing i caught some wet clothes and and a possible cold lol, went to hundred, deep, and round, round pond had a lot of activity bass were jumping everywhere just no bites.(tried jig, spinners, frog, cranks, poppers, plastics)

As for round pond no fish, but i caught 3 norther water snakes, 2 bull frogs, a painted turtle, and about a 25lb common snapping turtle, and saw 2 family's of geese with babies, and i took about 250+ pictures lol, so all and all not a bad day. im gunna try again soon a this rain stops.

with all this rain i might build a big arc and grab 2 of each animal and be on my way.

clayton86 reply :

Is it raining that bad back in rochester that blows I'm up in ft drum now waiting to get back to fishing I hope conditions are good when I get back ill be mad if I get back to crappy fishing conditions.

1nstinct reply :

it is decent tomorrow i think 72? Lucky me i have 2 things to do tomorrow get fitted for a tux for my gf cuz wedding and go fishing it better stay nice

clayton86 reply :

As long as its been stable weather I don't mind even if it is crappy if its a consistant crappy I can still catch em its the rollor coaster weeks I have a hard time with

1nstinct reply :

its been just that a roller coaster week raining a day today now its sunny and nice and in about 2 hours my guess it will be raining again

J Francho reply :

Temps have been on the steady rise, I've been catching all week, including Sunday in the monsoons.

I only fished Mendon Ponds twice, from kayak both times. It seemed like a marginal bass fishery, with too many northerns.

1nstinct reply :

yeah tomorrow is going to be nice i hope gunna try long pond and the others near it, just went to durand a little while ago it was so foggy but such a nice sight

nick99wj reply :

On 5/21/2011 at 4:24 AM, J Francho said:

Temps have been on the steady rise, I've been catching all week, including Sunday in the monsoons.

I only fished Mendon Ponds twice, from kayak both times. It seemed like a marginal bass fishery, with too many northerns.

Where in the, and what, ponds did you fish?(east, north, near bridge..etc)

I just bought a kayak for fishing and want to make sure I paddle over into the right areas.

Also i'm taking my friend out for his first time fishing(he just bought a kayak too) and want to make sure he catches something, northerns are fine haha

nick99wj reply :

On 6/17/2011 at 3:54 AM, nick99wj said:

Where in the, and what, ponds did you fish?(east, north, near bridge..etc)

I just bought a kayak for fishing and want to make sure I paddle over into the right areas.

Also i'm taking my friend out for his first time fishing(he just bought a kayak too) and want to make sure he catches something, northerns are fine haha

bump, went there yesterday (round pond only). Caught 2 <8" largemouths and a sunny. Def wanna start hitting a little bit bigger fish haha

The deep drop offs in the back of the big area and the whole edge in the little area are interesting, however I have no idea how to fish them. Any suggestions?

J Francho reply :

Spinnerbaits, T-rigs, jigs, and any other somewhat weedless bait should work fine. I've only fished those ponds a few times, and what I found was not all that great - too many northerns, few bass.

As far as the where goes for me, Conesus, Lake Ontario & bays, Honeoye, and Oneida have all been good to me this spring and early summer.

nick99wj reply :

On 6/21/2011 at 9:02 PM, J Francho said:

Spinnerbaits, T-rigs, jigs, and any other somewhat weedless bait should work fine. I've only fished those ponds a few times, and what I found was not all that great - too many northerns, few bass.

As far as the where goes for me, Conesus, Lake Ontario & bays, Honeoye, and Oneida have all been good to me this spring and early summer.

Thank you for the quick response! I've been thinking about heading to conesus lake soon, but with a kayak it's a little big to not know any good spots

And if you ever need a fishing partner or anything, I'm def looking to get a little more serious. Took a few years off fishin in Rochester cause of moving and college. Only fished while I was home in NJ. finally decided to bring the poles up to Roch since i'm working up here for the summer.

J Francho reply :

For Conesus, it's simple. Start at the public launch, and go right. Fish in 8-12' deep, and keep moving. You'll find some.

nick99wj reply :

On 6/21/2011 at 9:27 PM, J Francho said:

For Conesus, it's simple. Start at the public launch, and go right. Fish in 8-12' deep, and keep moving. You'll find some.

You just planned out my weekend. Thank You

Maxthefisher reply :

I was just at Mendon Ponds this morning, I fished the footbridge that runs in between Deep Pond and Hundred Acre. I had 4 total catches, all of them being green sunfish, the biggest of them being about 6-8 inches. That was the first time I had fished that footbridge. I have fished Round Pound, which was just minnows from shore. I hear that there are pickerel in the middle of the pond. I've fished Deep Pond from the openings on the west side. Nothing but bluegill. I reccomend a kayak for Mendon Ponds. There are a lot of Pike and Bass in the middle, deeper areas. The boat launch on Hundred Acre is not a bad spot for a family or kids. It consists of Smallmouths, some sunfish and even some 5-7 inch yellow perch. Hope that helps!

Marty reply :

Sad to say, but both a friend and I have experienced a huge decline in fishing at all of the ponds there in the last few years. Like so many other things, it's a huge mystery as to what happened.

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The boat launch on Hundred Acre is not a bad spot for a family or kids. It consists of Smallmouths, some sunfish and even some 5-7 inch yellow perch.

I have to disagree with Max about smallies in 100-Acre Pond. I suppose there could be an accidental one but I've never seen one in fishing there on and off for 40 Years. Besides, being a shallow (no more than 8-10'), weedy pond doesn't square with smallmouth habitat.

Interesting how this topic was resurrected 16 months after it was started.

Maxthefisher reply :

You're probably right Marty. I have a terrible sense at identifying fish. I caught lots of sunfish at the boat launch, and probably mistaken it for a smallmouth. But people in the Mendon Area should try Rotary park in honeoye Falls. Its not a bad spot. Then agian the biggest fish I've caught is about 6-8 inches, so I don't know much. But i have seen people catch pike there. i started a topic on it

Maxthefisher reply :

I justed fished mendon ponds hundred acre from the boat launch. The cattails right there hold shelter to small lmb. My PBS tht day was a 6 inch lmb. People In a kayak came to the launch and said that they caught 6 pike in an hour, so I recommend a canoe or kayak.

ww2farmer reply :

On 6/21/2011 at 9:27 PM, J Francho said:

For Conesus, it's simple. Start at the public launch, and go right. Fish in 8-12' deep, and keep moving. You'll find some.

I just found this gem Johnny boy.........but going "left" was the ticket this year, and fishing 12'-18' fow.....or so I hear. LMAO.

Maxthefisher reply :

Hey Marty, I don't know if you will read this, but I live in the mendon ponds area and I'm going to try the footbridge on Quaker. What bait did you use? Should I use a spinnerbait, rapala minnow, or live bait? Thanks

Maxthefisher reply :

I justed fished quaker pond this morning from 8-9. Used a spinnerbait, jigheads, plactic minnows, and even live worms. Nothing. Probably due to the fact that its winter. I'll try aain this spring.

Marty reply :

Sorry Max, but it's a tough time of the year. Start next April and your chances will be a lot better.

RODNEY reply :

I haven't fished Mendon Ponds in years, when I did it was from a small inflatable, mostly 100 Acre. The Devil's Bathtub has bullhead only, the others have bass, pike, sunnys and used to have some crappie. Artificials worked pretty well, basically just move around the shore line.

Conesus, you can turn left at the ramp and start fishing right away, you can move along the shore working the weed edges and find areas with fish.

Rodney

Maxthefisher reply :

I justed fished deep pond from a canoe, and it was a pretty successful day, caught 3 largemouths, one smallmouth and a black crappie. The biggest was a 16" largemouth, weighing almost 2 pounds. I got it off a spinnerbait. The smallmouths were off spinners too and they were about 8 inches, the crappie was only 5".

madperry reply :

On 5/4/2013 at 10:46 PM, Maxthefisher said:
I justed fished deep pond from a canoe, and it was a pretty successful day, caught 3 largemouths, one smallmouth and a black crappie. The biggest was a 16" largemouth, weighing almost 2 pounds. I got it off a spinnerbait. The smallmouths were off spinners too and they were about 8 inches, the crappie was only 5".

Smallmouth in Mendon Ponds? As far as I knew none of them were deep enough. But I'd love to be wrong. I've only fished Hundred Acre and the deepest it gets is 7 fow.

Marty reply :

I don't recall catching any smallies there but Deep and Round Ponds are considerably deeper than Hundred-Acre although I don't know the actual depths.

Today I was talking to a kayaker just coming off Deep Pond. He got skunked but claims he does very well in the summer fishing the reeds with a hollow-bodied frog. Claims to have caught a 5 there last year.

rmcguirk reply :

I was out on Deep Pond tonight. Caught a nice pike, nice for there at about 28 inches. I was in my yak, so I didn't take the time to measure. He really choked down a lipless crank.

More generally, I don't think that there are any smallies in the entire park. It is about 5 minutes from my house and I'm generally on one of those ponds an average of at least once per week for the last 6 years -- far more before finally buying a boat last year. I've never caught a smallie there. For some reason, I generally have better luck with LM, so I could be wrong.

Here's my general review of the ponds.

100 Acre Pond gets to almost 10 feet in a few spots, primarily in one hole in the cove in the southwest corner. There is also a spot in the dead middle of the lake that's about 9+ ft. But for the most part the water is 4-7 ft.

Deep Pond gets to 33-35 feet, in most of the middle. There must be a serious thermocline, though, as I don't think I've ever marked a fish below 20 ft. All around the edge, there is a great drop off from 10-12 ft to about 20 ft. There is also an interesting point jutting out from the southeast corner towards the middle of the lake.

Round Pond is neat. It goes to about 30 ft For most of it, there is an odd "shelf" coming off the shore. Not sure what it is made of, but bass hide underneath. The southeast corner also has a small flat, with a tapered slope into deeper water. There is usually a beaver den on the east shore (don't get too close, as they get pretty ticked off). There is also a small connecting creek to another, smaller, perfectly round pond. That one is quite deep for its size, running to at least 20 ft.

Winter 2010-2011, there must have been a pretty big winter kill on 100 Acre. It went from being a decent bass hole (catching several a night from 6:00-dark, with fish up to 4lb or so) to dead from summer 2011 to late summer 2012. (During which time I really spent a lot of time on Deep Pond.) By the end of summer 2012, bass started making a decent comeback, with good numbers of 12 inch or so fish. My gut sense is that the pike have been increasing in numbers there, and the tough winter of 2010-2011 exacerbated that "problem." Personally, I don't mind pike, but I much prefer bass.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the park.

Rick

Marty reply :

Rick, those are some good, intelligent observations. I don't know anything about winter kills, but I know for sure sure that my results have gone to hell the last few years to the point that I don't go there anymore, unless I want/need to go somewhere real close to home (8-9 miles).

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There is also a small connecting creek to another, smaller, perfectly round pond. That one is quite deep for its size, running to at least 20 ft.

If you're talking about the connection in the SE part of the pond, the back pond is officially known as Lost Pond.

rmcguirk reply :

On 5/11/2013 at 7:54 AM, Marty said:
If you're talking about the connection in the SE part of the pond, the back pond is officially known as Lost Pond.

You're right, I forgot, it is Lost Pond that is connected to Round Pond. I always enjoy going back there -- feels like you're a million miles away from civilization.

I've always wondered about Devil's Hole. I've never been so curious as to drag my yak down that hill, though. My bet is that it is not more than 10 ft or so, just given its location.

Darren. reply :

Holy smokes guys, all this Mendon Ponds talk is bringing back memories for me. Visited the park a LOT for winter sledding as a kid, can't recall ever fishing there, but I did sail a time or two as a young teen.

Sorry, just reminiscing, not helping out much...

Marty reply :

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I've always wondered about Devil's Hole. I've never been so curious as to drag my yak down that hill, though. My bet is that it is not more than 10 ft or so, just given its location.

Devil's Bathtub is a glacial kettle hole and I was always under the impression that it was stagnant, but that's just an assumption. In my entire life I can't recall seeing anyone fishing there, from shore or boat. Access is difficult; get close to the water and you sink into the muck and I speak from experience in that department.

I suspect that Quaker Pond has good fishing. Boating is not allowed and there are just a couple of access points for shore fishermen, so I'd guess that a lot of the fish there aren't used to lures. I've had fantasies about fishing the pond from my canoe.

Paul Roberts reply :

Wow. Here to reminisce too I guess, since it's been a long while since I fished there. When I was 10 years old (that was over 40 yrs ago) I used to bicycle there from Fairport to fish. I loved that place. Still do, even though I haven't seen it in years. I used to fish plastic worms, topwaters, SBs, from shore. Much later I put boats on it, with a flasher once in deep pond. I have maps I made in my journals. We also ice fished it some for pike.

My buds and I took a number of bass from 4 to 5lbs (weighed and measured), and pike -mostly smallish ones. We never took any smallmouth and am betting on mis-identifications there. However, for a couple seasons we took some large old brooder rainbows that were dumped in, and easy to catch.

All the ponds are actually glacial kettles, but it shows best in the smaller ones -those steep undercut drops. 100 acre is one too, and has the same ledge-like rim around it but it's long been buried in detritus. From a canoe or car-topper we would flip the undercut rim where ever it was exposed and took some nice and very dark colored largemouths. Our best flipping lure was a black shad Gillraker worm -John Reynolds introduced that one to me (He won the Roch Bassmasters Classic in 97). The flash of silver on that ribbontail style worm was killer in the dark peaty water at the edge of the undercuts. Also used SBs. One of my favorites (and still is -got 3 left) is the old Strike King Grass King. I've written to SK several times over the years all but begging to have them reintroduce it. Maybe its being held a secret by SK?? Best heavy and broken cover SB there is, and a big fish taker too. We took some nice crappies there too, up to 15inches during their spawn.

Deep Pond also had good LM, and I did best on plastic worms off the drops and "froggin" the pads. Back in the day I used Bill Plummer's Bass Frogs to great effect. Wish they still made those. I could probably make em myself actually, and may someday. There were some nice bass in those pads and just off the drops.

Pike can actually help the bass fishing in some small waters I've fished. I believe the YOY pike kept down bluegill and young bass populations leaving room for growth of the remaining bass. I've also seen small waters that were overrun with little pike but these were usually very small waters.

Winterkill is possible in a place like 100Acre. But don't give up because. There will be survivors and they will grow quick. The good numbers of 12"ers mentioned sounds like the next wave on the way. Expect about 1.5" of growth or so per year. Follow up. It could be great and others will have given up on it.

Anyway, thanks for the memories.

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Mendon Ponds Park(Rochester Ny) 2024

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