Story 2007 Discovery Heard Pond

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Ever heard of Heard Pond?

A Discovery Month Adventure

When	October 28th, 2007
Where	Heard Pond, Wayland, MA
Who	All by myself...

The story

Well, maybe some old timers in MA heard about it, but I didn’t know Heard Pond until Matt McDonald told me about it in the course of September. Who is Matt? A nice guy and talented multi-species angler who discovered carp fishing earlier this year (check this story). When he referred to it as a very carpy venue with some 20 pounders roaming in there, I took a drive to check the pond and it did look good. So I had formed the plan to go with Matt the last week-end of October, as a local discovery trip. Well, as great plans unfold, they usually don’t go as planned. Matt got hit by the walleye bug, planned to go with a friend, and unintentionally double-booked his Sunday! So I ended up deciding to go by myself, with the idea of pre-baiting on Saturday evening, night fish another (known!) venue, and come back to Heard Pond early Sunday morning.

Saturday was wet, pretty wet. It was a big leap of faith to believe that the New England weatherman (aka the randomizer) could get it right and that rain would stop in the evening. I got a bit lost driving to the pond, but as I was thinking how pleasurable it is to drive in the dark on small roads surrounded by trees and listening to some classical music, a few miracles happened at once. I recognized a bridge on the Sudbury River and knew I was on the right way, the rain stopped, and the sun re-appeared. The fishing god had spoken; thou shalt catch a carp in this venue. Yes, sir, will do. I dumped half a bucket of some specially cooked & flavored maize (recipe patented by my wife!) in the water, and drove to the night fishing venue, without forgetting to snap a quick pic of the Sudbury River.


Heard pond at night	Sudbury river

During the night, I caught a very nice fish within a few hours, but then proceeded to mess up with two other big ones, so I wasn’t that pleased with myself at dawn. I wrapped up, and drove back to Heard Pond and my discovery endeavor, yet not really believing I’d catch a carp in the few hours I had left. When I arrived, no fish activity at all welcomed me. Nada, zilch. I chummed a bit, set up my rods, one with maize, and the other with sweet corn (thou shalt trust your wife, but thou should have a backup plan just in case!). Scenery was nice, but were carp really there, right at this shallow spot where I was fishing? Could I catch a carp from this pond the very first time I tried without much preliminary homework? I somehow found that hard to believe… But at least, I could enjoy the view!

I started to doze in my car, quite tired after a quasi-sleepless night, and was quite pleasantly surprised to hear my bite alarm after an hour. Now this wasn’t exactly a 20 pounder, more like an 8 pounder, but this was my first fish from a brand new venue, and there is a special feeling attached to it. I called my wife to share the good news, and how her special bait worked well on a virgin venue, and luckily, I got another run while we were chatting. Nice! Another small one, and a feisty fish which impressed a lot a bass angler and his son. Maybe some future carpers! I didn’t get any more activity for a while, and I had fulfilled my contract with myself, so I went home for lunch, more happy with those two small fish from a new venue than with the biggie I caught during the night!