Great Herring Pond is a lake in Massachusetts, near Plymouth County.
Great Herring Pond covers 424 acres in Plymouth County. The recorded maximum depth at Great Herring Pond is 47 feet.
Great Herring Pond, historically called Lake Manomet, is a 424-acre fishery noted for smallmouth bass and white perch. Its herring connection and exposed basin create a distinctive forage-driven pattern.
The pond averages 21 feet, reaches 47 feet and has mostly sand and rubble bottom. Two submerged islands near the center and eastern-shore points are the standout bass structures.
Great Herring drains through the Herring River to the Cape Cod Canal. Wind keeps the pond from strongly stratifying in summer, and young herring can become so abundant that gamefish are well fed but selective.
Fish reported from Great Herring Pond include alewife, american eel, banded killifish, black crappie, blueback herring, bluegill, brown bullhead, chain pickerel, golden shiner, largemouth bass, pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, white perch, white sucker, and yellow perch.
Begin the largemouth search on Great Herring Pond with a moving bait, then pick apart wood or weeds with a worm. Rocky points on Great Herring Pond suit a grub, tube or compact crankbait when smallmouth are the target.
A soft-plastic minnow or live minnow placed beside cover is a sound crappie approach on Great Herring Pond. For sunfish on Great Herring Pond, keep a cricket or tiny jig close to weed edges and shaded wood. For Great Herring Pond yellow perch, work a light jig slowly along the first firm-bottom break.
Chain pickerel in Great Herring Pond can be found with spoons, spinnerbaits and small swimbaits along vegetation.
Brown bullheads in Great Herring Pond are best approached with a worm or small piece of cut bait on bottom.
Great Herring Pond is too large to fish as one uniform body. At Great Herring Pond, divide it into several sections, then stay with the zone showing forage and useful cover. At Great Herring Pond, wind direction can make distant sections fish differently on the same day.
Spring at Great Herring Pond favors warming coves, feeder mouths and protected spawning banks. Once summer heat settles over Great Herring Pond, work the deepest active cover instead of assuming every fish has moved to the bottom. Windblown points on Great Herring Pond become worth checking when autumn baitfish move shallow.
Fish tubes or small herring-colored crankbaits on the two submerged islands and east-side points. For white perch, use small jigs around the same breaks; during summer, downsize when predators are surrounded by young herring.
A medium spinning rod with 8- to 10-pound line handles jigs, small crankbaits and live-bait rigs on Great Herring Pond. A medium-heavy rod with 12- to 15-pound line covers bass jigs and bottom rigs at Great Herring Pond.
Use three stops to simplify Great Herring Pond: a protected shallow section, the best point or channel turn, and the deepest dependable structure. At Great Herring Pond, fish each with one moving lure and one slower bait, then repeat the first pattern that produces twice.
Two submerged islands lie near the center of the pond.
Its exposed, windswept basin mixes often enough to limit stable temperature layers.
Predators have plentiful natural food, so lure size, depth and timing need to match the active herring schools closely.
Explore nearby waters, including local Featured destinations. Check each page for access and fishing restrictions.
Distances are straight-line estimates between mapped water locations.