About Edgartown Great Pond, MA

Edgartown Great Pond is an excellent pond with brackish water and an area of 544 to 840 acres, located on the south shore of Martha's Vineyard Island in the south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It divides into several coves: Jane’s Cove, Wintucket Cove, Mashacket Cove, Turkeyland Cove, Slough Cove, and Job's Neck Cove. It is a coastal pond with 15 miles of shoreline, separated from the Atlantic ocean by a strip of beach called the barrier beach.

The pond meets the Atlantic ocean four times a year when the narrowest portion of the beach barrier is cut open. Traditionally, the Wampanoag tribe used to cut the beach by hand, but today, an excavator is used to cut an opening between the two bodies of water. The opening in the barrier beach allows it to help flush out the pond by exchanging pond and ocean waters. The influx of saltwater from the ocean increases the lake's salinity, reduces the temperature, and refreshes the pond; it takes about 11 days to achieve a 95 percent water exchange rate; over time, the tide fills in the cut, and the barrier beach heals itself.

All About Fishing in Edgartown Great Pond

Edgartown Great Pond is primarily used for recreational swimming, fishing, boating, commercial fin-fishing, and shellfishing. The brackish water pond is a spectacularly fertile nursery ground for herrings, sand eel, menhaden, white perch, chub, flounder, fluke, and spearing. Giant yellow perch, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, striped bass, bluefish, menhaden, and hickory have all been reported by fishermen to be abundant in the area.

The pond was once categorized as impaired by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental because of high nitrogen levels and overall poor water quality that varies between inlet openings. Water quality has dramatically improved in recent years because of various groups' better protection and conservation efforts and the Great Pond Foundation.

Moreover, it houses a wide array of wildlife. The beach serves as a nesting ground for shorebirds like piping plovers, least terns, and American oystercatchers. Otters can be found in the upper cove basins, often seen feasting on fish. Herons, belted kingfishers, and osprey can also be seen fishing around the coves. The abundance of marine worms, clams, oysters, and other invertebrates in the area serves as food for the birds, mammals, and fish species living within the Pond.

The pond is the largest in Edgartown and has significant shellfisheries for oysters and soft shell clams that can only be accessed by boat. Dip netting for shellfish and finfish is also often done in this area.

Fishing Seasonality 

In springtime, just after the beach barrier has been cut, anadromous alewives or river herring goes through the cut beach barrier into the brackish water of the Pond to spawn, then goes back to the ocean. The influx of herring into the opening attracts striped bass, largemouth bass, and smallmouth bass to feast on the herrings. During this time, fishing is most productive. Lures that imitate herring provide the most catch, but smaller plastic bait and flies fished near the bottom can work just as well.

Striped bass is nocturnal but will often arrive in broad daylight. The best time to catch fish is from 3:00 am to 5:00 am and from 10 pm to 11 pm. The falling tides are the best at sweeping baitfish from the ponds into the ocean for an easier catch. The biggest catch recorded in the area is a sixty-three-pound striped bass in 1975.

Often, striped bass, largemouth bass, and other fish species get stuck in the lake when the beach barrier closes, making them an available catch throughout winter. 

Fishing Seasonality 

In springtime, just after the beach barrier has been cut, anadromous alewives or river herring goes through the cut beach barrier into the brackish water of the Pond to spawn, then goes back to the ocean. The influx of herring into the opening attracts striped bass, largemouth bass, and smallmouth bass to feast on the herrings. During this time, fishing is most productive. Lures that imitate herring provide the most catch, but smaller plastic bait and flies fished near the bottom can work just as well.

Striped bass is nocturnal but will often arrive in broad daylight. The best time to catch fish is from 3:00 am to 5:00 am and from 10 pm to 11 pm. The falling tides are the best at sweeping baitfish from the ponds into the ocean for an easier catch. The biggest catch recorded in the area is a sixty-three-pound striped bass in 1975.

Often, striped bass, largemouth bass, and other fish species get stuck in the lake when the beach barrier closes, making them an available catch throughout winter. 

All About Fishing in Edgartown Great Pond

Edgartown Great Pond is primarily used for recreational swimming, fishing, boating, commercial fin-fishing, and shellfishing. The brackish water pond is a spectacularly fertile nursery ground for herrings, sand eel, menhaden, white perch, chub, flounder, fluke, and spearing. Giant yellow perch, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, striped bass, bluefish, menhaden, and hickory have all been reported by fishermen to be abundant in the area.

The pond was once categorized as impaired by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental because of high nitrogen levels and overall poor water quality that varies between inlet openings. Water quality has dramatically improved in recent years because of various groups' better protection and conservation efforts and the Great Pond Foundation.

Moreover, it houses a wide array of wildlife. The beach serves as a nesting ground for shorebirds like piping plovers, least terns, and American oystercatchers. Otters can be found in the upper cove basins, often seen feasting on fish. Herons, belted kingfishers, and osprey can also be seen fishing around the coves. The abundance of marine worms, clams, oysters, and other invertebrates in the area serves as food for the birds, mammals, and fish species living within the Pond.

The pond is the largest in Edgartown and has significant shellfisheries for oysters and soft shell clams that can only be accessed by boat. Dip netting for shellfish and finfish is also often done in this area.