Never Name A Pond...

...before you see it in person.

Yesterday my 2 year old son and I decided (well, I decided, and he tagged along because he had no choice) to go explore and find a new pond I had discovered from Google Maps. I love Google Maps!

On the way to the parking spot, and on the first hike in I was trying to think what I'd name the pond. Yep, I name ponds. Some ponds have names that are know, that I use, other ponds are only a few years old, have no official name that I'm aware of....and so I name those. I was trying to think of a good name for this pond before I had even ever seen it. 

The pond is only about 5 minutes by car from my house, but another 5 minutes through thick brush (likely hiding ghosts and outlaws) and you're at a pond that isn't seen from the road.

After a quick hike down the wrong part of the trail, and a quick "where the heck am I" question to my smartphone, we were back on track and heading to the pond.

We found it. There it was, a small pond only about 30 feet across, and 100 feet long....and no obvious signs of fish.

G at the pond

We fished the whole length of it...and were done in about 10 minutes, with no real clue that there are fish in it. I don't give up easy on a pond, because I know most have fish in them....but this one might just be empty. I'm still not giving up on it, mostly because the bigger pond just 50 yards away does have fish, and I can't imagine the small one was actually empty. It was however small and likely shallow, and that could be it's doom.

One cast across

What I did find that was encouraging, was some small....2 feet wide like small...trails through the cat tails leading to the bigger pond....but not really the bigger pond. See, "the bigger pond" back 100 years ago probably was much bigger than it is now but do to cat tail overgrowth (is there such a thing?), it's got sectioned off parts of the pond. These small access points through the cat tails give access to parts of the pond that are probably inaccessible from the main part of the pond....that has the boat launch.  I would dare say, that except for the occasional bird watcher, or duck hunter, this part of the pond rarely gets people in it. That will hopefully change. You see, I've got a disease that inflicts me....I HAVE TO FISH WATER THAT IS NEW!!! Although I've fished the bigger pond, the main pond, the same overall water, this part is new, and I've found a "simple" way into it. Simple in this case means a 1/4 mile drag of my kayak through the thick. I've done a little poking around the internet, and it looks like a deer dragging harness would work great....and they are only about $8. So, yes, I'm thinking of making this happen!

A way in?

My son had a great hike, a fun time fishing, and enjoyed the snack he packed in.

Snack time

And now about naming a pond before you've seen it. I think names should have some meaning, and you don't get meaning by looking at a map....usually. When we got only 100 feet past the car we started seeing spent 12 gauge shotgun shells along the path. More than one, more than two, more than a dozen....and this was just on the trail in. Once we got into the clearing we saw a nice "Please Do Not Litter Sign" and tons of busted up clay pigeons and litterally thousands of shotgun shells. Seeing this place is used for duck hunting, I guess I'm not completely surprised, but I was still somewhat surprised since I'm pretty sure it's not legal to target practice back there. So, after seeing the pond, the area, the mess....it's now know (if only just to me) as 12 Gauge Pond. I'm glad I didn't name before seeing it, or it could have ended up something less meaning full like Oprah's Pond Of Rainbows And Butterflies....and that would have been ridiculous.

12 Gauge Pond....the reason for the name.