Unlikely fishing spots
First of all I stumbled across these locations by total fluke. If I hadn’t taken up Golf a few years ago. I would never have realized the relatively untapped potential of Fishing the small ponds on Golf courses. The first time I realized the potential to catch some really decent Bass was during an early Round of Golf with a good friend of mine at Mayfield Golf course. We were on the 7th Hole of the White course. While I was preparing to Putt, a greenskeeper rode by with Fishing equipment in his cart. At first I thought I must be seeing things. I figured it had to be some strange piece of equipment for course maintenance that I mistook for Fishing gear. I went back to concentrating on my next Putt, but the image of the Fishing gear was too distracting to hole it. I ended up two putting for Bogey. The eighth Hole requires you to hit your Tee shot over a Pond. After making a really nice Tee shot with my 3 Wood. I took the long walk around the Pond to find my ball on the Fairway. From there I could see the same Greenskeeper clearing some debris from the far end of the Pond. I could see his cart parked off to the side, but it was too far away to get a good look at it’s contents. I hurried up and took my next shot, which wasn’t a very good one by the way. I decided to just go pick up my ball, and make my way over to the Greenskeeper. As I approached I could see that my original suspicions were correct. He definitely had Fishing gear in his cart.
When I reached him he was almost finished clearing out some plastic from the Ponds edge. I said good morning as I approached, and he responded in kind. Immediately he asked if there was something he could help me with. I told there wasn’t, but that I was interested in why he had Fishing gear in the back of his cart. He looked a little uncertain of how to answer at first. Then he just smiled and said watch this. He proceeded to walk over to his cart. He opened a tackle box, and pulled out a small jar filled with worms. He removed one from the jar, and walked back over to the Pond. He told me to watch closely. He then threw the worm into the Pond about 6 feet from shore. I watched it slowly sink to the bottom. Almost as soon as it touched bottom a Bass swam in and swallowed it completely. It wasn’t just a little Bass either. It was easily a two to three pounder. “Holy shit”! I was shocked. I never expected to come across any real Game fish in any of these Ponds. He then told me that in the early morning before the first Tee times. Him and a couple of the other Greenskeepers fish the Pond for Bass. They just catch and release them. They even have a deal that whoever catches the smallest one has to clean the garbage pails at each Hole at the end of the day. My next question was obvious. Would it be Ok if I fished the Pond at some point. He told me if I were willing to show up there at 4:45am I’d be welcome to join them. I just had to bring my own equipment, and only use barbless hooks. Done and done!
Turns out that the Pond at Mayfield Golf course isn’t the only one to offer some great Fishing opportunities. I recently attended a Charity Golf tournament at Granite Ridge Golf course in Milton. As we were preparing to Tee off on the first Hole. I noticed that a few of the Tournament organizers had their Fishing equipment with them. While the rest of us played our 18 holes. They were going from Pond to Pond catching Bass. Thankfully I had a pretty good Round that day or I would have been really upset. I haven’t fished there yet, but it’s definitely on my list of places to try. Especially after I heard them talking about their afternoon Fishing. Between the three of them they caught 5 Bass that day. The majority of their Fishing was in the late morning. Imagine how well they might have done if they started earlier!
One other place I’ve recently learned about that has quite the Bass population is Glen Eagle in Bolton. A Friend of mine found out I had taken up Golf. First opportunity he had he joined me for a Round at Centennial Golf course in Etobicoke. While we were on the Tee box of one of the Holes with a water hazard. I mentioned to him that I had come across a couple of courses that had decently sized Bass in the Ponds. He was surprised I didn’t know about that already. You see he used to work at Glen Eagle Golf course in Bolton in the summers. He told me that the Ponds there were full of Bass. For pure amusement he used to catch leopard frogs, and toss them out to a middle of a Pond. He was interested in seeing if they could make it back to the shoreline before a Bass ate them. According to him, more often than not the Frog lost. I asked him if he knew who to ask if we could fish the Ponds there. At his next opportunity he’s going to swing by and see if there’s someone there he knows that can get us in. I really hope it’s a yes. I’d hate to have to risk getting charged for trespassing.
So if you live near a Golf course, or have one conveniently located for you. It might be worth stopping in, and asking if they would mind if you tried Fishing their Ponds after hours. You might stumble across an untapped gem.
