the pond is on the southern and most eastern corner of the park and is easily accessible from a number of subways. its small, and you are dealing with one of the most traffic’d parts of the park, but the bass will readily take poppers and the panfish are surprisingly feisty.

there are a handful of coi/carp that i’ve seen cruising around or sitting out in the center, but have yet to get a shot at them or see them really feeding for that matter.

the biggest drawback is that the area is so heavily traffic’d. there are people everywhere! you constantly get the “paranoid mom fish eye” who is sure you backcast is going to hook her son in the eye. but the characters abound. on the other hand, you also get the crazy old man on the bench who stands up, walks to the edge of the pond, claps and cheers each time you hook up and land one. but there are always a few folks who are willing to snap a few photos of your catch so no need to bring your own camera.

all in all its a fun place to wet a line for an hour or two while you are in the city.

if you are interested in more info on fishing central park while on a visit to nyc, hit me up at bota@brothersoftheangle.com.

enjoy

bota

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bota

i rigged up the fly rod and started off with a panfish popper not sure what to expect. after a few casts i saw a white and orange koi cruising about ten feet from the bank, it was at least 20″. definitely the first time i’ve thrown a fly anywhere near a koi, but can’t say i haven’t thought about it every time i’ve been to one of those large chinese restaurants with the fountains in the lobby. the koi cruised under a large patch of algae/bottles/nastiness, i put a cast right up to the edge of the floating mess and hooked up with an aggressive blue gill.

i continued to walk and fish around the meer, casting in between ‘fish-eye’ looks from people walking or jogging through the park. hooked up with another little blue gill a little later, and decided it was time to go for a bass. tied on another popper and began fishing.

after about two casts i noticed a couple guys walking towards me. not with the look of guys walking for the sake of walking, but walking with a purpose… me. the skinnier of the two, with the shakes of a drug addict, came right up an said, “this is your first time here!” more as a statement than a question. i answered cautiously in the affirmative. “i’ve fished here everyday for three years, i know everyone who fishes here,” he said smiling. the tension eased as his larger friend told me that the bass in the meer “love them flies.”

we talked for a bit, they showed me pictures on their cell phones of 5 lbs bass they had pulled out over the summer as the sun set. didn’t get the bass i was looking for, but will definitely be back.