Hudsonia Pond, Rockaway Township

There has been plenty of argument over the name of this little pond off of Greenpond Road. There seems to be quite a few places around that we call "Girlscout pond", including this one, but on a map it's called "Hudsonia Pond". Regardless of its true history, or what it's name really is, this pond across the street from the school bus garage on Greenpond Road, is a great place to find fish and few other anglers.
If you turn left into the second parking area for the fields across the street from KDM school and drive to the back of the small parking lot you'll see a dirt path down to the pond. To the right on this path the water along shore is shallow and thickly covered in lilly pads most of the year. Proceed with caution through the overgrowth of tall plants and weeds- there are very often snakes here and as most of the tall grass in New Jersey, it's loaded with ticks. There are a few clear pathways to the water that I suggest you stick to. Also be aware that at the end of the lake there is a large beaver house, and many areas that look like solid ground but are actually part of the large structure- something you don't want to step on and fall through for sure.
Besides fish, you're likely to see a ton of butterflies and birds, frogs, snakes, turtles,deer, bear (be careful, this is a high traffic area for bear - I've had 6 "too close" encounters now fishing at this lake) and sometimes even fox.
Early spring from the side of the lake with the dam is a good time to find pickerel with spinners and lipless crank baits or jerk baits if the weather is still very cool like this year had been. And of course, a live shiner under a bobber is a great method to introduce a beginner, kids (or even just someone who might otherwise not be very interested in laboring over catching a fish) to pickerel.
The deepest part of the lake is just to the left of the dam so shore fishing can be productive throughout the year right up until it's ice covered.
There's a healthy population of smallish perch in this lake and although they tend to be very picky, they'll occasionally be all over small spinners and trout magnet jigs with various trailers, you just have to experiment a bit to find them and gauge their appetite and interest from day to day.
The side of the lake that parallels Green pond road is shallow and covered in Lilly pads, and loaded with pickerel in the spring and early summer. There's a fair amount of bass in the lake and there are also perch but expect the catch pickerel here regardless of what bait you're using. I've even caught them on night crawlers. The turtles here are also particularly aggressive, often clipping live shiners in half and leaving you with just a minnow head on your hook. It's happened to us often on the lake and these turtles won't bugger off without a good deal of encouragement.
You can also find plenty of bass in the lake on almost any soft plastic, crank baits, spinners, topwater baits - it's a tricky spot actually, just because you've really got to change it up here. I haven't found one consistent producer for bass on this lake but caught many of them using many different baits and methods and scattered all over the lake. One thing I've noticed though is that the lake is often stained an orangey color in the warmer months and if your bait lacks visibility, you'll struggle to get any bites.

There are two beavers on the lake as well  that have built an expansive house and repeatedly dam up the spillway much to the annoyance of residents of the lake that this flows into just down the road. You may see one of those residents hanging over the back side of the dam with a rake taking matters into their own hands. He's a friendly guy. You can say hello.
I've not yet ice fished on this pond but I've seen people out there. I have no insight into safe and unsafe spots, hot spots, soft spots or anything of the sort so I won't personally recommend ice fishing on this lake at this time. I do hope to check it out, maybe this coming season.
Overall this is a fun little place, not well known or not well used anyway. You can catch a lot of fish here, but I'd say the major player in this pond is the pickerel. They put up a good fight, often jump out of the water, are eager to attack a bait and get to a good size. It's a place worth taking a few casts for sure.


-LAKE SURVEY MAP COMING SOON-

Lake Ames

Lakes Ames or "Big Pond" in Rockaway is typically fished from the shore with bright orange bobbers and bait holder hooks baited with summertime heat-softened night crawlers from a gas station spotted along the way to this googled "picnic" location. It can often be crowded with loud and rowdy, too-lazy-to-bring-their-grabage-to-the-provided-can out of towners as well as garbage picking bear.

Snakehill road where the lake is located, just off of Greenpond Road, is an unimproved road often traveled and enjoyed by locals for its scenery and just the fun of a dirt road in an area where there aren't many of them left. It does to require an off-road vehicle, just some careful driving around a few turns where rain and erosion can cause a "washboard" that will easily put your Prius into a 5 foot deep ditch running alongside the road.
The lake however is only a few hundred feet off of green pond road and loaded with "natural wonders" (which can really be enjoyed when it's not overrun with human visitors) especially in the late spring and early summer months when you will often see turtles, frogs, plentiful butterflies and birds, muskrats, beavers, sometimes deer and often black bear. We've also spotted fox, otter, and even a bobcat nearby. 

The lake itself can be difficult to fish from the heavily overgrown shoreline (the beach is clear but not a great place to fish) but if you get a small pram or a kayak on it, you're sure to find pickerel and bass along the lilly pad covered shorelines. The lake is loaded with sunfish and I've been told that it holds a good few heavy-weight largemouth if you know how and where to find them, though I've never gotten an impressive bass from this lake myself.
I have, however, caught quite a few fish and many more since getting my kayak onto the water there. The pickerel and bass don't seem to be "choosey" and eagerly bite at weightless, Texas rigged worms in various styles dragged overtop of the lilly pads or allowed to sink along the edges and in holes between dense weed beds.
The "beach" area where people used to be permitted to swim at the lake is now mostly overgrown and remains fairly shallow a good distance out. The corner of the lake between the waterfall and Greenpond road is the deepest area in the lake, and if you're brave enough (and the water is low enough) to walk across the top of the snake-infested slippery top of the falls to that bit of shoreline, it's a good place to throw in a line and sit back to catch some of the bullheads in the lake. Nightcrawlers on slip sinker rigs work well, as well as corn and stink bait.
Besides pickerel and bass there are sunfish and bullheads in the lake. The stream that flows from this lake, called Hibernia Brook, is also stocked with trout by the state, although with the disease that ran through Pequest this past year it wasn't stocked for this season. There is one deep hole where most of the stocked trout can be found and caught by tossing a pinched night crawler, meal worm, powerbait or gulp minnow into the tiny little waterfall above the pool and let to drift down through it.
Overall it's a nice little lake, and worth a visit for sure! Bring your bug spray, and be sure to leave before dark unless your desire is to meet the Rockaway Township police. Good luck! Hope somebody gets one of the big ones the old timers tell me reside here.



-LAKE SURVEY MAP TO FOLLOW IN NEAR FUTURE-