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-