After launching, we were immediately confronted with lily pads. They were so thick that you could barely see the water. That coupled with a strong head wind made paddling a real chore. Our intent was to paddle to Lower Massapoag Pond – which is much larger and clear of lily pads.

Shortly after starting, we were blocked by a beaver dam and had to carry the canoe over it. At about the 1 mile mark, another beaver dam blocked our progress and there was no clear way over or around. We backed out a few 100 yards and beached the canoe to take a look. A wide trail paralleled the shore, leading up to a 10′ man-made dam that separates Lower and Upper Massapoag Ponds.

The pool below the dam was teaming with small bass and blue gills so we decided to break out my bamboo fly rod and see what we could catch. Using a small (#14 hook) lime green Wooly Bugger (shh, one of my secret flies), we took turns casting and catching fish. It was a lot of fun because the water was crystal clear and we could see the action of the fly and the approaching fish. That gave us a chance to explore fish behavior a bit. Between the 2 of us we caught and released around 25-30 blue gills and a couple of small bass. On a light bamboo rod, a big blue gill puts up quite a fight.

After an hour we returned to the canoe and paddled back to the launch. It was a little easier with the wind to our backs. We could clearly see our “trail” through the lily pads from where we came in. It made navigating back a lot easier.