Golf Course Gills

[JakesLeakyWaders]

There's an old abandoned golf course near me and there is still one spring fed pond remaining. The fairways are all grown over and it doesn't even appear like a golf course anymore.

I am always looking for new places to fish. When I came over a hill and saw the pond was still holding water I was excited. I suspected it still had water being that a small spring runs along it.

Caught this guy on a small clouser minnow I tied myself...was lurking just out past the smaller ones. One helluva scrappy fighter on my two weight fly rod.

 

[ryguyfi]

That's a nice fish. The golf course ponds are hurting this year. Most are used for irrigation and with the bad summer, I've seen many of them at 25% or less of typical levels. Nice find you got there though.

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

Yeah and just think, we got lucky. We've had way more rain than out in the Mid-West. I think western Pa might not have got as much rain though.

 

[ryguyfi]

Yeah I played golf a few weeks back and there was a pond that you could see golf balls on the shore line about 20 feet from the waters edge the whole way around the pond. It was BAD.

Always wanted to fish the golf course ponds, but haven't asked for permission yet.

 

[DRFAS]

JLW's... Yer my kinda flyrodder when you enjoy gill's and such as well as them trouts... As for fishing golf course ponds I'm always begging for permission to fish but seldom do I get the OK.. They always play the "liability" card and to be honest, as an occasional golfer myself, I feel the best place to get hit with a golf shot is near or IN the water !!!!! Hell I even took a signed, notarized letter relieving the golf club of any liability and they still said no...
So, I stick to public waters and small farm ponds that I gain permission on...

Best wishes

Frank

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

Yeah I worked at a golf course for two seasons. Planned on putting some fish in the ponds but it never happened.

They are pretty tight about anything other than golf happening on the golf course. I am sure if there were fish in there I could have casually walked over to the pond on 18 and caught a few late in the evening as long as I was on the side that is out of play.

But I worked there. And its good to know what you can do and when you can do it.

The place I have found happens to be temporarily open to the public and I see nothing but a few old folks walking around the old cart paths, which are now lined with 3 foot high grasses, weeds and shrubs and small secondary grow. If hunting were allowed it would be a small game paradise. Hawks and eagles frequent the area.

 

[littlelehigh]

JakesLeakyWaders wrote:
There's an old abandoned golf course near me and there is still one spring fed pond remaining. The fairways are all grown over and it doesn't even appear like a golf course anymore.

That there is a cryin shame in itself.

 

[pwk5017]

I have also asked permission to fish golf course ponds, and was promptly denied. I decided to night fish two of the courses anyways. I was just far to curious to not do it. Plus, I never asked to fish them at night, so the course owners MAY have allowed it. Anyways, one was a bust and spent half the night ducking behind bushes when cars drove by 50 yards away. The other was good stuff. My brother and I hit 3-4 ponds that night and did well. Still, for those that have ever wondered, the fishing wasnt as good as you have dreamed while walking passed towards your ball. The one pond I continually spotted 18-20" bass in the shallows during the fall. I should probably go back and give it another shot to see if that one night was a fluke. BTW, I do not condone sneaking onto golf courses and fishing without permission, but sometimes you need to bend/break the rules a bit in the pursuit of angling passion.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

You got no gators to worry about in Pa. lol

 

[FarmerDave]

I think part of the problem is that they get asked A LOT.

The other part is they don't want anything interfering with the golfers. People suck, and golfers can be just as whiny as anyone else. Maybe moreso. It's one of the reasons I gave up golf.

 

[mattwolf]

I am a golf course superintendent. We have 5 different ponds on the golf course as well as a natural reproductive brook trout stream. The brookies are extremely small 2 to 4 inch range, but the bass in the ponds are anywhere from 10 to 28 inches. The best way to catch the big bass is to use a popper and hook a small 10 inch guy. As soon as the big boys see the small guy struggle they go right to him and try and eat him. I watched a 9 year old girl catch a 24 inch large mouth. I sometimes bring my 5 year old son to fish these ponds when he is not having much luck on the trout streams. This helps keep him interested in fly fishing and not getting upset that he is not catching any fish.

 

[Swattie87]

I worked at a golf course in high school and college. There were several large ponds (an acre or more in size) and many smaller ones, along with a stocked trout stream and several smaller WW streams flowing through the property. The smaller “aesthetic” ponds didn’t have any fish in them, but the larger, irrigation ponds all had fish…Carp, Largemouth, various Sunfish and White Crappie. Two of the larger ponds weren’t really “in play” in terms of the course and as employees we were allowed to fish those…in the early morning or evening, or when the course wasn’t busy. I caught an 18” LM and several 24”+ carp out of the biggest pond…all on an UL spin rod! Good fun. It was always a tough call after work…9 holes of golf or a couple hours of fishing.

In terms of access, I don’t think the owner let the public fish the ponds…as employees we were told to politely inform anyone fishing them that it was private property and fishing was not allowed. I think just the general concern/liability of having non-paying customers on the property was his motivation. The stocked trout stream ran along the edge of one side of the property and essentially ran parallel to two holes, although there was probably 10 or more yards of woods between the stream and the course, and the stream really wasn’t in play. The owner was fine was with guys fishing “through” on the stream as long as they didn’t use golf course property to access the stream or walk through the woods onto the course.

 

[Tiogadog]

I belong to a club here in Virginia. I do not golf but the club has a pool and my daughter is a competitive swimmer. Our club does allow members to fish in the ponds.

Most of the course ponds hold a bunch of stunted bass and gills. With the amount of chemlawn they dump on golf courses it would not suprise me to catch fish with three eyes.

Still fun though