New England Paddler
Baker Pond
Baker Pond
Last Updated: 3/2023
Baker Pond Launch
Position: 41°45.92'N 70°00.11'W
Boat Launch:
Boat Launch:
Access to the pond is provided by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries of Wildlife over a small beach area on the west side of the road with parking for approximately eight vehicles. There is no launching ramp, but canoes and car-top boats can be launched over the beach area. Most of the shoreline is easily wadeable. There is a 10 horsepower motor limit enforced by the town of Orleans.
Nearest Launch Address:
20 Hinkle Lane, Orleans, MA 02653
Description
Baker Pond is a natural kettlehole pond with scarce aquatic vegetation. The shoreline is moderately developed with houses with shoreline forested in scrub pine and oak. The ponds name refers to William Baker who lived at the pond in the 1700s (Green et al. 2006).
Just a short drive uphill from the commercial edge where Orleans and Brewster meet lies one of the Lower Cape’s prime freshwater resources, ringed by conservation land shared by both towns. At 32 acres (28 in Orleans, 4 in Brewster) Baker Pond easily surpasses the state’s definition of a “great pond” (minimum 10 acres). And to walkers who use its trails, it’s great in scenic and recreational values as well.
In 1988, the Town of Orleans acquired parcels of land north of Baker’s Pond totaling 15 acres (once part of the Corrigan property) for conservation, open space, and recreation. One key purpose of the acquisition was to protect drinking water in the Gould Pond Well and the groundwater basins of Little Namskaket Marsh and Town Cove. Today, the Baker’s Pond Conservation Area comprises more than 50 acres spanning both Orleans and Brewster. It is part of a contiguous natural area from Nickerson State Park in Brewster across Route 6 to the watershed in Orleans.
The Baker’s Pond CA boasts 1,250 feet of pond shoreline. The trail around the pond starts on Orleans town conservation land, then winds through a patchwork of land owned by the town of Brewster and Brewster Conservation Trust, which now totals more than 100 acres. The main trail was first proposed in 2010 by Mark Robinson of the Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts; then BCT raised $150,000 over several years to acquire the connecting land in the west. The present three-mile trail system emerged from years of cooperation among the two towns, the two private land trusts (OCT and BCT), and several private landowners.
Orleans Conservation Trust
at Baker Pond
STATISTICS
Skill Level: Flat water
Estimated Time: 1 hour
Perimeter: 1.0 miles
USGS Map: Wellfleet SW, MA
USGS Map: Wellfleet SW, MA
Physical Features
- Area: 28 acres
- Max depth: 60 feet
- Average Depth: 18 feet
- Transparency: 11 feet
- Terrain Type: Sand, Scrub Pine and Oak trees, Town Beach, moderately developed homes, Conservation Land on East and North shores.
- Altitude: 13 feet
Fish Population
- Last survey: 1988
- 9 species: pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, brown bullhead, banded killifish, golden shiner, yellow perch, American eel, brown trout and rainbow trout.
Management History:
The pond was first surveyed on September 1, 1911 and yellow perch, chain pickerel, brown bullhead were reported. From 1933 to 1937 the pond was stocked with brook trout, brown trout, smallmouth bass, white perch and yellow perch. An August 19, 1948 survey found yellow perch, chain pickerel, banded killifish and smallmouth bass. This pond was reclaimed in 1954, and has been treated with lime periodically to counteract high acidity. Adult smallmouth bass were stocked here in 1980 and 1981. Trout are stocked here every spring and fall.
The pond was first surveyed on September 1, 1911 and yellow perch, chain pickerel, brown bullhead were reported. From 1933 to 1937 the pond was stocked with brook trout, brown trout, smallmouth bass, white perch and yellow perch. An August 19, 1948 survey found yellow perch, chain pickerel, banded killifish and smallmouth bass. This pond was reclaimed in 1954, and has been treated with lime periodically to counteract high acidity. Adult smallmouth bass were stocked here in 1980 and 1981. Trout are stocked here every spring and fall.
Fishing
Baker Pond is managed primarily as a trout pond and is annually stocked in the spring and fall with brook, brown and rainbow trout. Due to its good summer trout habitat, the pond offers the potential for some nice holdover trout fishing. Summer anglers seeking trout should look for the fish at depths of 20 to 35 feet. All the standard trout baits and lures are effective, but if all else fails, try drift-jigging a small streamer or grass shrimp about two feet behind a split shot within the depth range mentioned above. Don’t overlook the smallmouth bass here. Although not as plentiful as stocked trout, there are enough to offer fair bass fishing action, and some of them are quite large. Try bucktails and eel imitations along the bottom. Some anglers find they do best with live bait in the form of grass shrimp. Other nearby ponds are Flax Pond, Higgins Pond, Little Cliff Pond and Cliff Pond in Nickerson State
Park in Brewster.
Park in Brewster.
