Town(s):
Brewster MA
County:
Barnstable
Local Name:
Middle Mill Pond
Size:
253
acres
Average Depth:
18
feet
Maximum Depth:
31
feet
Boating Allowed:
Kayaks, Canoes, Sail Boats, Electric Motor Boats, State & Local Rules & Regulations Apply, Horsepower or Speed Restrictions, Other Restrictions, See Comments
Boating Comments:
3 HP motor restriction
Swimming:
Swimming Allowed, Some Restrictions
Upper Mill Pond, also known as Middle Mill Pond, is a 253 acre natural kettlehole pond with an average depth of 18 feet and a maximum depth of 31 feet. Although a natural pond, the water levels may have been modified by the construction of the dam on Stony Brook which forms Lower Mill Pond. The pond is supplied by groundwater and a connection to Walkers Pond and drains to the north to Lower Mill Pond. Transparency is fairly low by Cape Cod standards (4 feet during the July 1994 survey) but sometimes is as deep as 9 feet. The ponds 2.9 miles of shoreline are wooded and lightly developed. The bottom is composed mainly of sand, although there are extensive areas of rubble. Aquatic vegetation is common to abundant. Upper Mill Pond is accessible through the town owned Punkhorn Park lands which can be reached from Route 6A by taking Stony Brook Road to Run Hill Road and following it to the conservation area. Access to Walkers Pond and via a channel to Upper Mill Pond is a town-owned, paved launch ramp, suitable for trailered and cartop boats. To get to the Walkers Pond access, take Route 6 to Exit 9 (Route 134) and take Route 134 north for a half mile. Take a right on Airline Road and follow it for approximately 2 miles to its intersection with Setucket Road. Take an immediate right onto Slough Road. The access is about a mile down on the left at the southwestern end of the pond. An alternate route would be to take Airline Road south from Route 6A. Upper Mill Pond serves along with Lower Mill and Walker Pond as the headwaters for the Stony Brook (Paines Creek) herring run. This run is a spring Cape Cod tourist attraction and was made famous in the book The Run by John Hay. The Mill Ponds were stocked with trout in 1913. Upper Mill Pond was surveyed on July 9, 1948 and yellow perch, brown bullhead, white sucker, chain pickerel, white perch, alewife, and banded killifish were collected. It was stocked on October 3, 1950 with 2000 smallmouth bass fingerlings from the Palmer State Fish Hatchery. It was resurveyed on August 10, 1962 and golden shiner and pumpkinseed sunfish were also noted.
Water Quality:
No Known Issues, Town/State Monitoring
Vegetation Growth:
Abundant
Non-native Species:
Eurasian Watermilfoil (Myriophyllum Spicatum), Fanwort (Cabomba Caroliniana)
Fishing Comments:
Yellow perch remain the dominant species in the ponds. Catch them in quantity using worm-sweetened jigs or by drift-trolling a small spinner blade with a trailing, worm-baited hook. Fillet a big batch of small ones, boil for just a few minutes until they cook through and curl, and chill in the fridge for an hour. The result, served with toothpicks and cocktail sauce, is very similar to shrimp. There are also some big white perch in this pond. There are undoubtedly some big bass and pickerel in these ponds, as growth rates are excellent for both species. Unfortunately, their density in the overall fishery has always been reported as low. Still, if one were looking for a wall-hanger and can put in the fishing time, these ponds would be a good bet. Other nearby ponds include Lower Mill Pond, Slough Pond, Elbow Pond, Pine Pond, Seymour Pond, Hinkley's Pond and Long Pond - Brewster-Harwich.
Fish Species:
Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Chain Pickerel, Yellow Perch, White Perch, Brown Bullhead, Sunfish, Golden Shiner, White Sucker, American Eel
Boat Access:
Access for Power and Non-power Boats
Ramp Comments:
See Description.
Parking Spaces:
11-20
Directions:
See Description.
Shoreline Development:
25-50%
