Mashpee Pond and Wakeby Pond are adjoining

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

s in Mashpee and

Sandwich, Massachusetts Sandwich is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. The town motto is ''Post tot Naufracia Portus'', "after so many shipwrecks, a haven". The population was 20,259 at the 2020 census. Histor ...

. When considered together, these two ponds cover and constitute the largest

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

pond on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

. This pair is deep at its deepest point. The Fishing Record for most bass caught in a day belongs to James Dean on August 21,2016. The record for most fishing trips without a single fish caught belongs to P.J Keliher at 26. These kettleholes are fed by

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

and have no

inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s. The ponds' sole outlet stream, the Mashpee River, flows south to

Popponesset Bay Popponesset Bay System is a group of bays located at the towns of Mashpee (north & west) and Barnstable (east), on Cape Cod, Massachusetts with a southern shore bounded by water from Nantucket Sound. Popponesset Bay has the following tributary ...

Boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, suc ...

access to the ponds is possible via a state-maintained

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

launching ramp off Route 130 in Mashpee. The ponds are heavily used for

boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, suc ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

bass fishing Bass fishing is the recreational fishing activity, typically via rod-based angling, for various North American freshwater game fishes known collectively as '' black bass''.Henshall, James A. (Dr.), ''Book of the Black Bass'', Cincinnati, OH: R ...

and

trout fishing Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera ''Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the fam ...

. However, there is no public beach on the lakes on which boats may be put ashore. Ice fishing and fly fishing take place on these waters in addition to bait-casting. In 2006, a few fish pulled from Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds won awards from MassWildlife's Freshwater Sportfish Awards Program. Among these were a white catfish and a sunfish. Attaquin Beach, a youth

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

, and homes line the ponds' shores.

References

Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds

External links

MassWildlife Map and Information
{{Massachusetts lakes and ponds Mashpee, Massachusetts Ponds of Barnstable County, Massachusetts Ponds of Massachusetts Sandwich, Massachusetts