News  Take MassWildlife’s bathymetry data on your next fishing trip!

If you’re fishing on one of the 168 Massachusetts ponds with digital bathymetry information, you can use your mobile device to find a pond map and see depth information in real time. By using the My Location feature on the map, you can target fish species based on depth. This feature is great for anglers fishing from a boat, but is also useful to find a great location to fish from shore. Want to target bass or pickerel? Locate and target unique features of the submerged terrain such as drop offs and plateaus. Fishing for perch? Find a depth where the fish are feeding and then follow that depth around the lake or pond.

To get started, go to Mass.gov/pondmaps. Locations with a yellow border indicate ponds with digital bathymetry. Zoom into any one of these locations for depth information. If you’re at a pond, click the My Location button (looks like a circle or crosshair, see image above) to show your movements in real time. Digital bathymetry data for new ponds are added all the time. Ponds without digital bathymetry still offer valuable information about the waterbody. Click any point on the map to see details about access and fish populations for that waterbody along with a pdf bathymetric map.

Let us know how we’re doing. Leave feedback about this map and its functionality at the bottom of the web page.