My favorite pond is 3 miles from my house and 2 miles from my office. Hard to beat that location!
It's a classic New England kettle pond with no development. Steep pine clad hillsides slope down to a sharp dropoff into deep water.

The pond is an excellent trout pond [I posted pics from icefishing there] but it's the monster bluegills that keep us coming back at this time of year. The big bulls had just made beds and apparently most had not yet got any eggs to guard. When a cold front blew through with cold rain and wind, the males abandoned the beds and schooled up in about six feet of water just outside the beds. Only on a shallow dark colored patch of bottom did the males stick to the beds. Presumably temps were a bit higher there and some eggs were present to guard. The water is crystal clear and since I naturally see from a higher vantage point, with polorized sunglasses, sitting in the bow of the canoe was like being in a big aquarium. For me fishing is more like interactive fish watching. At times I'd get so absorbed watching the show, I'd forget to cast. These are big, smart, wary trophy 'gills. In the clear water they were tough to decieve. They'd come up and look at my poppers but rarely hit them. I went through a half a dozen flies before I found a small minnow imitation they'd hit. Not what most think of when thinking about fishin for kivvers.
I couldn't resist posing for the obligitory "angler" shot.

I did manage a couple real bruisers. Alot of fun on the five weight



Besides great trout fishing and monster 'gills, another treat this pond offers is beautiful banded killiefish. Before my buddy showed up with the canoe [late as always], I chased some killies.
For some reason they only inhabit the few swallow sandy areas. They stay in two inches of water with zero cover. A few feet off the shore, largemouth and big sunnies prowl the shallows waiting for a school of killies to venture out into comparitively deeper water. Every once and awhile, a bass would rush the school in a splashy attack. The killies so avoid the deeper water, they can't be forced to go deep by a wading fisherman with two nets. Fired up males were guarding little sprigs of scattered weed, displaying for females and scrapping with their neighbors. In this pic, a big male was guarding the area around that single stalk of grass in the foreground. About a foot out from the grass you can just barely see him displaying to another big male just beyond him. Can you see 'em?

They were tough to chase with dipnets because they could see me so well in the shallow water. A blind grab in some fallen leaves turned up this nice male, a couple dozen toad tads and the ubiquitous fishermen's trash.

My fading eyesight and sun glare on my P&S view screen made it hard to shoot good shots. I never even knew I cut off their tails. I wish they would have shown off their yellow fins. I don't know if the black spots on the little female are nemotodes or mussels.



I was collecting for someone else but I couldn't resist adding a nice male and a few plump females to my planted tank.

Edited by mikez, 18 May 2008 - 09:21 PM.

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Those were some nice bluegill!

Oh yah, I forgot to mention, the Hell Pond reference in the title refered to the name the pond had in colonial times. The US Army took ownership of the land in the early 20th century and changed the name to make it attractive to the wives and kids of the soldiers posted there.
The base closed in the 90s and the pond reverted to the state. Thankfully they made it a park and manage it for both conservation and recreation.

So the pond is on the old Fort Devens site? Those bluegills are the way I think of big bluegills.

So the pond is on the old Fort Devens site? Those bluegills are the way I think of big bluegills.

That's affirmitive, it's just plain Devens now. Still being run as a business by the state [as opposed to a municipality]. Industry is the biggest occupant now with Army Reserve, National Guard and Marines all maintaining small outfits. All the barracks and housing for low ranking soldiers has been demolished, as well as the PX, commisary, gym and most other older buildings. Some of the officer housing was refurbished and sold as private residences. Ultimately it will either become one new town or split among the three original towns that gave up land to the feds at the beginning of WW I.

Edited by mikez, 18 May 2008 - 11:03 PM.