I was bored today so I gathered up my gear (a large green aquarium net, a pack of 10x20 fish bags, my fishing license, a notepad, an old seachem container, and a kritter keeper)
I walked down the street from my house to Chandler's Pond in Brighton, MA. Chandler's Pond was a manmade pond that was dug out from a brook. It was used to cut ice before refrigerators/freezers were invented. Currently, it is a park on the east, south and west sides. The northern side is privately owned land. (waterfront homes)
The pond was dredged (blocked off, emptied out, and made deeper) in 1999.
The water is very green and brown moss covers the rocks on the bottom. The water varies between green and brown. The water smells like sulphur. red willow tree roots reach into the pond. Even the European milfoil and the parrot feather milfoils were turning brown and dying. Someone released goldfish in there but they have died because of the pollution. The pond is nitrogen heavy since the nearby homes use chemical lawn treatments. I have some friends who caught monster largemouth bass in there about 10 years ago, (before the dredging. I don't think that the largemouth bass came back yet. The bluegills probably hitchhiked as eggs on a goose or something. There is a great blue heron that lives there, 2 swans, and a ton of geese and ducks.
The swans were agressive, hissing at me and chasing me away from the minnows.
The heron was ok with me being there.
I didn't know how the geese would react so I walked up to them, and stood there and stared at them. They stared back and one of them honked at me. The freaky thing is, the sound it made, sounded like "Can I help you?"
On the shores were a ton of Japanese Trapdoor Snail shells. It looked like a French guy had a party there.
I look back and the swans have moved on so I quickly went back to the collection spot and started dipping these fish out. Out of the water, they had a purple belly and a blue gill cover (Bluegills). In the water, they looked like glass tetras. They were 1 inch long or less. I caught a really nice 1.5 inch bluegill, but he fell into the grass and when I got him out he wasn't too happy so I threw him back in hopes that he will live.
The swans saw me and started coming back and hissing at me. At this point I walked away to see if there were any more suitable collection sites. When the swans moved on again, I went back and dipped some more out before leaving.
Pics coming soon (It's 4 am at the time of writing this so I can't take pictures)
I walked down the street from my house to Chandler's Pond in Brighton, MA. Chandler's Pond was a manmade pond that was dug out from a brook. It was used to cut ice before refrigerators/freezers were invented. Currently, it is a park on the east, south and west sides. The northern side is privately owned land. (waterfront homes)
The pond was dredged (blocked off, emptied out, and made deeper) in 1999.
The water is very green and brown moss covers the rocks on the bottom. The water varies between green and brown. The water smells like sulphur. red willow tree roots reach into the pond. Even the European milfoil and the parrot feather milfoils were turning brown and dying. Someone released goldfish in there but they have died because of the pollution. The pond is nitrogen heavy since the nearby homes use chemical lawn treatments. I have some friends who caught monster largemouth bass in there about 10 years ago, (before the dredging. I don't think that the largemouth bass came back yet. The bluegills probably hitchhiked as eggs on a goose or something. There is a great blue heron that lives there, 2 swans, and a ton of geese and ducks.
The swans were agressive, hissing at me and chasing me away from the minnows.
The heron was ok with me being there.
I didn't know how the geese would react so I walked up to them, and stood there and stared at them. They stared back and one of them honked at me. The freaky thing is, the sound it made, sounded like "Can I help you?"
On the shores were a ton of Japanese Trapdoor Snail shells. It looked like a French guy had a party there.
I look back and the swans have moved on so I quickly went back to the collection spot and started dipping these fish out. Out of the water, they had a purple belly and a blue gill cover (Bluegills). In the water, they looked like glass tetras. They were 1 inch long or less. I caught a really nice 1.5 inch bluegill, but he fell into the grass and when I got him out he wasn't too happy so I threw him back in hopes that he will live.
The swans saw me and started coming back and hissing at me. At this point I walked away to see if there were any more suitable collection sites. When the swans moved on again, I went back and dipped some more out before leaving.
Pics coming soon (It's 4 am at the time of writing this so I can't take pictures)
)