Walden Pond Fishing Spot
- County: USA
- Acreage: 58
- Public Fishing: Yes
- Mean Depth: 40'
- Max Depth: 97'
- Bathymetry Map: View Walden Pond Bathymetry Map
- Website: http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dfg/dfw/habitat/maps-ponds/dfwwalde.pdf
- Last Modified By: samf on 12/08/13 03:40 PM
- Ask about Walden Pond in our Fishing Forums
Photos
Fish Species
Comments
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During the summer I went there to try and get some early morning topwater action, and had some good times. There are plenty of catchable smallmouths, but the largemouths are more eager to strike. It's a difficult place to fish with all the swimmers and the super skittish fish, but the rewards are definitely worth it when you finally figure them out.
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There were lots more smallmouth in Walden in the 80's and early 90's. I remember as a teenager catching so many quality SM just past the swimming ropes in my canoe. Spent hours every year wading in the shallows of Walden looking for crayfish etc. There were so many baby (2-3") SM swimming the shallows and baby LM. But baby SM were much more numerous than the LM...Haven't waded in there in several years, but no baby SM could be found in several trips. Out in the canoe now, all I catch is LM. Dropshot seems to work well there. Not saying there is no SM in there anymore, but nowhere close to what used to be. Anybody catch any smallies in Walden lately?
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during the spawn i caught a six pounder here
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Here's the skinny on Walden -- I fish there a lot. There are LMB in Walden -- they hug the shore, but they are very fussy. The crystal clear water will give you an awesome view of the bass ignoring your bait. Rainbow trout, brownies, SMBs, perch, all there, but in relatively low numbers. This is a crazy deep place relative to its size, and by summer, most of the fish are in the deepest parts, 70 feet down. You may get skunked. My advice is to go very early in the day, because the yuppie swimmers will blunder right into your line during the busier hours -- I've seen this happen several times. It's a pretty spot and not a bad place to spend a few hours even if you come up empty.
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any action on this spot this year yet? How's it been on the past? Looking to check-it-out this summer (hopefully)
Walden Pond Baits and Tackle
Soft Baits Check Prices
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- 1 on BBZ-1 Shad floating swimbat, Wicked Perch color.
1 on 1/2 oz black Strike King Bi-Buzz.
Lure (Other) Check Prices
- Biggest fish on a Strike King Bluegill Swim Jig
One on Sexy Shad 4S crankbait
One on Natural Frog Zara Spook
Four on Pearl Zoom Salty Super Fluke - Blue Fox Vibrax series
- Koppers livetarget frog
scumfrog little bigfoot frog
zoom super fluke - Dragging a Chatterbait off a lone rock pilling.
- Bluegill flash 5 inch super fluke
Bluegill chatterbait with a watermelon pearl lft swimbait
1/4 ounce blk/blu booyah baby boo jig with a black yum craw papi
2 inch baby bass bps grub - Green bigfoot scum frog
Tan/brown Koppers hollow body frog
Watermelonseed 5" Zoom super fluke
Green pumpkin booyah boo jig w/ Rage craw trailer green pumpkin
bluegill 3/8 oz. chatterbait w/ watermelon red flake swimmin' fluke
Other Check Prices
- Got one on the mop jig just across the current. Got another on the buzzbait a little further out. Got a couple of shorts.
- Corn, White bread, vienna sausage.
- Dough Ball
- I went with a basic powerbait rig. I Tied a barrel swivel on to the end of my 8 pound mono and added about 2.5-3 feet of 6 pound fluorocarbon leader. Just above the swivel was a small 1/8 ounce steel egg sinker. A baited powerbait hook completed the set up.
- Just used some more powerbait. I'm thinking next time I may try some mealworms or nightcrawlers. Maybe a few small senkos as well.
Crankbait Check Prices
- Bandit Series 100 crankbait, CJ Shad color
- Threadfin Shad Bandit Footloose &
Bluegill Bandit 100 - Strike King 4S Sexy Shad
- 1 inch strike king minnow
- Using a z-man chatterbait bluegill color with a swimmin super fluke as the trailer. for the other fish i used a livetarget bluegill crankbait.
- same as before
Topwater Bait Check Prices
- Though I have caught a few bass on various lures here so far, topwaters seem to be the most productive by far. It makes sense when you think about. Go down to Fairhaven on a summer night and just try and count the splashes on the surface. I lost count somewhere around 20.
Stick Bait Check Prices
- 5" Yamamoto green
1/4 oz Crankbait
Spinnerbait / Buzzbait Check Prices
- tandem colorado firetiger spinnerbait
Walden Pond Description
This 58-acre natural great pond is located a little to the southeast of the junction of Routes 2 and 126 in Concord. Maximum depth is 97 feet; average depth is approximately 40 feet. Transparency is excellent, extending to at least 18 feet. Aquatic vegetation is negligible and confined to the few shallow cove areas. The shoreline is virtually undeveloped, and much of it falls within the Department of Environmental Management’s Walden Pond Reservation.
Access is provided by an excellent gravel ramp maintained by the Division of Forests and Parks. It is located just off Route 128. There is a $5 fee to use this ramp (seasonal passes are available) and the gate is closed every night. The parking lot can only accommodate approximately 10 vehicles with trailers, but there is a much larger parking area just across the street. No gas-powered motors are allowed on the pond, but electric motors are permitted. Almost the entire pond is open to shore fishing, so a boat or canoe is not a requirement to enjoy some good fishing action.
This pond supports populations of smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, pumpkinseed, bluegill, chain pickerel and brown bullhead in the limited warm water habitat. The cold water habitat supports a population of rainbow smelt, which serve as forage for the large numbers of trout that are stocked here every spring and fall.
The warm water fish populations in Walden Pond are too small and slow growing to offer more than an incidental attraction in terms of sport fishing action. Trout are the name of the game here, and not only recent stockies, but also holdover fish, which sometimes grow to trophy size. Over the years, this pond has produced a number of the top annual sport fishing awards in the rainbow and brown trout categories. Most trout are taken by standard still-fishing techniques on worms, small shiners, doughbaits and salmon eggs; others on cast or trolled spoons, spinners or streamers. Many of the largest trout are taken through the ice.
This pond tends to be heavily crowded during the peak stocking seasons and on winter weekends, so go on a weekday if possible. Action in the winter can be extremely slow: only one or two fish caught over the entire pond in a whole day. The few trout caught at such times are often lunkers, however, and many anglers are willing to put in the time in an attempt to catch one of these rare trophies.
Walden Pond is a 102-foot (31 m) deep pond, 61 acres (250,000 m2) in area and 1.7 miles (2.7 km) around, located in Concord, Massachusetts, in the United States. A famous example of a kettle hole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000 - 12,000 years ago.