I have some time Wednesday evening to get some fishing in. I've been thinking of trying Fellsmere Pond in Malden. I don't have any spools of braided line so I'm worried about too much growth. Spot pond is always good to fall back on. Has anyone been to either recently? How are the conditions?
spot pond is one frustrating place for me. I know there are some monsters in there but it is a very tough place to fish. The bass in this deep, clear lake seem to be well fed and weary not to mention the difficulty in fishing the deep rocky ledges and steep dropoffs. be prepared to lose any baits you use especially ones you fish on the bottom like jigs.
Fellsmere is an interesting place. I feared that a small 5 acre pond in an urban area such as malden that has precious few natural resources like this pond would be overfished and that this small ecosystem would not be capable of sustaining many bass in the 3lb plus range. For this reason i paid little attention to fellsmere other than a couple of quick try's on my way by last yr. Recently, however, bassmonkey (ma fishfinder member) started sending me some photos of bass he was catching there. He has been catching quite a few 4lb plus bass this yr there and one pic he sent me was of a 6lb bass. I decided to try it down there with him one morn arnd 7 and i ended up catching a 4 1/4 lb bass on a 5" ocho worm. I would say my early assumptions on this place were wrong. In actuality it appears growth rates and overall productivity for this pond run better than expected.
As far as conditions here is what i can tell you about fellsmere. it is a small pond...maybe 5 or 6 acres. According to an old timer i talked to there he said max depth is about 10-12 ft but i would say the average depth is half that in most places. There really isnt much vegetation except for the grass mats that float around the edges. Last yr at this time the grass mats made fishing very difficult but this yr the mats are at about 25% of what they were last yr so it shouldnt be much of a problem. Actually, we focused most of our time on the mats when i fished with bassmonkey. They can be nuisance for fouling your bait but you shouldnt need braid to pull through it. it isnt rooted in the water just floats around the edges.
If you plan to fish fellsmere you should try to talk to bassmonkey. He lives 5 mins down the street from the place and fishes there religiously. He probably knows the place as well as anyone and is really good about sharing the tactics he uses and any other tips he can give. one thing i know he has said to me several times is that he has had his most success catching the lunkers there during hrs where pedestrian traffic around the pond is minimal. He will fish there at midnite or 4 or 5 a.m. before all the people start walking around the pond all day. that place is a zoo with walkers, runners, kids, you name it. good luck.
If you guys want to mix it up, try breakheart in Saugus. it's got some decent sized bass in the main pond/lake and gets minimal pressure. Little bit of a walk from the parking lot, but great shore access.
Both are great places to fish.
Like Ma_fisherman was saying, I've been witness to lots of big fish come out of Fellsmere recently from Bassmonkey, who is my older bro (I think his internet is down right now otherwise I am sure he would chime in on this conversation because Spot and Fellsmere are two of his favorite places to fish, and same with me).
Before my 5.25 lb largemouth on the Sudbury last week, I got my biggest bass ever at Fellsmere last fall (5 lbs even). And even with people taking fish home from there (ewww I would not eat fish from there either lol) there are still plenty of lunkers around. As far as I know bass populations adjust fine to things like that, and sometimes when medium, easily-catchable fish are taken from a pond, it leaves the lunkers to spawn more freely, thus bigger fish overall in the long run.
and about Spot Pond: I have had really good luck there lately catching Smallmouths. There are monster largemouths in there but they seem to be much more catchable earlier in the year during spring. Although I was there yesterday and caught a little largemouth in smallie territory that had the biggest belly I had ever seen (in relation to the overall size of the fish). I also got a nice size smallie too even though it was blazing hot out.
So yeah, Spots fun right now to target smallmouth and Fellsmore's great for the largemouth even this time of year when its so hot. But the earlier the better, before the foot traffic and before the harsh temperatures set in for the day. I know you said you are looking to fish in the evening, I'm sure if you find some shaded areas you still can do pretty well.