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Author Topic: Has Anyone Heard of Chilson's Pond in the Town of Florida?  (Read 1568 times)

bogtrotter

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I live not too far from there, but had never even heard of it till this past weekend.

I am curious whether it holds any fish, and, if so, what kinds.

I did some poking around online, but other than where it is and the fact that there is a campground there, I wasn't able to find out too much about it.

I may need to take a ride over there this weekend to check it out.

lowaccord66

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Re: Has Anyone Heard of Chilson's Pond in the Town of Florida?
« Reply #1 on: Sep 10, 2019, 10:02 AM »
Let us know what you find!

SHaRPS

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Re: Has Anyone Heard of Chilson's Pond in the Town of Florida?
« Reply #2 on: Sep 10, 2019, 10:16 AM »
Adventure time!
Wicked Wec

maxma

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Re: Has Anyone Heard of Chilson's Pond in the Town of Florida?
« Reply #3 on: Sep 10, 2019, 10:26 AM »
Just looking at the map, it looks like this pond lies between two houses. More like a private property to me...

But still eager to hear what you find out there!

bogtrotter

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Re: Has Anyone Heard of Chilson's Pond in the Town of Florida?
« Reply #4 on: Sep 14, 2019, 02:23 PM »
My younger son and I took a drive to find Chilson's Pond, off Tilda Hill Road in the Town of Florida, this morning.

The online map made it look like it would be visible from the road, and some online listings suggested it was a campground of some sort, possibly under State auspices.

However, we drove from one end of Tilda Hill Road to the other, and could not find the pond.

As we approached the Route 2 end of the road, I saw an EPO parked up ahead and asked him, and he had not heard of it either.

However, the EPO was kind enough to lend me the use of his roadmap (which was more detailed than mine), and I located the pond as being on the right hand side about 1 mile back from where I had come.

I drove up that way (with the EPO following behind me out of curiousity) and stopped near where I thought it would be and asked a neighbor if the pond was nearby.

The neighbor indicated the pond was set a little ways toward the back of the property I was parked next to, but was no longer open to the public. Evidently, the gentleman who used to run it as a campground died a few years ago, and it now belongs to his grandson, who simply makes his home there now.

Mystery solved, at least, even if I cannot fish the pond.

During our travels, my son and I stumbled across Dunbar Brook, which I don't believe I had ever seen before. It's on the opposite end of Tilda Hill Road (from Route 2), at the edge of the Monroe State Forest).

I parked and fished a small waterfall near the entrance to the park and caught a nice 8" brookie - - with dark colors on top and a golden orange belly. So I considered that a consolation prize for not being able to try my luck at Chilson's Pond.

lowaccord66

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Re: Has Anyone Heard of Chilson's Pond in the Town of Florida?
« Reply #5 on: Sep 14, 2019, 04:17 PM »
Interesting adventure.  I wonder if the Brookie was wild.  There's some interesting water up there. I also wonder what the EPO was up to.  After nearly 3 decades of fishing in Mass...I have never been checked.

bogtrotter

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Re: Has Anyone Heard of Chilson's Pond in the Town of Florida?
« Reply #6 on: Sep 14, 2019, 04:40 PM »
Interesting adventure.  I wonder if the Brookie was wild.  I also wonder what the EPO was up to.  After nearly 3 decades of fishing in Mass...I have never been checked.

I'm pretty sure the brookie was wild, given where I caught it. 

If I had more time, I would have tried further downstream, but the rocks were treacherous, and my son was inpatient, so Dunbar Brook will just have to wait till another day for me to explore.

As for the EPO, I even mentioned to him that he was the first one I had ever seen out in the "hinterlands," since the only times I have ever seen any is in "popular" areas where boaters/fishermen/icefishermen tend to congregate. 

Even he said something like "yeah, we're a dying breed."

Nice guy, though.

I've heard of others who have had unpleasant encounters with EPO's, but so far (knock on wood) I've been lucky.

lowaccord66

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Re: Has Anyone Heard of Chilson's Pond in the Town of Florida?
« Reply #7 on: Sep 15, 2019, 03:16 PM »
I can't say I've had any unpleasant encounters Jim.   Rather none at all.  After reading your story I was poking around on maps and saw "cold river" it looked cool and I looked into it further to see if it was viable.  USGS has a gauge on it....right now 1.5 cfs.  A trickle.

Do you fish the Deerfield at all?

bogtrotter

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Re: Has Anyone Heard of Chilson's Pond in the Town of Florida?
« Reply #8 on: Sep 15, 2019, 06:02 PM »
I used to fish the Deerfield a lot, 20 odd years ago. 

Eventually, though, I more or less gave it up (although I tried it again for old times sake a couple years ago) - - partly due to the tough wading conditions (lots of slippery boulders), but mainly because I got sick of the water releases from the dams upstream. 

(They let off a horn to warn you, but, even so, I was swept off my feet a couple times - - It's a scary experience you never forget).

The Cold River is a tributary of the Deerfield that runs along Route 2 in Charlemont.  You're right about it  being just a trickle right now (I drove past it a week or so ago) - - That's generally how it is.  However, it can be productive early in the spring, right after stocking.

lowaccord66

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Re: Has Anyone Heard of Chilson's Pond in the Town of Florida?
« Reply #9 on: Sep 15, 2019, 06:34 PM »
I was tracing the cold river around on maps, it looks interesting.  Did not know it received a stocking.  I'm glad they don't release like that on the Farmington.  They do very subtle flow increases.  You can get "stuck" if you wade aggressively and they turn up the flow...but its not like the Deerfield from what I understand.

 



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