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Author Topic: Hometowns Old and New  (Read 1074 times)

bogtrotter

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Hometowns Old and New
« on: Oct 04, 2020, 03:29 PM »
Yesterday, my younger son and I went to Chicopee (where I grew up) to try our luck at a few spots.

It was a beautiful day - - mostly sunny, with temps in the low to mid 60's.

We started at the Chicopee State Park reservoir, which, oddly, despite having grown up down that way, I had never fished before.

Sadly, all we managed to catch were a few sunfish.  We talked to other fishermen who generally seemed to be doing about the same as us - - either catching sunfish or nothing at all - - although we did see one Hispanic kid who had a bass on his lure for a little while before it got away.

Next, after a quick stop at Arnold's Meats (for some goat),I tried the Chicopee River for a little while both above and below the Davitt Memorial Bridge.

Unfortunately,  I didn't have a single hit at either location - - although on my walk back to my car at the Granby Road parking lot, I spoke to a family who were also returning from fishing, and who reported catching a couple bass and a couple walleye.

Finally, a side trip to Szot Park, where I was hoping to catch something (no matter how small) in Bemis Pond, since that is the first place I ever caught a fish, some five decades ago. 

Alas, the passing years have not been kind to that body of water, which is heavily silted in, weed-ridden and infested with geese.

Since I was wearing my chest waders, I waded a short ways into the pond (to knee depth) at one point to haul out a punctured float tube, and found something I'm still not able to identify adhering to it.

The object was about half the size of a football, flattened on one side (the side stuck to the float tube) and bulbous on the other, with a bumpy yellow surface. When I poked it with a stick, the consistency was similar to what I imagine ballistics gel to be like.

Sorry, I don't carry a cell phone, so I couldn't take a picture of it.  But if anyone knows what it was, I'd' love to hear. 

Personally, I think they could get a great "In Search Of" episode out of it - - entitled The Mysterious Leech Monster of Bemis Pond - - but it just wouldn't be the same without Leonard Nimoy to narrate it.

Oh, there were also some small fish that would take my bait and bury it in the weeds, but whatever they were, they were too small for me to land,  despite several attempts to do so.

Fortunately, to make up for yesterday's lackluster performance, I had a chance to go fishing closer to home today, on the South Branch of the Hoosic. 

It was only for an hour (late AM/early PM), and the weather was not quite as favorable (overcast, 58 degrees and a bit damp) as yesterday, but the fishing was quite a bit better.

Last week's rains seem to have finally recharged the South Branch to the point where stream levels are what I would call normal.

I fished from Mullen Mayflower down brook to a little below Elm Rock and ended up catching three trout: a 16" rainbow just above the foot bridge along the Bike Trail, a 9" brookie by the Old Stone Mill and a 12" rainbow beneath the small roll dam just upstream from Elm Rock.

stripernut

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Re: Hometowns Old and New
« Reply #1 on: Oct 04, 2020, 05:23 PM »
A bryozoan colony?

bogtrotter

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Re: Hometowns Old and New
« Reply #2 on: Oct 04, 2020, 05:52 PM »
Thank you, Stripernut!

Someone buy that man a cigar!

That's precisely what we found. 

Now I'm gonna have to Google what the heck a "bryozoan colony" is? 

Man is that thing creepy looking!

zwiggles

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Re: Hometowns Old and New
« Reply #3 on: Oct 04, 2020, 06:53 PM »
Nice post, and nice find stripernut! Now I’m curious too, 😆

lowaccord66

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Re: Hometowns Old and New
« Reply #4 on: Oct 05, 2020, 06:49 AM »
Great report Jim. 

PikeKing23

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Re: Hometowns Old and New
« Reply #5 on: Oct 05, 2020, 09:49 AM »
I have those all over my lake.  From what I understand they only grow in the cleanest, most pollution free waters, so they are a good thing!

bogtrotter

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Re: Hometowns Old and New
« Reply #6 on: Oct 05, 2020, 01:20 PM »
. . . From what I understand they only grow in the cleanest, most pollution free waters, so they are a good thing!

I read the same thing online (after Stripernut was kind enough to ID the darn thing for me).

However, I can assure you, the one that I found must have been the exception that proved the rule, because Bemis Pond in its current condition cannot be considered "clean" by any stretch of the imagination.

 



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