Fishing Crooked Pond in Essex County, Massachusetts

• Overview

  Within Essex County, Massachusetts, you have Crooked Pond. The bank gives way to rolling hill. At 15 acres it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. Boxford is the closest town at 1.4 miles. It is 16 miles to Lowell, the nearest city. Within a short run: Howes Pond within 1 mile, Pout Pond 1 mile away, Sharpners Pond within 1.7 miles, Towne Pond 1.8 miles away and Creighton Pond within 2.5 miles. A border sits close enough to be relevant to the paperwork.

• Where to Fish on Crooked Pond

  Open data we checked carries no depth for this water. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Records held for Essex County cover alewife, bluegill, striped bass and pumpkinseed. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. At Crooked Pond the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July is the warm end of the year here, averaging about 71°F, while January sits near 26°F. A lid forms in a hard winter only. It should never be assumed safe, whatever the month says. Late winter often fishes better here than midsummer does. At Crooked Pond the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing on record says whether the bank is open or closed. Expect a half a mile walk in from where the car goes. Part of this sits inside or beside Chaplin Perley Woods, so read the notices. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Where a permit is needed, the nearest town usually sells it. Access can change hands, so last year's answer may not hold. Should this one be busy, Howes Pond is 1 mile off. What applies at Crooked Pond may have changed since it was mapped.