Hadley Reservoir in Hampshire County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  This water sits in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. It sits in rolling bush country. The water measures roughly 2 acres, so nothing here is far from anything else. Our Hampshire County list holds plenty of bigger water. South Amherst sits 2.4 miles from here and is the nearest stop. Springfield sits 15 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. Local rules may differ a few miles either side of here.

• Where to Fish on Hadley Reservoir

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. County-wide records name brook trout, bluegill, pumpkinseed and tessellated darter. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. The shape of Hadley Reservoir rewards a slow walk along one bank.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs 23°F to 71°F. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. After late March the shallows warm and the fish move up. On the long-run averages the water opens up around late March and starts locking again about late December. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. Hadley Reservoir fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. Parking within half a mile means no long carry with tackle. There are toilets mapped about half a mile away. 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. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. If the gate is shut, Lithia Springs Reservoir at 1.9 miles is the nearest alternative. None of that is settled for Hadley Reservoir in what we hold.