Stump Pond near Holden: Fishing Spots, Seasons and Access

• Overview

  Within Worcester County, Massachusetts, you have Stump Pond. It stands 784 feet above sea level. It runs to roughly 27 acres — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. Supplies mean a trip to Holden, 1.5 miles off. Worcester is the closest city, 8.1 miles away. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Stump Pond

  No depth figure has reached our records, which makes a plummet useful. Standing timber shows when the level drops, and fish sit against it. A reservoir gives you a hard edge, a shelf, and not much else. Across Worcester County, recorded fish include bluegill, chain pickerel, largemouth bass and pumpkinseed. Read it as a county summary, not a water-by-water list. Fish Stump Pond to its features, not to its size.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 69°F, with January the cold end at about 22°F. The year runs cold to warm and back, with clear transitions. Winter locks it down, and early April brings it back. The lid tends to go about early April and return around late December. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. Time your trip to Stump Pond by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. Parking is close: a car park sits half a mile from the bank. Eagle Lake Wildlife Refuge covers this ground, which means extra rules to check. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. Eagle Lake, 0.4 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Rules at Stump Pond are worth checking on the day.