Assabet River NWR Final CCP - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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Chapter 3: Refuge and Resource Descriptions
(Micropterus salmonoides) and chain pickerel (Esox niger). Other fish
documented included yellow perch (Perca flavecens), pumpkinseed
(Lepomis gibbosus), bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), redbreast sunfish
(Lepomis auritus), black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus), white sucker
(Catostomus commersoni), golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas),
fallfish (Semotilus corporalis), creek chubsucker (Erimyzon oblongus),
yellow and brown bullhead (Ictalurus nebulosus) and American eel
(Anquilla rostrata). See Appendix D for a complete listing of fish species.
Fishing in the Assabet River is regulated by the State of Massachusetts
fish and wildlife laws.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health Fish Consumption
Advisory for this river is the statewide advisory “for pregnant women not
to consume fish caught in freshwater due to elevated levels of mercury in
fish flesh” (MDFW 1999).
Puffer Pond is a natural pond, most likely of glacial origin. It is
approximately 30 acres (OHM 1994), and lies wholly within the refuge
boundary. The northern end of the pond is bounded by a scrub/shrub
emergent wetland, with the remainder undeveloped and forested. It is a
warmwater pond with a maximum depth of approximately 2.5 to 3 meters
(OHM 1994). Taylor Brook is the outlet of Puffer Pond and flows into the
Assabet River. Aquatic vegetation consists of yellow water lily (Nuphor
varigatum), coontail (Ceratophyllum spp.), anacharis (Elodea spp.) and
cattails (Typha latifolia). The pond bottom consists of sandy/silt muck
containing coarse organic particulate matter along the shoreline, grading to
a more silty muck towards the central, deeper portions of the pond (OHM
1994).
Fish species found in Puffer Pond include chain pickerel, yellow perch,
brown bullhead, largemouth bass, golden shiner, black crappie, and bluegill
(OHM 1994). A listing of fish species found in the Assabet River and on the
refuge is provided in Appendix D. All the fish caught during the 1994
bioaccumulation study generally appeared in good health and were
relatively abundant due to the high quality habitat found in the pond.
Relatively large numbers of forage fish were found in Puffer Pond (OHM
1994).
A portion of the northern shoreline of Willis Pond is on the refuge
boundary. Willis Pond is approximately 68 acres (Ackerman 1989). It is
shallow, averaging around five feet deep. Fish species found in Willis Pond
include sunfish (Enneacanthus obesus), largemouth bass, rock bass
(Amblophites rupestris), yellow perch and chain pickerel (Cutting 2000).
There is a report of smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) being caught
from Willis Pond (Ackerman 1989).
Cutting Pond is privately owned; however, its western edge borders the
Assabet River NWR. It is less than twenty acres, and averages
Assabet River NWR