The Concord River, formed where the Sudbury and Assabet rivers meet in Concord, is the heart of the SuAsCo watershed’s warmwater fishing. Slow, weedy and winding through the Great Meadows, it is classic northern pike water, with largemouth bass, pickerel and panfish rounding out the fishery.
The water
The river is slow, shallow and heavily vegetated, with the marshes of the Great Meadows lining much of it. Pike and pickerel ambush from the weed edges and lily pads, and largemouth hold in the same cover.
How to fish it
A kayak or canoe is the way to fish it. Throw big swimbaits, spinnerbaits and spoons on a wire leader for pike along the weeds, and weedless stick worms for largemouth in the cover.
Tip Fish the weed edges and pad lines methodically. On slow pike rivers, the fish sit tight to the vegetation and ambush, so work a bait right along the edges and expect the strike to come as it passes the cover.