Fishing and Boating
Simply put, Sluice Pond is the best stocked trout pond in Massachusetts. Known for weekend fishing tournaments, the pond springs alive with small boats from early April through the fall.
Sluice pond has the following stocked and resident fish:
Rainbow and brown trout: stocked in April and October
Atlantic salmon (sometimes): stocked in April and October
Largemouth bass: native
Bluegill: Native
Pumpkinseed: native
Yellow perch: native
Black crappie: native
American eel: native
Brown bullhead: native
Golden shiner: native
Summer days bring out the boaters and water skiers. These activities give way each evening to the floating patio boats, small fishing boats, paddleboats, kayaks, and stand-up-paddleboards (SUP) of residents and the general public. They are joined by those enjoying early retirement, others cherishing weekend retirement and our young retirement trainees from age 1 and older. Briarcliff Lodge offers many options and programs for older members of our community who maintain their independence in their own homes on the pond.
A daily quietness of wildlife pervades Sluice Pond since jet skis and large motors are banned. The natural sounds of water from duck play on rare occasion is punctuated by a siren or traffic noise reminding Sluice Pond residents that they live in an urban city of almost 100,000 people. The pond offers refuge to area wildlife. Ducks and geese grace the pond with their partners and families while turtles sun and share the waterways with over ten varieties of fish. Cormorants dive for breakfast or sit on the trees overlooking the water. Rarely, we will be visited by herons, swans, and eagles.
For those new to the pond, there is a 5 horsepower motor limit for boats using Sluice Pond and a 5 MPH limit for boating in the coves and smaller part of Sluice Pond. We strongly recommend that the NO WAKE signs in all three coves of the pond north of the red house and he former Dock 125 Restaurant (from the boat ramp or Eel cove to beyond the red house ) be observed.
Please warn your neighbors that they can be fined and prohibited from using larger motors if they churn enough water to endanger swimmers, canoes, kayaks and small boats or to ruin other people's docks and steps in the cove areas by speeding in the coves. By law the damage caused is the responsibility of the boat owner to repair or the liability of the boat owner in the case of an injury or drowning. Unless you are heavily insured and able to sustain fines, no wake, no mistake.
Massachusetts has published a summary of boating laws that also apply to Sluice Pond.
Map via Massachusetts Department of Wildlife and available here.