If you’ve driven Chickatawbut Road over the past few years, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that for the last five years your view of the 16-acre Blue Hills Reservoir was replaced with dirt, concrete and construction vehicles. You might have noticed that the dust settled last fall, when the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority finished installing two 10 million-gallon covered water storage tanks in half of the Reservoir and letting the remaining 8 acres fill with water.
This weekend, for the first time since the construction began in 2007, you can visit this pocket of the Reservation, parking in a small parking lot off of Chickatawbut. Follow the path to check out the variety of plants on the side of the pond, look for birds that might be passing through on their spring migration and enjoy the view of the water.The Blue Hills is a wonderful place to celebrate spring; this newly opened portion of the park is a great place to start.
I have a turtle(fresh water) I need to give away. I was told to contact someone at Bluehills. Can you help me?
Thanks
Hello,
I believe you would need to contact the Trailside Museum. I am not sure what their policies are, but they would be the only organization in the Blue Hills who could take a turtle. Their phone number is (617) 333-0690.
Good luck!
Anne Comber
Associate Director
Friends of the Blue Hills
There could be several explanations for the existence of fish in the pond, but the most likely is unhatched eggs that stuck to birds feet and settled to the bottom of the pond to hatch. I’m sure there are probably some small bass, bluegill and pickerel in there. But the pond hasn’t been there quite long enough to hold any fish of real size. Good to know that nature finds always finds a way though! At least there will be a fertile and relatively unpressured body of water for fish for a few years anyway.
Great info. It does show the resilience of nature! (And people I’ve talked to did say they were only catching smaller fish.)
I was told by a retired state police officer that it was stocked in 2008 or 09. I myself caught two bass over 3 pounds. Most bass I catch there are roughly a pound. In 2011 the fishing was great there, but now it’s fair at best. I’ve seen folks taking bass in buckets and coolers, assumably to eat, which is unfortunate because it’s such a young body of water, the bass population won’t recover. I’ve never seen a pickerel, nor have I caught one there. I’ve seen small yellow perch there.
Mike – that’s a great update on the fishing there. Thanks!
Finished project looks great and thanks for the reply
Is this a fishable body of water and if so, has it been stocked with fish?
Good question! It has not been stocked, but the truth is that people do fish there (and they swear that they have caught fish!) It’s mystery how the fish could be there, since it was completely drained during construction.