The ones that got away over this weekend weren’t necessarily the fish. They were the fishermen. Despite the gorgeous weather, many area anglers who would normally turn out for the first official day of Connecticut fishing on April 19 decided to go elsewhere.
Some of the men and women who usually can be found on opening day with rod and tackle, fished out of state. One experienced father-and-son team went to Cabela’s outdoor store in Pennsylvania (those who can’t fish, shop).
Some just didn’t fish at all.
The attendance at Lakeville’s Lake Wononscopomuc is often a good indicator of enthusiasm statewide. The line of trucks and boats waiting to get in usually stretches all the way down the little road known as the Grove Highway as eager anglers sit in their cars in the dark waiting for the 6 a.m. starting bell.
Grove Manager Stacey Baldessari said that, though there were certainly plenty of fishermen, there were fewer than normal. She theorized that high gas prices are to blame; the many out-of-town fishermen who come to Lakeville drive up in gas-hungry pickup trucks and then head out on the water in gas-powered boats.
However, she noted, all 14 of the Grove’s rental boats were taken out.
“People are fishing, and everybody’s having a good time,� she said.
Perhaps it’s appropriate that one of the bigger catches of the day (a fat 10.5-lb. brown trout) was made by an angler in a kayak. Eric Schaefer of Colebrook proudly showed off his catch, as his friend Christopher Gray, also of Colebrook, dandled a chubby 7-pounder.
Most fishermen who were out that day, however, said they found the fishing a bit slow and sluggish on Saturday. No one had a theory for why, however.
If the lake action was somewhat slow, things were busier in area rivers.
“The rivers are in great shape,� reported The Journal’s blogger and fishing expert, Patrick Sullivan, on Monday. “The Housy in particular, with a flow around 1100 cfs yesterday and good visibility. I’d say we’re already in mid-season mode on the big river, which means morning and evening on these bright, brilliant days.�
Harold McMillan, owner of Housatonic Outfitters in Cornwall, said the clients his guides took out in driftboats on the Housatonic had good luck, catching trout that were as big as 16 to 18 inches long.
For McMillan and his staff, the first day of fishing had less of what he called the “wu-hoo, we can fish!� excitement; their home hunting ground, the Housatonic River, is open all year. His annual first-day-of-fishing pancake breakfast did generate some syrupy enthusiasm, however.
Housatonic Outfitters guides mostly stay in an area of the river below the Covered Bridge in West Cornwall. Although the state of Connecticut stocks the Housatonic with thousands of brown trout (700,000 trout in total will be added to the state’s rivers and lakes this year), McMillan and his nonprofit group, the Friends of the Housatonic, stock the river with 1,000 rainbow trout.
“That’s a ton of fish,� he said (literally).
For those who are not trout enthusiasts, the brown trout are a more docile breed.
“The rainbows are fighters,� McMillan said. “They’ll jump seven or eight times.�
McMillan said his clients and guides all release their fish back into the river after they’ve been caught. Which means that all those trout are staying in the river and growing bigger and bigger, making the Housatonic an even grander place for anglers.
Overall, however, McMillan said that he has seen a decline in the number of local fishermen (and women).
In particular, he noted, “a lot less young people are coming out. People are busy. You have two-income families, everyone is working, and on weekends they have soccer and lacrosse and all these other choices.�
The final tally on the number of fishing licenses sold in the state isn’t in yet, according to Donna Kinney, fiscal administrative officer for the Department of Environmental Protection License and Revenue Unit.
But, she said, there has been a steady increase in sales of fishing licenses in Connecticut in recent years, even though sales had been declining for a time.
The low point in the past five years was 2005, when only 101,522 licenses were sold. Sales in 2004 were 102,762; in 2003, they were102,897.
By 2006, sales increased again to 102,382. By last year, an additional 850 licenses were sold, bringing the total to 103,234.
