Raw weather dulls opening day of Connecticut’s fishing season

The official opening day of the freshwater fishing season in Connecticut (Saturday, April 16) was a bit of a bust, with a chilly wind, no sun, and the threat of rain — and $4 per gallon gasoline — putting a damper on things.Stacey Dodge, manager at the Town Grove in Lakeville, said there were eight boats lined up when she opened the gates to Lake Wononscopomuc at 5:30 a.m., and she launched 27 boats in all.“That’s about half what we’d usually do,” she said. She theorized that the weather and the fact that the ice stayed on the lake well into the first week of April contributed to the low turnout. “It just snuck up on everyone.”There were 17 children participating in the fishing derby, also down from the normal number. Dodge said that the timing of the Region One School District vacation (which began this week) probably contributed to that.And even the die-hard anglers who showed up didn’t linger. “It got so cold and windy, people were out of there” by 3:30 p.m. The lake was nearly empty before noon.At 7 a.m. there seemed to be as much action on the little spit of land that juts out into Lake Wononscopomuc in front of the Grove building as there was on the lake itself.Thomas Hall and his son Josh, of Falls Village, had multiple rods set up, but hadn’t had a lot of luck.“It’s enough to get out here,” said Thomas Hall. “Especially after this winter.”He was interrupted by a shout of triumph from Pat Ezersky of Lakeville, who brought a decent-sized rainbow trout to the net.“That’s pretty good,” Ezersky said as he removed the lure’s hook from the fish’s jaw. It was Ezersky’s second keeper of the morning.Aman Egan, age 6, was getting some assistance from his mother, Emily, at the kids’ fishing pond. Both Egans were bundled up as though it was, well, winter.Zachary Ongley, age 10, of Sharon had a nice-sized pickerel, which he caught on a worm — a real worm, not a plastic lure.At the new and improved dam on the Blackberry River by the Beckley furnace in North Canaan, where the state puts hatchery trout in by the truckload, the usual shoulder-to-shoulder crowd simply wasn’t there. In recent years Lower Road in East Canaan has been full of parked vehicles on opening day. One local fisherman, who declined to be identified beyond that, said he called a friend in Southington, Conn., to see if he was coming and was told no, the cost of gas was too high.Three fishermen were working the area right under the dam at 9:30 a.m., and a handful of others were spread out downstream of the one-lane bridge, but nothing like the crowds that usually greet the new season.