Trout, trout and more trout! The season for trout in Connecticut kicked off this past Saturday, and there were excellent reports from around the state. Many anglers took to the rivers and streams because, surprisingly enough, quite a few lakes and ponds still had ice on them. However, after a warm and windy weekend, the remaining ice is breaking up and melting away. The best reports of trout came from the Farmington River where anglers chased two tagged fish that were worth a pretty penny. We saw everything including rainbows, browns, brookies, tigers, and even a golden rainbow trout. The Norwalk, Saugatuck, Hockanum, Salmon, Pootatuck, Eight Mile, Pequonnock, Natchaug, Southford Falls (8.5lb brown) and Naugatuck rivers saw a lot of people and action as well.
Torrey of UpCountry Outfitters said that the Winter Caddis (AM) are waning but you may still see some. In the afternoons you should see Olives (#16 Baetis Vagans), Midges (#20-28) & Early Stones (#12-18). With the Caddis and Stonefly dries, try both dead-drifting them and also lightly twitching them, Baetis and Midges should mostly be dead-drifted. Sometime in late April we should see the first Hendricksons, they will probably be a little late due to the brutally cold winter.
Some good trout also came from Candlewood, Squantz (6lb brown), Ball pond, Black pond (5lb Seeforellen) Saugatuck reservoir, Mashapaug (13.60lb Seeforellen) and Cedar lake (14.60lb Seeforellen). But its not only about the trout, anglers got out for some big bass as well. The ice on Candlewood made a mess of things early one but its all gone now and anglers are getting into some good bronze backs on hair jigs, squarebill cranks and swimbaits. The largemouth are very active as well and are receptive to the same tactics. Lake Zoar was reported as being quite slow, but Lillinonah was a bit better for bass. Some anglers are fishing small ponds for some easy lunkers. A few pike were reported from the CT River and Lillinonah on shiners, but all small males and no big girls. There were also a few carp and catfish landed on the CT River and some more carp on the Shetucket. Also, a few salmon came from the upper Naugatuck.
CAPTION: Noah Winslow with a pair of Candlewood smallies.
Our tidal rivers remain productive for schoolie stripers. Alabama rigs trolled slowly and of course soft plastics up to 8″ on ½-ounce jig heads are getting hits. Sand worms produced countless schoolies. The nighttime bite is when you will have a chance at keeper-sized fish, though. Bigger baits will result in fewer fish, but when you do hook up, it’ll be better sized bass for sure. Lunker City soft-plastics like Slug-Go and Fin-S Fish have been productive. There has also been some guys out there putting the Cobra Bait Sad Shad and Sad Shad Jr. to work and those baits have been doing quite well. Again, it’s all about putting in your time on the river. The weather has been excellent and things will be getting better as the weeks go on. So get out there, burn some shoe leather and find some fish!
NOTE: Please always carry out what you carry in. With trout season just starting, we are seeing a lot of irresponsible anglers leaving garbage along the rivers and lakes. It’s not hard to pack it up into your bag and dispose of it properly so everyone can enjoy the environment as well.
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