Would you like to see your catch highlighted in upcoming issues of CT Fishin' Tips? If so, please email your photo to mike.beauchene@ct.gov 

NEW web page. "REEL" Fishing News- The Fisheries Division has started a new web page to get the work out on hot fishing, stocking, news and updates. The intent is to complement our social media efforts as we seek to keep you in the know. Check it out daily.

Atlantic Salmon Regulations: Commissioner Dykes has set the seasons, daily limit, and method of fishing for Connecticut's Atlantic salmon fishery. Unlike our other inland species, which are set by regulation, Atlantic salmon have an annual declaration. These fish are not wild, but are specifically raised at our Kensington Hatchery for recreational fishing.

Learn the basics of fishing at your pace: The CT Aquatic Resources Education (CARE) program has a created a CT specific, online Let's Go Fishing course, available in English and Spanish, where you can learn all the basics to prepare for a successful fishing adventure!

Come and join CARE at an upcoming Fishing Field Trip on our Mobile Fishing Tour (schedule below). We will provide all bait, tackle, and fishing tips! Pre-registration is strongly encouraged (filter by event type "Fishing Field Trip").

The very popular fall 'Tog (Blackfish/Tautog) season opens on October 10, 2022. The minimum size is 16" and each angler may keep up to 3 per day. Tog like to live in and around rocky structure's like breakwalls, jetties, piers, boulder piles, and reefs. A favorite bait are green crabs, Asian shore crabs, or hermit crabs. Blackfish are prized for their firm and white fillets, which are fantastic baked, fried, and in chowder. Good luck!

The fall stocking of trout and Atlantic salmon is underway. Just over 60,000 trout and approximately 1,200 salmon will be stocked. To stay up to date, check out the stocking report on our web page, the interactive trout stocking map, and our posts on Facebook (each Wednesday and Friday). For more information or questions please reach out to matthew.devine@ct.gov

We are encouraging anglers to report their catches of Smallmouth Bass from the following waterbodies: the Bolton Lakes, Mansfield Hollow Reservoir, Wyassup Lake, Black Pond (Woodstock), Quinebaug Lake, Moodus Reservoir, Chamberlain Lake, Shenipsit Lake, Beach Pond, Gardner Lake, Mashapaug Lake, and Lake Pocotopaug.

The survey can be accessed here: https://arcg.is/0fK1bO. 

Smallmouth Bass appear to be on the decline in a number of lakes and ponds in Connecticut, and this information will help us guide restoration efforts. If you have any questions about the form, or believe there are other waterbodies where Smallmouth Bass have disappeared or dramatically declined, please contact Andrew Bade at andrew.bade@ct.gov. Thank you for your support.

Bowfin - Catch and Release: Broken by Ben Florian (top) and then broken by Adam Chrzanowski (bottom). The current record is 28.25 inches.

Redbreast Sunfish - Catch and Release: Broken by Brandon Powers. The current record is 10.75 inches.

Walleye- Catch and Release: Tied by Alexander Daignault. The current record is 30 inches.

White Perch- Catch and Release: Broken by Joseph Giuliano (top). Broken by Jerry Feng (bottom). The current record is 15.2 inches.

White Sucker- Catch and Release: Broken by Peter Johnson (top). Tied by Steven Meyers (middle). Broken by Colton Johnson (bottom). The current record is 21 inches.

ALBIE FEVER!

Each fall from early September through October, the severely infectious “ALBIE FEVER” spreads rapidly throughout the Long Island Sound fishing community. Symptoms include epic scenes of baitfish busting surface water while fleeing from blitzing predator fish, diving shorebirds, singing of your reels’ drag screaming, and the arrival of what are arguably the most intense pound-for-pound fighting fish that visit Long Island Sound – False Albacore (also known as “Albies” or “Little Tunny”) and Atlantic Bonito (also known as “Bones” or “Bonito”). If and when these “Hard Tail” or “Funny Fish” arrive in our local waters, the only treatment is to immediately call out of work and go FISHING!

Whether fishing from shore or boat, it’s best to first locate the fish by scanning water for surface feeding frenzies known as “blitzes” and looking for diving shorebirds that are feeding on the baitfish from above. This will look like an eruption exploding from the water as baitfish attempt to escape the predators that coral them to the surface from underneath. Once you find the blitzing fish, cast your lures right as close to the mayhem as possible and reel as fast as you can skipping your lure across the water surface. Popular lures – which mimic the baitfish and typically are small, heavy, and aerodynamic – include the “Deadly Dick”, “Kastmaster”, a variety of epoxy jigs, and an assortment of 4-5 inch soft plastic baits like “albie snax” or a “ZOOM Super Fluke”. Having a reel with a good drag system and spooled with braided line in the 15-20 pound line class and 20 pound fluorocarbon leader is ideal.

While Albies are considered to be horrible table fair by most and almost always caught and released, the Bonito is delicious if quickly blead and put on ice. Bonito are great cut into steaks, marinated, and thrown on the grill! Catching one of these “Funny Fish” is a thrill that you won’t soon forget, and this year the “Albie Fever” season is shaping up to be a great one, so get out there!

Just like the vibrant change in our foliage, the Kokanee salmon (AKA Sockeye) undergo a metamorphosis form the shiny silver version to a deep crimson. The change is in response to nature calling - the urge to swim upstream and spawn. Sockeye salmon are a pacific salmon and thus die after the spawn, as all Pacific salmon do. The fish here in CT however, are landlocked and do not have a large coastal river to swim up. Fishery Biologists trap these ready to spawn fish and bring them to the Burlington State Fish Hatchery to finish what nature started. To learn more about the kokanee visit our web page.

Each year, at about this time, the Fisheries Division stocks Atlantic salmon into our two Atlantic salmon management areas.

The September mystery fish was the Gray Triggerfish. Triggerfish are considered a "tropical" fish that live in the Atlantic Ocean and find their way into Long Island Sound during the warm summer months. They have become a much more regular visitor in recent years, much to the delight of inshore anglers of Long Island Sound!

Gray triggerfish are gray in color, with a deep profile that often contains blue spots and lines on the upper body. Triggerfish will be found on hard-bottom areas; such as mussel beds, reefs, jetties, piers, and boulder fields. Triggerfish have strong, large incisor teeth that are used to break and eat mussels, crabs, lobsters, and other shellfish and invertebrates. Triggerfish are tough to target and mostly caught as bycatch while fishing for blackfish, porgy, sea bass, or fluke as both squid and crabs are great baits that triggerfish will devour. Triggerfish are excellent table fare with frim white flesh and are great baked, fried and make an especially delicious ceviche.