2024 Fishing Licenses are Available Online

The CT Fisheries Division has partnered with FishBrain, the world's largest fishing APP to provide CT's fishing regulations right to your smart device. These regulations are available in the FREE version of the APP. As with any APP if you would like to have access to premium features there is a subscription fee.

The Fisheries Division has published the Annual Fish Stocking Report, which contains the number of fish stocked during 2023. This report covers all of the stocking, transplants, and relocations conducted or overseen by the Fisheries Division. Questions about the report may be sent to mike.beauchene@ct.gov

Our 2024 trout stocking kicked off on 2/21 - see info a few sections below.

Trout fishing is "Catch and Release" from March 1 until opening of harvest at 6:00 am April 13, 2024 in all waters except for Trout Management Lakes (listed below). Be sure to check the regulations for the lake you fish as size limits may apply.

Amos Lake, Preston

Black Pond, Woodstock

Candlewood Lake, Danbury-New Fairfield-Sherman-New Milford-Brookfield

Crystal Lake, Ellington

East Twin Lake, Salisbury

Highland Lake, Winchester

Long Pond, North Stonington

Mohawk Pond, Cornwall/Goshen

Quonnipaug Lake, Guilford

Rogers Lake, Lyme

Squantz Pond, New Fairfield

West Hill Pond, New Hartford-Barkhamsted  

Lake Wononskopomuc, Salisbury

The 2024 Freshwater Fishing Regulations are now available online. Download your version here in English or Spanish.

There are no regulation changes for freshwater fishing from 2023 to 2024.

However, starting this year the Freshwater and Saltwater Regulations will no longer be combined in one booklet. Marine regulations are set through a process involving many stakeholders and are not usually completed until late February. As many of you are hitting the inland waters well before March, the Fisheries Division has opted to split the two and publish the inland regulations at the start of the calendar year. Hard copies will be distributed to many town clerks and bait and tackle shops in the coming weeks.

Marine regulations will be printed in a brochure and updated on the DEEP webpage as soon as they are finalized (anticipating late March 2024).

Spring trout stocking is here! Beginning 2/21, our State Fish Hatchery stocking trucks are on the move. The Fisheries Division plans to stock roughly 500,000 trout between February and May. Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Tiger Trout are all scheduled. The majority of the trout will range between 10-12”, and close to 20% will be >12”, some much larger! The weather continues to improve and flows have come down considerably since the fall’s heavy rains so please get out and enjoy. These fish are for you! 

Follow the 2024 trout stocking with

Facebook Posts (Wednesday and Friday)

Interactive Map

Daily Report

The Fisheries Division Trophy Fish Award program recognizes anglers for their "trophy" catches in both inland and marine waters! Trophy Fish Awards are earned for fish captured and appropriately submitted based upon the species criteria set forth in the Trophy Fish Award website (weight for harvest and length for catch and release).

Angler of the Year: Awarded to the person who received at least 3 largest fish trophy fish awards and had the greatest number of species (diversity).

Up to 8 angler of the year awards may be designated annually to:

Inland, Adult Male and Adult Female

Inland, Youth Male and Youth Female

Marine, Adult Male and Adult Female

Marine, Youth Male and Youth Female

Freshwater: Congratulations to Colton Johnson and Adrian Swietek who are co-freshwater youth male anglers of the year. Each had 4 of their catches be the largest of the species.

Colton's four species were Brook Trout, Rainbow Trout (harvest), Rainbow Trout (catch and release), and White Sucker

Adrian's four species were Bowfin, Brown Bullhead, Redbreast Sunfish, and Rock Bass

Marine: Congratulations to Daniel Hripak (adult male), Colton Johnson (youth male), and Oakley Johnson (youth female) as the marine anglers of the year.

Daniel's catches were Black Sea Bass, Bluefish, Oyster Toadfish, Scup, Tautog, and Weakfish.

Oakley's catches were Bluefish, Scup, and Striped Bass.

Colton's catches were Bluefish and Striped Bass.

The annual summaries are now available on our web page. CT's angler recognition program congratulates all of the anglers who have landed a trophy fish during 2023. Special congrats goes to all who caught the largest of each species. View all of the top catches for freshwater and marine.

The Fisheries Division – Connecticut Aquatic Resources Education Program (CARE) is seeking volunteers to join our team of certified Fishing Coaches! FISH with CARE program hosts classes and events all over the state where we teach basic fishing skills to adults, families, and youth. FISH with CARE coaches work with Fisheries staff to educate and engage the public in the outdoors through the sport of fishing. If you are interested in sharing your love and knowledge of fishing while creating the next generation of environmental stewards, consider joining our Fishing Coach team! Our next certification training will be offered in spring of 2024, information to get involved can be found HERE!

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 

If you have classes, events, or meetings you would like us to share as a "Fishing Buddy" please email information to mike.beauchene@ct.gov.

Stop by and talk all things boating, fishing, state parks, wildlife, law enforcement, and hunting with staff of the CT DEEP Bureau of Natural Resources. See you at the fishing and outdoor show.

If you have a guess as to the fish pictured below, email Mike.beauchene@ct.gov

Last month's mystery fish is the Knobfin Sculpin (Cottus immaculatus). Knobfin sculpins likely arrived accidentally in Connecticut in the early 2000s with a commercial shipment of live fish from the Ozark Region. They remained present at low levels for over 10 years, then rapidly proliferated and spread into all available mainstem habitat. Historical fish sampling data show that impacts to other resident fish species, including young trout, have been devastating, and impacts to aquatic invertebrate species, such as crayfish and aquatic insects, are probably significant as well. Future efforts to contain the spread of this species will focus on outreach and education to deter private transfer to other streams.

Learn more about this troublesome species with this video.

If you happened to miss one a month or two, feel free to get caught up!

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