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.

While your back yard may not look like February, Burr Pond State Park is actually covered in snow. There is adequate safe ice for ice fishing with our Fish With CARE staff. We have all the ice fishing supplies, please bring winter boots and sunglasses (forecast to be sunny and the snow will be very bright).

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).

The Fisheries Division is currently looking for to fill seasonal research assistant positions with a diverse and talented group of individuals who are passionate about natural resources and are highly motivated. The Fisheries Division covers every thing fish; from marine trawl surveys, lake and pond electrofishing surveys, habitat improvement, invasive species, raising and caring for fish in our hatcheries, angler interviews, and and fishing education programs.

All jobs are posted on the State of Connecticut Online Employment Center

Fishing Education with the CARE program

Freshwater Fisheries Management Projects

Marine Fisheries Programs

CT Trout Hatcheries: Burlington Quinebaug

Aquatic Invasive Species

Migratory Fish Populations

Congratulations to the following anglers who spent an amazing amount of time fishing to take top honors in the 2023 Youth Fishing Passport - Fishing Challenge. This was the first year with the expanded list of species and many anglers rose to the occasion. The contest is on for 2024 and there is already multiple catches. Let's go fishing!

Sign up for the Youth Fishing Passport (see video below) and join the fishing challenge for 2024.

Adam Chrzanowski landed 32 of the 33 species on the Fishing Challenge Scorecard. The only species to avoid Adam in 2023 was the Walleye.

Rocco Semeraro landed 31 missing only the Atlantic salmon and Walleye.

Riley Sawyer landed 30 missing out on Shad, Atlantic salmon, and Northern Pike.

Adam OBrien landed 29 missing the Atlantic salmon, Bowfin, Walleye, and White Sucker.

Ice fishing is a great way to spend quality time outdoors during winter. Fish with CARE offers ice fishing classes and fishing events each winter (fishing trips dependent on safe ice). So let's hope for a cold winter!

The CARE program is excited to announce the release of its brand new “Introduction to Ice Fishing” course. This online, self-paced course is available for free anytime and to everyone who is interested in learning how to ice fish. The interactive course is filled with short instructional videos and illustrations to teach you the basics of ice fishing. We cover safety on the ice, dressing for the cold, where to go, ice fishing equipment, baits, techniques, and tactics.

We are optimistic that we still might get some safe ice this season. So, keep checking our schedule for a list of ice fishing field trips, where you can practice your new ice fishing skills with volunteer coaches that are ready to assist you and answer all your ice fishing questions. We provide all the gear and bait.

Learn to Ice Fish with CARE by attending our virtual, ZOOM ice fishing class.

We cover all the basics of this fun, social wintertime sport, including: safety on the ice, how to dress for the cold, where to go, ice fishing equipment, baits, techniques, tactics, and what fish are most commonly caught through the ice in CT. Life-long ice fishing enthusiasts will be leading the ZOOM and answer all your questions.

February 13, 2024 (Tuesday)

Sign up HERE. ZOOM class is 6:30pm-7:30pm.

You can come ice fishing with us at the 18th Annual No Child Left Inside® Winter Festival at Burr Pond State Park, Torrington, where we will provide loaner equipment, bait, and instruction (subject to safe ice conditions). The festival is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3 with a rain date of February 4. The event is free and no registration is required.

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.

Please register and get a free ticket for this event.

 We use this for capacity and ensures you get a seat. 

Got a youngster who loves to fish? Check out Trout Unlimited's Headwater Youth Program.

Calling Schools: Trout Unlimited Naugatuck-Pomperaug is letting all the schools know that we have several events lined up for 2024. For additional information, please contact Gary Zrelak at zrelak@comcast.net

These are Conservation, Recreation and Education based which include:

-Trout In The Classroom

-River Cleanups 

- River Assessments

- Micro Invertebrates

- Fly Fishing 

- Fly Tying

- Fly Casting 

- Riparian Evaluation

- Partnering

- Membership

- Clinics

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

Last month's mystery fish is called a SamBrown (Hybrid between an Atlantic Salmon and Brown Trout).  SamBrowns are probably a little more common than you would expect. In European rivers with sympatric populations of Atlantic Salmon and Brown Trout they typically represent 1 – 3% of the members of the genus Salmo. We‘ve documented them in several tributaries of the Farmington. Typically in waterbodies that are both heavily stocked with Atlantic Salmon fry and have large populations of wild Browns. The first place we documented them was in East Branch Salmon Brook in Granby. Their parentage was verified using genetic analysis. The cross typically occurs when a sexually precocious male salmon parr spawns with a female Brown Trout. Based on our sampling virtually 100% of the male parr are thought to mature by age 1+. In European rivers most sampled Sambrowns have had Brown Trout mitochondrial DNA, which probably means that they were also derived from crosses with sexually precocious male salmon parr.

The fish in the picture was caught in Burlington Brook in Burlington and is the largest and visually the most obvious SamBrown I’ve caught in my career.

Thanks to DEEP Fisheries Biologist, Bruce Williams, for sharing this photo and info.

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

2024

January

2023

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December