2024 Fishing Licenses are Available Online | | |
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Fishing Fuels Conservation!
100% of your investment funds fish and fishing
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Latest Updates from the Fisheries Division
To advance the conservation, enhancement, restoration, use, and appreciation of Connecticut’s fish, fisheries and fish habitats.
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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. | |
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Milford Point Closed July 2- July 5 | |
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Anglers - please plan around the closure of the parking area at Milford Point Audubon Center from Tuesday July 2 at 10am through sunrise of July 5th. This year the beach is home to over a dozen nesting Piping Plover and we are looking to minimize disturbance during the holiday weekend. The lot is closed to all public, including anglers.
Thank you for your cooperation.
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NEW - "Where to Fish For...." Interactive Map
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New to the state? New to fishing? Want to find a new place to fish? Want to catch a Black Crappie? Well then, check out CT DEEP Fisheries Division’s “Where to fish for…” application.
We developed this simple interactive map to help you find lakes/ponds that have your favorite fish. This map focuses specifically on public lakes, ponds and the CT River. We have two other maps one for Rivers/Streams (the Interactive Trout Stocking Map) and our Saltwater Resources map has your shoreline info. We intend to continually update the new where to fish for map with additional locations (especially town parks) and fish data.
The video below is a quick tutorial on some of the key features.
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More about the Where to Fish For... map
Data: the data used to power the app is a combination of both DEEP Fisheries Division electrofishing data gathered within the past 10 years and when that is not possible, information from experienced biologists. Fish data were parsed only for sizes anglers are likely to catch, which in most cases is a fish about 6 inches or larger.
Data Qualifiers: The terms "Few, Some, Many" are used to divide the data for any particular species. These qualifiers are provided to inform a prospective angler of the abundance of a particular species. It is important to note this does not mean to infer the quality of fish caught or that any particular waterbody is better than another. It is simple to show which may have more of a particular species than another.
Stocked Waters: Waters stocked with trout or channel catfish have been give a default value of “some”. The number of stocked fish in any water ultimately varies with time, from “many” at the time of stocking to “few” several weeks to months since the last stocking.
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With over 100 species of fish found in Long Island Sound, anglers can enjoy some of the very best striped bass, bluefish, summer flounder, scup, hickory shad, black sea bass and tautog fishing along the entire coast. The State of Connecticut offers anglers many fishing opportunities with excellent boat launches along the coast and great shore fishing locations at coastal state and city parks, and convenient party and charter boat fishing.
Looking for a place to Fish, find a Party/Charter Vessel to go fishing on, Launch a Boat or Locate a Bait and Tackle shop? Use our interactive Saltwater Fishing Resource Map to help plan your next trip!
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2024 Marine Fishing Regulations at a Glance | |
The 2024 Marine Fishing brochure is available at many shoreline bait and tackle stores. | |
Tautog (Blackfish) summer season opens today, July 1 and remains open until August 31, 2024. The daily limit is 2 fish per angler and the minimum lenght is 16 inches. See web page for complete details. | |
Black Sea Bass Opens July 8 | |
Black Sea Bass re-opens on July 8. The daily limit is 5 fish per angler with minimum lenght of 16 inches. See web page for complete details. | |
45.3 pounds is the new state record Common Carp (by weight). Congratulations to Brian Santos who landed this beast while fishing in Lake Lillinonah. This fish beat out the previous record fish by 0.3 pounds, which was also caught in Lake Lillinonah just last year. Learn more about our angler recognition program here and check out the state records for freshwater and saltwater. | |
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In support of the Northern Pike program 24 pre-spawn adult Northern Pike (8 females and 16 males) captured in Pachaug Pond were released into the Mansfield Hollow Northern Pike spawning marsh in early March. The Fisheries Division also stocked 75,000 Northern Pike fry into this marsh. The fingerlings produced from the spawning and fry stocking, which should be 4-8 inches upon collection, will be collected at the end of June/beginning of July and stocked into the Pike Management Lakes (photo of fingerlings from prior year below).
To supplement the marsh production, the Fisheries Division received the shipment of 19,766 Minnesota Northern Pike fingerlings (2-3 inches) and stocked them into Bantam Lake and Winchester Lake (9,883 per lake.)
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Summer wet wading the Housatonic River with light gear leads to some seriously HOT FUN smallmouth fishing. Check out our tips in the video below. | |
Fishing is always better with a buddy - Come and join the "Fish with CARE" program at each of our four types of fishing events; Trout Parks, Freshwater Ponds (Sunfish/Bass/Channel Catfish), Saltwater Species, and Ice Fishing. We guarantee you will have fun, reduce your stress, and create memories. See our spring/summer schedule here. | |
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CARE to Teach Fishing? We do!
We Need You!
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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!
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Fishing Buddy Bulletin Board:
Announcements and More from the Angling Community
to Feed Your Passion
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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. | |
Fishing Challenge - For YOUth | |
The Youth Fishing Passport Fishing Challenge is a year long fishing scavenger hunt. To have your catch count, simply snap a photo of your fish (from our scorecard) and use our online submission form. The top four anglers (who catch the most different types on our list) receive a prize pack full of fishing swag.
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CT's FREE Youth Fishing Passport is your child's ticket to all of the amazing outdoor discoveries fishing has to offer. Fishing involves knowing about habitat, environmental quality, food webs, life history of species, and so much more. You can get a Youth Fishing Passport, for those 15 or younger, using our online licensing system. Register your child as a new user. If you have questions please contact us.
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How to get the Youth Fishing Passport | |
This Month's Mystery Fish | |
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Last month's mystery fish was the Tench (Tinca tinca). The tench is part of the minnow and carp Cyprinidae family, and is an introduced fish to North America that's native to Eurasia. Lake Winnemaug (Watertown) and the Bantam Lake water system are the only known tench populations here in CT.
Tench will commonly grow to 16 inches, but larger specimens are out there as shown in the photo below of DEEP Fishing Coach John Danowski holding two exceptionally large tench he caught. John offers the following tips to those looking to target tench:
- Prebait the area you intend to fish (corn and oats)
- Best times are dawn and dusk into the dark
- Fish the bottom with night crawlers, corn, or dough baits on small hooks
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How to get your License Online | |
Past Editions of CT Fishin' Tips | |
If you happened to miss one a month or two, feel free to get caught up! | |
Información disponible en español
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The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to complying with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you are seeking a communication aid or service, have limited proficiency in English, wish to file an ADA or Title VI discrimination complaint, or require some other accommodation, including equipment to facilitate virtual participation, please contact the DEEP Office of Diversity and Equity at 860-418-5910 or by email at deep.accommodations@ct.gov. Any person needing an accommodation for hearing impairment may call the State of Connecticut relay number - 711. In order to facilitate efforts to provide an accommodation, please request all accommodations as soon as possible following notice of any agency hearing, meeting, program or event.
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This program receives Federal financial assistance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex, or disability.
If you believe that you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility, or if you need more information, please write to:
Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Civil Rights
U.S. Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20240
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