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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2024 Freshwater Fishing Regulations | |
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The 2024 Freshwater Fishing Regulations are now available online. 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 calandar year. Hard copies will be distributed to many town clerks and bait and tackle shops early in 2024.
Download your version here.
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Lake and pond fishing for BIG brown trout sound fun? If YES, Connecticut offers a unique opportunity to our anglers in late fall and winter! The Fisheries Division is preparing for the distribution of Seeforellen strain brown trout (aka “Seefs”). These are a German strain of large, lake-dwelling brown trout that are capable of reaching very large sizes. The Fisheries Division plans to stock roughly 375 two-year-old fish averaging 5lbs each, about 3,000 yearlings averaging 1lbs each, and a few dozen three-year-old retired broodstock held over from last year that average a whopping 8-10lbs. Fish are being spawned at the hatchery currently to provide eggs for future years and will be stocked in December into nine waterbodies, many of which are Trout Management Lakes (TML) with special regulations. The following are the list of waterbodies and towns:
· Beach Pond (Voluntown)
· Black Pond (Middlefield)
· Cedar Lake (Chester)
· Crystal Lake (Ellington)
· East Twin Lake – TML (Salisbury)
· Highland Lake – TML (Winchester)
· Long Pond – TML (N. Stonington, Ledyard)
· Mashapaug Lake (Union)
· Squantz Pond – TML (New Fairfield, Sherman)
· West Hill Pond – TML (Barkhamsted, New Hartford)
The fish are raised at Kensington State Fish hatchery and you can learn more about the program here.
In addition to stocking large Seefs in the fall, three lakes receive a total of around 15,000-20,000 yearling Seefs in the spring (typically mid-May). East Twin Lake, Lake Wononskopomuc, and Saugatuck Reservoir are stocked as part of a “put-grow-catch” management program. These three lakes are unique in Connecticut because they offer trout cool, well-oxygenated water even through the hot summer months, and provide suitable forage (alewives) for trout to reach large sizes. Because these three waterbodies have the potential for fish to holdover well and exhibit fast growth, they are stocked with smaller individuals.
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Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan - Public Comment Sought | |
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The Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) is a planning document that identifies outdoor recreation issues of statewide significance and evaluates the supply of and the demand for outdoor recreation resources and facilities in Connecticut. The SCORP provides unified guidance to state and municipal officials as they develop and expand outdoor recreation opportunities for their respective constituents.
The 2024 – 2029 SCORP will evaluate the supply and demand of outdoor recreation resources in Connecticut while identifying outdoor recreation issues of statewide importance. A 2024-2029 SCORP draft is now available for public review and comment.
Please submit all SCORP-related feedback before December 15th using this form. For other questions or comments about the Recreation Plan, contact DEEP at DEEP.SCORP@ct.gov.
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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 access improvements for persons with disabilities have been completed at the Salmon River Fly Fishing Area (Colchester). There are now two paved parking spaces, a crosswalk, a block retaining wall, and a concrete pathway. This access area has been in place for decades, providing opportunity for fish in a very popular pool on the Salmon River. | |
The location of this access, circled in red, is at 50-26 Comstock Bridge Road, Colchester the coordinates for directions are 41.559232, -72.440690. For a list of other locations for anglers with disabilities, please visit our webpage. | |
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Atlantic Salmon Fall Fishery
Harvest Opens December 16
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Each fall and winter the Fisheries Division stocks approximately 1,500-1,800 Atlantic salmon to support a very popular recreational fishery. Since 1991, Atlantic Salmon - raised at our Kensington State Fish Hatchery - have been stocked into the designated Atlantic Salmon Management Areas and select lakes.
The regulations for the fishery can be found on the image below as well as on the annual declaration issued by DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes
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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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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 | |
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Video of the Month
Spawning Seeforellen Brown Trout
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The following was assembled and shared with us by fellow angler John Brewery. 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 | |
Last month's mystery fish was a Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio). Carp are Connecticut's largest member of the minnow family (Cyprinidae) and are a popular sportfish to many. CT has special Trophy Carp regulations, which were put in place to ensure a robust number of 30 plus pound fish are available. Common carp were brought to North America by the United States Fish Commission in the late 1800's as a source of protein to feed the growing population. Common carp are often wrongly associated with the group of fish called "Asian Carp", which have invaded the Mississippi River Watershed and are a problem to many. Common carp and the colorful "Koi" are actually the same species. Thousands of years of selective breeding has resulted in a set of genes which produce interesting colors and shapes. | |
How to get your License Online | |
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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