TROUT - For trout fishing try the following locations: Mashapaug Lake (18" brown), Crystal Lake (Ellington), Highland Lake (21.5" brown), Mt. Tom Pond (slow, but catches include a 5.3 lb brown), Black Pond (Woodstock), Beach Pond, Mohawk Pond and West Hill Pond.

NORTHERN PIKE - Fishing for these monsters has been fair to good with plenty of fish being caught. Best reports are from Bantam Lake (pike up to 33") and from Wethersfield Cove on the CT River. Winchester Lake (several pike over 30"), Mansfield Hollow Reservoir and Pachaug Pond reported some catches.

PANFISH - Panfish have been providing the most consistent action. Jigging with grubs on your favorite lure and moving from place to place is the way to go for these delicious fish. Locations to try include Highland Lake, Bantam Lake, Lake Waramaug, Coventry Lake, Tyler Lake, Beach Pond, Breakneck Pond, West Hill Pond and the coves on Connecticut River.

WALLEYE - Walleye continue to increase in popularity and are an excellent winter fishing opportunity. Some action reported from Mashapaug Lake and Coventry Lake.

CHAIN PICKEREL –Good fishing form this traditional winter favorite is reported at Highland Lake, Lake Waramaug and Tyler Lake.

LARGEMOUTH BASS – Some bass are being found at Mansfield Hollow Reservoir, Bantam Lake, Coventry Lake, West Thompson Reservoir, Lake Waramaug and Tyler Lake.

BROODSTOCK ATLANTIC SALMON are giving Beach Pond anglers some action near the outlet.

SMELT fishing is reported to be slow at Colebrook Reservoir.

Inland Rivers

Trout--The Farmington River TMA continues to offer fair to good trout fishing.

Salmon-- Broodstock salmon fishing on the Naugatuck and Shetucket rivers has been slow.





Pike Program 2007

The nets were set in Bantam on 4/3/07 and ran them through 4/18/07. Biologists did make an effort to get a population estimate for Bantam Lake's pike this year. After the broodstock were collected netting continued and marking additional fish called a Capture-Mark-Recapture Survey. In total 204 northerns (129 males and 75 females) were netted. Fifty-five of these fish were used as broodstock and were released into either the Cemetery or Experimental marshes.

The condition of the trap netted fish was excellent and on par with previous years, but there was a noticeable absence of larger fish. Only 21 of the 204 were greater than 30", and only 3 females were 10 lbs or greater. Many fishermen have also noted an absence of larger fish, but our year-round creel survey on Bantam this year will help to determine if this decline is real or perceived. Biologists estimate that there should be a little over 1,000 pike in Bantam that are at least two years old.

Two Bantam marshes (Cemetery and Experimental) were used in 2007. The two Bantam marshes started out looking perfect with good water levels and good temperatures. As with the east, both our marshes flooded in mid-April. The flooding was some of the worst seen in the past 20 years. Following the floods however, excellent numbers of pike fry were seen.

The adults spawned roughly 2-3 weeks later than in the east, so the floods did not appear to impact the numbers of fry because they had not hatched yet. Machowski said there was very poor production in both marshes this year. Following the wet early spring, there was little substantial rain in the west causing water levels to drop dramatically and by the time the drawdown began on 6/25, water levels were extremely low in both marshes.

Source
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Nunzio Prato : Bassin' USA Staff - Moderator