Category: News

Come fish the Campville section of the Naugatuck River with Nutmeg Trout Unlimited.

The Naugatuck River, Campville section is one of the places CT DEEP stocks bloodstock Atlantic Salmon in the fall.  The upper Naugatuck River winds its way through heavily wooded portions of the Mattatuck State Forest and other public lands. In the Campville section, the river is smallish with some deeper runs and pools as well as plunge pools and waterfalls below which the Atlantic Salmon tend to hold up.  This area is also stocked with Trout, so Salmon are not the only game in town.

T0 get ready, join us on Zoom at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, when Tim Flagler teaches us how to tie and fish the Undertaker, a tried and true salmon fly.

There is no cost for the trip, but please click here to register.

When:  Saturday, November 21 at 10 AM.

Where:  Campville Section of the Naugatuck River off Exit 41 of Route 8.

Directions:  From Route 8 North, take Exit 41.  Turn right onto Campville Road which becomes Northfield Road then goes over the river.  At the T intersection, turn left onto Valley Road and park at the numerous spots along the road before Campville Hill Road.  River will be on your left.

Regulations:  Must have current CT Fishing License with a Trout/Salmon Stamp.

Must use a single fly or lure with a single free-swinging hook only; no treble hooks.  Additional weight may not be added to the line.  Fishing is catch and release at this time; DEEP has extended the catch and release date for Salmon to December 15 this year.

General Information:  Salmon, particularly larger fish, are very powerful so you may want to consider scaling up your tackle.  For fly anglers:  a heavier rod, like a 7 or 8 wt. and a reel with a strong drag.  For spin/casting anglers:  a medium action rod in the 8 – 10 lb. class.  Or you can do what I do and fish a standard 5-weight trout set-up and hope for the best if you hook a Salmon!!  As there are plenty of deep spots in this section, a sink tip line can come in handy to get your fly down, particularly if the river is running high.

Water (and possibly weather) may be cold so please dress accordingly.

Hope to see you there!!

Nutmeg TU Contact:  Alex Ziemkiewicz  agz3026@gmail.com or 203-209-6689.

Every year Trout Unlimited, with the support of Orvis, provides funds for local projects, called the Embrace a Stream Program (EAS).  We are very happy to relay that the Nutmeg Chapter of TU has been awarded a grant under that program for the Mill River on the Fairfield/Easton border on Congress Street. Within an hour’s drive of New York City, the Mill River is one of only nine streams in Connecticut designated by Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as a Class One wild trout stream.

Click on this link to donate.

The chapter will work with Trout Scapes River Restoration LLC to develop a plan of action. Trout Scapes has worked on the Norwalk and Pootatuck with other Connecticut TU chapters. With support from volunteers and local communities, we can implement the plan to restore and reinvigorate the Mill as a cold-water fishery. The goal of this effort is to create pools and increase sinuosity which will improve the habitat for the trout, many of which travel up from Lake Mohegan to spawn.

The EAS grant is $3,500 towards a total cost of $8,700 to develop the plan. Embrace A Stream has created a fund-raising challenge for this entitled “Give Where You Fish.” Thanks to Orvis and Trout Unlimited, your donation will help unlock prizes from a $20,000 prize pool!

This coming week (November 2-8) will be a tremendous opportunity to get us that much closer to our funding goal. Please help us raise these much-needed funds. The first $1,000 in donations will be matched with $1,500 from Orvis and the Connecticut Council of Trout Unlimited.

Come fish the Campville section of the Naugatuck River with Nutmeg Trout Unlimited.

The Naugatuck River, Campville section is one of the places CT DEEP stocks bloodstock Atlantic Salmon in the fall.  The upper Naugatuck River winds its way through heavily wooded portions of the Mattatuck State Forest and other public lands. In the Campville section, the river is smallish with some deeper runs and pools as well as plunge pools and waterfalls below which the Atlantic Salmon tend to hold up.  This area is also stocked with Trout, so Salmon are not the only game in town.

There is no cost, but please click here to register.

When:  Saturday, November 21 at 10 AM.

Where:  Campville Section of the Naugatuck River off Exit 41 of Route 8.

Directions:  From Route 8 North, take Exit 41.  Turn right onto Campville Road which becomes Northfield Road then goes over the river.  At the T intersection, turn left onto Valley Road and park at the numerous spots along the road before Campville Hill Road.  River will be on your left.

Regulations:  Must have current CT Fishing License with a Trout/Salmon Stamp.

Must use a single fly or lure with a single free-swinging hook only; no treble hooks.  Additional weight may not be added to the line.  Fishing is catch and release at this time; DEEP has extended the catch and release date for Salmon to December 15 this year.

General Information:  Salmon, particularly larger fish, are very powerful so you may want to consider scaling up your tackle.  For fly anglers:  a heavier rod, like a 7 or 8 wt. and a reel with a strong drag.  For spin/casting anglers:  a medium action rod in the 8 – 10 lb. class.  Or you can do what I do and fish a standard 5-weight trout set-up and hope for the best if you hook a Salmon!!  As there are plenty of deep spots in this section, a sink tip line can come in handy to get your fly down, particularly if the river is running high.

Water (and possibly weather) may be cold so please dress accordingly.

Hope to see you there!!

Nutmeg TU Contact:  Alex Ziemkiewicz  agz3026@gmail.com or 203-209-6689.

When Tenkara fly-fishing was introduced in the United States in 2009, Morgan Lyle was one of the first American journalists to cover it. Click here to join the talk.

His 2019 book, Tenkara Today, chronicles the first decade of tenkara in the U.S., featuring in-depth interviews with leaders of the tenkara movement and straightforward instruction on when, where and how to fish with tenkara gear.

Morgan will discuss this style of fixed-line fly fishing Tuesday, Oct. 20, on a Zoom open to all anglers, hosted by Nutmeg TU.

Morgan is the author of Simple Flies: 52 Easy-to-Tie Patterns That Catch Fish, published in July 2015 by Stackpole Books. He has been a regular contributor to American Angler, Fly Tyer, Trout, The Drake, Flyfishing and Tying Journal and other magazines. He has been a fly-fishing columnist for the New York Outdoor News, the fly-fishing page manager at About.com, and author of the blog The Fly Line. A longtime journalist, his work has appeared in media including Newsday and The New York Times. He learned to fly-fish on Esopus Creek in the Catskills and lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.