Category: News

Written by NutmegTrout21727Apr, 2015

Limestone Club trip May 6

Nutmeg TU has reserved the Limestone Trout Club in Canaan for Wednesday, May 6; maximum of 30 people. The fee will be $20.

There are still about a dozen spaces open. RSVP to Rich Rosen at rhrosen@aol.com.

Those wanting to car pool will meet at the Park and Ride near Rt. 8 and Hawley Lane;  be there before 7 a.m. to carpool. Bring your gear, lunch,  and beverages.

This event is rain or shine.

Ponds to Challenge All Levels

Limestone Trout Club offers six ponds from which anglers may choose. Two man-made ponds, Home Pools, are located near the clubhouse providing easy access well suited for the novice fly fisher. Another man-made pond, Spruce Pond, also located near the clubhouse, provides exciting dry-fly fishing when the trout are rising.

Three other large ponds were once limestone quarries. They are spring fed and quite deep, providing trout with yearlong refuge and fly fishers with sport throughout the season, both on top and sub-surface. Two of the ponds, Birch and Pine, may be fished from rowboats provided by the club. Cedar pond, the most challenging, has a number of ideal casting sites that add an exciting dimension to the Limestone experience.

The ponds are regularly stocked with rainbow, brown, and brook trout. An occasional stocking of tiger trout may surprise the angler with an unexpected fierce strike. Golden trout also may contribute to an environment unique to Limestone.

Guest anglers (and other visitors) can arrive at the club from 8 a.m. The gate will be unlocked so they should drive up to the Clubhouse. A club member will greet Nutmeg anglers.

• The insurance carrier requires all guests to sign a waiver which will be available at sign-in.

• Their will be a still water orientation about 8:30 or 9:00.

• Fly Fishing only.

• Most of the fishing is from the shore. There are two lakes each with two row boats. No other watercraft are allowed. You cannot use your personal watercraft. You do not need waders but I suggest sturdy, preferably water proof shoes because of some marshy areas and the early morning dew.

• They have 3 deep (70+ feet) quarry ponds and 3 shallow ponds providing a variety of venues and conditions.

• While most members practice catch and release, catch and kill is allowed. We can cover the details at the briefing.

• They have a stove, refrigerator, and microwave in the Clubhouse. Also, grills with both propane and charcoal for your use (we have the fuel).

The $20 would apply only to Anglers. If others attend but do not fish, there are plenty of trails to walk, a comfortable club house to sit and read, and some antique stores within driving distance.

Written by NutmegTrout21722Apr, 2015

Fly tying April 28

The next date for Fly Tying at Chuck MacMath’s house is Tuesday, April 28, 7 to 9 p.m.

The group meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at Chuck’s house.

The cost is $2 per session to cover the cost of materials.

Email cmacmath59@yahoo.com with questions or additional information.

All are welcome, beginners are encouraged to attend. Vises, tools and materials are available if needed.

Written by NutmegTrout21712Apr, 2015

Pizza and movie night April 21

Blue Moon movie

Nutmeg TU will hold pizza and movie night Tuesday, April 21, at 7 p.m. at Port 5, 69 Brewster St., Bridgeport.

The movie will be Once in a Blue Moon.

Once in a Blue Moon unravels the mystery of an event that occurs briefly once a decade. This strange and unreal journey takes us into some of the most remote and beautiful parts of New Zealand as we follow one angler on the fly fishing adventure of a lifetime and a quest to document and unravel a childhood mystery. As part of an unpredictable chain of events, a mass flowering of the ancient New Zealand Beech forest leads to an excess of seed production. Mice and rodents fuel on this abundance and reproduce in numbers reaching plague proportions. Incredible footage follows these rodents as they then embark on a strange migration, attempting to swim across the expanse of New Zealand’s rivers and lakes. There they fall prey to the largest predators in the lake – monster Brown trout. Gorging themselves on swimming mice, these fish become extremely aggressive and grow to epic proportions. For a fly fishing angler, this is the stuff dreams are made of. This bizarre phenomenon has remained a mystery…until now. Stunning cinematography, never before seen underwater footage, fantastic fly-fishing and amazing trout behavior will take you deep into the tale of the fabulous and mysterious “Mouse Year.”

Written by NutmegTrout21707Apr, 2015

Easton selectmen hear passionate pleas to save parcel

With five options on the table for what is to become of the former Running Brook Farm on South Park Avenue, the Board of Selectmen appears to be favoring selling the land to Sacred Heart University for athletic facilities, including a pool and tennis courts that residents could use, according to a story in The Easton Courier.

Written by NutmegTrout21727Mar, 2015

Act by April 1 to try to save hatchery

The following was sent out Thursday night by the Connecticut Council of Trout Unlimited:

We learned today that the deadline for the Conservation and Development Appropriations Subcommittee to address the DEEP budget is April 1st.

The best course of action at this time is to ask our membership (and our TIC teachers and parents) to check the Subcommittee list and, if their local legislator(s) are on the list, ask them to make contact with them about the reinstating funding for the hatchery ASAP. This time each legislator on the Subcommittee needs to hear specifically from their own constituents.

Greg Sharp, Chair of the Fisheries Advisory Council, has prepared a sample letter and I have put together the list of members and completed the contact information. I also have them sorted by Chapter on the second tab. I’ve also included Greg’s and our testimony to the Subcommitte during the comment period.

The list and other documents you may want to use are on the left. For more complete information click here.

Please stress that the deadline is April 1st!!!

A very good piece of news is that Bill 6047: An Act Providing Proper State Funding for State Hatcheries was passed by the environment committee. Greg Sharp sent the following message yesterday:

“Earlier today, the Environment Committee voted favorably on Representative Tong’s bill to set up a Task Force to examine the issue of providing sustainable funding for the State’s hatcheries and recreational fishing programs.  In addition to the Task Force, the substitute bill as voted out by the Committee includes a provision to establish a trust fund within the Treasurer’s office to accept donations, grant funds, etc. which would only be accessed at the direction of the Commissioner of DEEP.  It does not appear to provide that license revenues and federal excise taxes would go into the Treasurer’s fund, so those monies would still be subject to being cut, swept, etc. by legislatures in the future.

The bill now goes to the floor of the House, where we believe it will pass.  I will keep you posted as to the next steps, but I believe we should be stepping up the communications to the members of the Subcommittee on Appropriations for Conservation and Development to urge them to restore the Kensington Hatchery funding.  More to come.”

We can thank our friend and fellow angler Rep Bill Tong for this bill.

I WANT TO STRESS THAT THERE ARE NO FUNDING PROVISIONS FOR ANY HATCHERY FOR THE NEXT YEAR IN THIS BILL. EVEN IF THIS BILL IS ENACTED, IF THE FUNDING FOR KENSINGTON IS NOT REINSTATED, THEN THE HATCHERY WILL CLOSE.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Alicea Charamut
Secretary, CT Council Trout Unlimited
President, Farmington Valley Trout Unlimited
Written by NutmegTrout21726Mar, 2015

Mill River cleanup Sunday

Due to foul weather possibilities forecast for Saturday, the Mill River Cleanup is rescheduled to Sunday March 29, 1 to 3 p.m.

We will meet in the parking lot at Covenant Church, 1 Sport Hill Road, Easton. The church is on the north bank of the river.

The Mill River runs parallel to Congress Street along the border between Fairfield and Easton, behind the service area on the southbound Merritt Parkway

Mike Humphreys of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection with a 22-inch wild brown on the Shepaug
Written by NutmegTrout21720Mar, 2015

DEEP biologist to speak March 24

Mike Humphreys of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection with a 22-inch wild brown on the Shepaug
Mike Humphreys of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection with a 22-inch wild brown on the Shepaug

Mike Humphreys, the DEEP Inland Fisheries Biologist for the western district, will be the speaker at the March meeting of Nutmeg TU, set for Tuesday, March 24, at 7 p.m. at Port 5, 69 Brewster St., Bridgeport.

Mike is a longtime fish biologist, holding an master’s degree from the University of Tennessee with more than 30 years in his profession.

In past 25 years with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, his work has focused on Statewide Stream Electrofishing Surveys, a Statewide Wild Trout Research and Management Project, and Housatonic River Research and Management.

Mike will be talking to us about his findings on trout survival with run of river in the Housatonic TMAs, various fish stocking programs, and regulation changes for some sections of the Mill River.