Nutmeg TU Chapter’s TIC Update

by George Lepska
4/8/2026

The trout fry are finally hatching – exciting update on the Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program for Trout Unlimited’s (TU) Nutmeg Chapter.

TIC is an education program designed to bring attention to the natural world. For the program, CT DEEP provides fertilized eggs and feed to each participating school during the winter. Teachers set up an aquarium and incubate trout eggs. By spring time, the trout will have grown to fry, and are released to a body of water during a class field trip in late April to early June.

This year, I had the pleasure of being the event coordinator for the TU nutmeg chapter. In total I reached 8 Fairfield county schools, and hired 4 TU volunteers to deliver the eggs and food, including Richard Rosen, Bill Chepolis, Joe Lanese, and William Sherts. The schools that participated this year were Warde HS, Weston HS, Bridgeport Discovery School, Adam J Lewis Academy, Shelton Intermediate, Shelton HS, Masuk HS, and Wooster Intermediate.

Mike Aikenhead, the science teacher at Weston high school, gave us an update on his trout: – “The survivors have been doing well and we have quite a large population at the moment… we had a few losses, but we have about 8 trout now living in that tank ranging between 4 and 8 inches”

Weston’s HS Trout Fry population >200 (Left). Large trout fry ~8” (Right). 

If additional teachers are interested in participating in the 2026-2027, please contact me at:

georgelepska@gmail.com