Fishing Season Approaches, Despite Ice, High Water

It hasn't been the easiest winter to be a fish in Connecticut, with heavy icing followed by widespread flooding, but things are looking up for fish and fishermen alike. 

With the beginning of the trout fishing season just over a month away, the state Department of Environmental Protection has warned anglers and pond owners that they may find evidence of winter fish kills in lakes and ponds, a result of deep layers of snow and ice that blanketed Connecticut this winter.

The fish kills are not expected to have a significant impact beyond the small ponds and lakes most prone to them. But there is a chance of some effect on the fish in streams and rivers, where ice may also have affected fish habitats, said Bill Foreman, an environmental analyst for the DEP Inland Fisheries Division in Hartford. 

Another concern for rivers and streams could be flooding.  Foreman said floods could affect fish in smaller waterways, but shouldn’t have a big effect on the fishing season because the state stocks trout in Connecticut rivers every year. 

Mitch Passero, publisher of the Connecticut Fisherman Web site, said he hopes the flood waters will recede this spring before the DEP starts stocking trout.  "You don't want to see the fish all pushed downstream,” he said. 

Passero also expressed the desire of many anglers to fish again after the harsh winter. 

“After a long winter, anglers who didn't ice-fish are really itching to get out,” he said. “People are already looking for where they can safely launch their boats on rivers and lakes.”

When they do go out, anglers may find  masses of decomposing fish, more evidence of fish kills from the winter.  Foreman said Friday that five reports had come in so far.

One was  from Mono Pond in Columbia, where residents saw dead fish in the streams. “It is shallow everywhere and is really weedy,” Foreman said, making it a “prime candidate” for the fish kills.  Other reports were from North Farms Reservoir in Wallingford and ponds in Danbury, East Haven and Vernon.  

According to Peter Aarrestad, director of the DEP's Inland Fisheries Division, the winter kills occur frequently in ponds with a lot of aquatic weeds. When the snow falls on the ice, sunlight penetration is inhibited and the plants cannot produce oxygen through photosynthesis. 

“This process is the sole means of oxygen creation under ice-covered ponds,” Aarrestad said in a March 10 press release. The fish that die throughout the winter are seen only after the ice breaks up, he said. 

“The conditions are right for observing winter kills in shallow ponds,” Foreman said. “You could see this almost anywhere with shallow areas.”

Although winter kill is a natural event, the severity of the winter conditions play a role is how widespread it can become.  In larger lakes, the winter kills are less severe because of the large number of fish that live there.

Foreman said it's safe to fish in a pond that has experienced a kill, but anglers may want to hold off to allow the remaining fish to reproduce and restore the population.