I know this is going to be a hot topic......but I regularly see fisherman in the surrounding town using more than 2 poles and catching and keeping lots of fish......

elcapitanmas, thanks for your support. But, please permit me to clarify, this initiative is a proposal in-progress that works towards a relaxation in the regs,which limits a fisherman to 2-poles. It is not leading with a rod stamp.


We are at a point for those who want to make constructive input to step up with support.

Bob Crook has moved the proposal to William Hyatt, DEP’s Chief of the Bureau of Natural Resource. Bob asked that he call me and suggested I call him which I have.

As I view it, the proposal has a small toe in the door of a well meaning bureaucratic process. But the proposal calls for change and if we are to move forward we need to demonstrate “numbers” of interest.

To date I have identified trollers, carp fisherman, cat fisherman and bank fisherman as the key beneficiaries to this initiative.



If you support this initiative either as a direct beneficiary or sportsman willing to lend support, please PM me. I’ll need to build a list of group support and eventually a petition.

The rational is sound and precedents exist in other states. IN CT success hinges on a “number” from each of you. Through each individuals constructive input this initiative will succeed.


Bob Crook opines that a reg change is a non-political process, so the DEP is our first avenue for effort and if successful will take 1-year.

I fish several places best described as community holes, The last thing those places need is anglers allowed more than 2 rods

no way more than 2 rods is not a good thing there are lots of things your not thinking of.......to start off with you wanna start it at $5 so the state will start it at $8 and by the next year will have it at $12 ( when the # of fish you can take per day is still the same and yes i think the # of fish you can take is good the way it is)#2 lets say you go from 2 rods to 4 rods you just doudled your chances of hooking a fish in a way that would kill it (and that might be ok if it is of legal size and your plan is to keep it but we all know we dont always hook keepers now do we?)#3 with more rods on the shoreline say like at squantz every day / nihgt of fishing would be like a kids fishing derby with everyones lines all tangled (it is hard now to find an open good fishing spot there with 2 rods)#4 lets talk safty here more rods trolling just tells me that is more places you have to have your eyes and lets face it most fishing boats are no more than 20 ft (for fresh water) so say you have 3 people thats 6 rods now you want 12 NO WAY !!!!! (so im going to guess here is where you say no it will be just me in the boat with 4 rods (now back to my point of safty i dont think there is a safe way to operate a boat and more than 2 rods safely (and lets face it CT has had more than its share of boating accidents with out you wanting more rods)JUST MY 2 CENTS

poolpaul and firehawk, I appreciate your input.

This is an old thread. The discussion should be on the thread pertaining to the DEP discussion, "4-rod" option. I'll be moving your input over to the current thread with my following commentary.


First there is no issue re fees being raised or rod stamps. A reg change is done by the DEP and fees are controlled by the legislature. Ranting about the state taking our money is just ranting in this instance. To be clear, the state does have the "people's power" to raise taxes and fees, but our little reg change proposal will not even make a spec of dust on the revenue raising radar screen, and would cost more to implement than the revenue it would generate. Put the "Big Brother" paranoia to rest.

We need more input from shore fisherman. If over crowding on our fresh water shores is a major issue for crowd control and safety then firehawks suggestion of restricting the option to trolling has merit. For those that understand trolling at 1,2,3 miles/hour, one person can handle 4-rods with ease and safety.

However, there is a group of "non-meat" sportsman fisherman who would be harmed by not having an option to fish with more than 2-rods. They demonstrate high sportsmanship values and regard for their prey. They are the carp fisherman. We need to hear from them on this thread, before we focus the 4-rod initiative on trollers only.