Thanks to Paul for organizing and to everyone who brought food and donated beer etc all of which as always was great. Was fun to see everyone from the Piketoberfest annual crew and some new faces despite the very disappointing lack of pike. Below is a pic of the river looking south from Haddam meadows from when we launched around 7:00am and a second pic of the only fish we saw which was a small LMB caught by River Roamer. If there was a prize for riding out the biggest waves from passing yachts, we would have been in contention for that. Cheers, Bald Pelican
I found an article online from On the water magazine dated April 30, 2025. Here is the excerpt:
Targeting pike in the Connecticut River has become noticeably more difficult in recent years. In addition to overfishing, several years ago, Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) suspended their pike spawning program based at Haddam Meadows. This helped supplement the “self-sustaining” river pike population, and a portion of those fingerlings were distributed to other pike lakes around the state as well. (Fingerlings are now purchased from New Jersey.) Mostly mild winters haven’t resulted in a snowpack-fueled spring freshet, which usually coincides with the pike spawn, and has limited their spawning success in shallow, weedy bays. Connecticut River pike grow fast and die young (around a 10-year lifespan). Roughly five years have gone by without the DEEP’s intervention, which I think the strength of the fishery relies on. Most of my focus has now gone west to several lakes and the Housatonic River, which currently have more robust pike populations.
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