I personally could care less if they stopped stocking trout altogether, but I know I'm in the minority.

The stocking of trout in water where they knowingly won't survive just to give under-privledged or inner-city kids a chance doesn't seem intelligent. I agree with people who said they should be stocking panfish or catfish instead. Stock something that will live, naturally reproduce and are more fun to catch (and better to eat).

I'll take a dozen nice bluegills over trout anyday...even when we're catching natives.

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Running a company, would you spend 60% of yur profits to make money? [/QB][/QUOTE]


I know a lot of builders that do exactly that they put tons of money into a peice of land to sell the houses and make a profit. For instance if you buy a house for 2oo thousand, put 50 thousand into it and sell it for 300 thou your telling me its not worth it? It is the same thing the DEP is doing you just dont see it they are spending money on fish to stock therefore making a profit off of fishing licenses, taxes on fishing equipment (general fund) The fines that they hand out to all of the once a year fisherman that dont read the book, (ex: If you keep more than your limit of 2 fish in sleeping giant it is 154 dollars per fish. How many people do you think go to Mill river and keep 5 fish not paying any attention to the big yellow sings?)there is a lot of money to be made on opening day that helps the economy Ill say it agian I belong to Wallingford Rod & Gun, they stock all year round so if you want that, JOIN A CLUB ( the fish are a lot bigger too!!) opening day is a great thing and will never go away so get used to it!

I still have not trout fished in CT yet this season.My reason for being against opening day is NOT so I can catch more fish,my reasoning is that getting rid of opening day is a much better use of the resources needed to operate the trout program.More could be accomplished with less funding if opening day where abolished.

and as far as joining a club : What clubs in CT actually have ponds that trout holdover in ? Most clubs just stock little mud puddles on their property with farm raised fish and just call it a trout pond.Most if not all club ponds are a put and take fishery.

mfcllc - What does joining a club have to do with abolishing opening day? That seems to be you comeback for everything. Most of us are aware of areas we can trout fish in the state year round without joining a club. Why pay for a membership for something I can do for for the cost of a fishing license. The point is also not to be able to fish year round (you can already do that), it is to eliminate the onslaught of poaching, litter and bad sportsmanship that seems to peak on opening day.

The DEP is crying poor. Obviously something has to change in the way they spend money. Their current financial plan is not working. Stocking trout doomed to die is not a good investment of resources. Sorry. I'm sure the fewer licenses they would sell would not cost more than the cost of farm raising those thousands of trout.

I think you should look over more of Mike G's post history before you start accusing someone of flapping their gums BTW. He has been very active in a trout club here on the site supplementally stocking the Farming ton River TMA and also does more fishing than the just catching trout park fish and hunting for broodstock as you are implying.

FWIW does your club encourage catch and release? Or do they require you to keep the fish you catch? There are a great many clubs that do not allow catch and release, knowing their pond will not hold over the numbers of trout they stocked no matter how well they manage the water quality.

mfllc : notice in my post I said "most" club ponds ,not all.And most club ponds discourage catch and release which is why I do not belong to any clubs.

Sounds like I may have pissed you off at one point or another ,maybe touched a nerve. Sounds like you are the one worried about not being able to have easy pickins for the trout,you seem worried you might actually have to fish in April to catch trout.

And yes I am a trophy fisherman,I currently hold a season fishing liscense in 4 states just so I may pursue bigger trophy fish (all species,not just trout).When it comes to trout I am strictly catch and release ! I also only have pictures of my "trophy" catches ,no mounts because again I release all my fish for others to hopefully catch and enjoy.

If you have a problem with me PM me or better yet call me to discuss it