I was tooling around some back roads in WIndham a little while ago, and saw 2 guys fishing the Shetucket River off a bridge on Plains Rd. I pulled alongside and asked if they were aware that the season was closed. The older of the 2 looks at me, shrugs his shoulders,motions to the teenager beside him and says "Hey, he's only 16 years old!"
So I replied, "doesnt matter, this area is closed to fishing, trout season starts on the 3rd Saturday in April and this is a trout river."
Again with the shrug of the shoulders and an "oh well" look. So I just shrugged back, shot home (only about 1 mile) grabbed my phone and called the TIP line.
Headed back down and they were gone- but the officer pulled in about 10 minutes later, I flag him down and explain what happened. Incredibly nice guy- Bill Vroman- got out of his truck, shook my hand,introduced himself and we talked for about 10 minutes or so. The one thing he left me with was (and I kick myself in the arse- should have know this) was that if I hadn't said anything to the guys, they probably would have still been there. He didn't tell me this like I was an idiot (which in retrospect I felt like) but he was friendly, professional and above all was grateful that sportsmen call the line to alert them of poaching activity.
Hats off to him and the other officers of the DEEP, we have some great officers out there who are spread way too thin- so use that TIP line to help them weed out the law breakers out there!

DEEP T.I.P(turn in poachers) 1-800-842-4357

Yea, but these guys were way farther up the river. Way up from the dam. Not a broodstock area. They probably would have never caught anything anyway- the river was WAY high- but I know they've been out stocking and it was the guy's indifferent "oh well" attitude that pissed me off. If he had said something like "oh, gee, I didnt realize it was closed, sorry, we'll get outta here..." Not that ignorance is an excuse-but I probably wouldn't have even called. Next time I won't make the mistake of telling him.