October 20,Meeting
Pitkin Community Center 6:30-9pm
30 Greenfield Street
Wethersfield, CT 06109
Matt Devine will be our speaker for the October meeting.
His program will feature our CT Broodstock Atlantic Salmon
Each fall the Fisheries Division (FD) stocks hatchery-raised adult Atlantic Salmon into the Naugatuck and Shetucket Rivers for recreational fishing opportunities. This program is unique, and the fish are highly sought-after, making this a popular fishery, and one that will test even the most seasoned anglers. The FD aims to maximize the return-to-creel and angler satisfaction, however, data about where these salmon go after being stocked and how often, where, and when they are caught by anglers is lacking. Without this information, optimizing the timing, frequency, and location of salmon stocking remains a challenge. In this talk, Matt will discuss results from an angler tag-return study conducted in 2024 that investigated post-stocking movement patterns, variables influencing movement, tag return rates, and angler participation. He will discuss the management implications, next steps for the study, and would like to hear from you!
Matt has over 14 years of experience sampling, studying, and enhancing cold and warmwater fisheries. He has worked for state and federal agencies as well as non-governmental organizations specializing in fisheries conservation. After receiving his BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Redlands (CA), Matt’s fisheries career began in Litchfield,Connecticut as a Seasonal Resource Assistant for the CTDEEP Fisheries Division crew. In 2009 Matt scratched his itch to move to the Northern Rockies. Matt held positions with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, USGS (Wyoming), and Friends of the Teton River (Idaho), and spent the off seasons on the Snake River raft guiding and winters working at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Matt returned to the Northeast and worked with the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife before returning to school. He completed an MS in Fish and Wildlife Conservation Biology at UMass Amherst in 2015 and is currently wrapping up his PhD, also at UMass, where he is part of the Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. Matt, originally from West Hartford, has seen the light and come full circle back to CTDEEP as a Coldwater Fisheries Biologist, and is working out of the Eastern District Headquarters in Marlborough. His primary duties are coordinating statewide trout and salmon stocking, implementing the Division’s Wild Trout Management Plan, designing and conducting stream angler surveys, developing new angling access, and community outreach.
Matt is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys hunting, fishing, snowboarding, searching for antlers, and spending time on and around rivers and streams with his wife Vanessa and now threeyoung boys Wyatt (8), Jamie (5), and Jesse (4 months). He currently lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.
IMPORTANT Our September 15 meeting featuring Bill Keister will be held in room F-3 instead of the ballroom we have been meeting in recently. F3 is located next to the office for the facility.
LAKES
Trout streams are easy. They have bumpy surfaces, currents going every which away and they are sometimes small enough so that you can look into them and see the trout. But lakes are different. You look at the surface of a lake and it is one big blank surface. The best way to learn about a lake is to just fish it. But this is a long process. There are some things you can do to make fishing lakes easier to crack. There are techniques and strategies you can use to improve the odds of your success when fishing a new lake. Over the past 20 years I have fished at three trout clubs in the USA which have given me the opportunity to stumble across ways to catch trout in lakes. And during those same 20 year I have learned to catch trout in lakes in Chile and Argentina. I will talk about tackle and tactics as well as strange trick I have stumbled over.
Lake Fishing for Trout Experience
Bill Keister
I caught my first trout when I was twelve. I fished fanatically through high school and college and during my service in the Navy. Then I gave up fishing for work and competitive rowing. With my pending retirement planned for April 1st 1999, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 1998 I made the academic decision to return to fly fishing, I took some old 1950’s gear back with me from home when I returned to Minnesota after thanksgiving. Between that time and March 1st (early opening of trout season in Michigan) I tied over 150 flies, build 4 graphic fly rods discovered genetic hackle, synthetic tying materials and new plastic fly lines. I was blown away.. And, on March 1st I went over to Michigan for early season. I caught nine trout and rest is history.
I have caught trout and salmon in Chile nine trips, Argentina sux trips, Russia Kola and Kamchatka Labrador, Newfoundland and three other provinces and fifteen states. I am an FFF certified master casting instructor. I tie my own flies, and I have built over 60 flyrods.
With the exception a small percentage of the Argentina fishing none of the above qualifies me to talk about Lake fishing. But I have had a fair amount exposure to lake fish in the following situations. First I was incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to fish Lake Mansfield Trout Club over a twelve-year period. Mansfield is built around a brook trout lake. All native fish. Feed like little piggies every morning at the same time that the anglers are getting their breakfast. Second I have been a member of Lake Wantastiquet Trout club for about 15 years and before I became a member, I was a guest for six or seven years. And finally (and the least) I am a member of Limestone Trout Club. Frankly my brother can out fish me any day at Limestone but is there much more than I am, but he is good.
Trout Fishing in CT- an overview and updates from CT DEEP Fisheries Division
Pitkin Community Center 6:30-9pm
30 Greenfield Street
Wethersfield, CT 06109
Connecticut offers an abundance of trout fishing opportunities for all skill levels and interests, and trout fisheries across the state continue to thrive. However, fisheries management goals and approaches are adaptive as angler demographics and desires shift, fishing access is gained and lost, and environmental conditions change. This evening’s presentation will cover a range of topics relevant to Connecticut trout anglers and will highlight several Fisheries Division coldwater management programs.
Pete Aarrestad
Director
Fisheries Division, Bureau of Natural Resources
Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection
79 Elm Street, Hartford, CT 06106-5127
p: 860-424-4171 c:860-770-8271 |
Pete Aarrestad is Director of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Fisheries Division. In this capacity he oversees six major program areas; Fish Culture, Inland Fisheries Management, Aquatic Resources Education, Diadromous Fisheries Restoration, Habitat Conservation and Enhancement, and Marine Fisheries Management and Monitoring, including interjurisdictional management of marine species. Pete served as Director of the Inland Fisheries Division from 2010 through 2016, when the Inland and Marine Fisheries Divisions were merged to form the Fisheries Division. Pete holds a BS in Biology from Eastern Connecticut State University (1985) and an MS in Natural Resource Management (fisheries focus) from the University of Connecticut (1992). He has provided leadership in numerous governmental and professional organizations, having served as President of the Instream Flow Council and Chair of the Northeast Fisheries Administrators Association. He previously represented the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies on the National Fish Habitat Board. He is currently one of two CT members on the New England Fishery Management Council. He also currently serves as DEEP’s member on the Farmington River Coordinating Committee (the oversight board for the Upper Farmington River Wild & Scenic section). A lifelong resident of East Hampton, Pete’s home river is the Salmon River, where he annually seeks tranquility while fishing, mostly in the fly fishing-only section.
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