Fishing

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• Smelts

  Relatively small, silvery fishes with a very slender, cylindrical shape.

• Bridle Shiner

  This easily overlooked minnow, the bridle shiner, is apparently declining throughout much of its range.

• Common Carp

  Learn all about common carp, one of Connecticut's biggest and hardest fighting fish!

• Golden Shiner

  Commonly sold as bait, the golden shiner is our most common lake and pond minnow species.

• Alewife

  Anadromous alewives are important forage fish for large gamefish such as striped bass and bluefish as well as many other animals, including osprey and marine mammals.

• Yellow Bullhead

  They were first observed in Connecticut in the early 1980s at a few disjunct sites in the lower Housatonic and upper Quinebaug River drainages. Populations are expanding in both of these drainages, and individuals have recently been discovered in the Connecticut River drainage as well.

• Redfin Pickerel

  Connecticut’s smallest pike species. They are typically mistaken for small chain pickerel by anglers.

• Catfishes and Bullheads

  Catfish and bullheads have eight barbels around the mouth: two off the snout, two off the corners of the mouth, and four under the chin. These long barbels give the impression of whiskers, hence the name “catfishes.”

• Channel Catfish

  The channel catfish is the state’s largest catfish species.

• Warmouth

  Warmouths can be distinguished from other sunfishes by feeling for the patch of small teeth on the tongue.

• Hogchoker

  Apparently during Colonial times, “hogchokers” fed to pigs proved difficult to swallow.

• Striped Mullet

  Striped mullet support important commercial fisheries in Southern states. Smaller fish are sold as bait.

• Sticklebacks

  Four native stickleback species are found predominantly in marine and sometimes fresh waters of Connecticut. The males build and guard nests made out of aquatic vegetation, and they become darker and/or more brightly colored during the spawning season.

• Atlantic Tomcod

  Sometimes known as “frostfish.” For unclear reasons, Atlantic tomcod have recently experienced a precipitous decline in Connecticut and throughout much of their range.

• Hickory Shad

  The summer/fall recreational fishery for hickory shad is gaining in popularity.