Fishing
Page 9 of 17
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Families of Connecticut Freshwater Fishes
Learn the defining characteristics of Connecticut's freshwater fish families!
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Smelt are important forage fish for large pelagic predators such as striped bass in estuaries and brown trout in lakes.
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Bluegills often inhabit shallow areas and are very easy to catch on a variety of small lures or baits (especially worms).
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Mullets are torpedo-shaped fishes with horizontal mouths.
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The most popular gamefish in the country, the largemouth bass is also the principal predator in most of our state’s lakes and ponds and thus plays a key role in the health of aquatic ecosystems.
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Yellow perch are one of the state’s most popular panfishes. They actively feed during the winter, making them a staple for ice anglers.
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Three species of suckers have been reported in Connecticut. Two are native, with the other uncertain in origin.
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Rainbow trout seldom survive the summer in Connecticut and natural reproduction is rare.
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Codfishes are characterized by having a single barbel on the middle of the chin.
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Also known as “mossbunker” or simply “bunker.” Menhaden are important forage fish for large predatory fishes such as striped bass and bluefish.
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The state's only parasitic fish to enter freshwater, the sea lamprey gets a bad reputation. Learn more about this fascinating fish.
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The northern pike is Connecticut’s largest strictly freshwater gamefish.
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Introductions of green sunfish have been implicated with adverse impacts on other fish species.
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The brown bullhead is Connecticut’s most widely distributed and only native catfish species. They are good to eat, but are typically underutilized by anglers.
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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.