NEW BRITAIN--Saturday is opening day of the trout fishing season in Connecticut, and anglers may want to get them while the getting's good.
The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, with the help of middle schoolers from House of Arts, Letters and Sciences Academy, stocked Stanley Quarter Park Pond in New Britain Thursday.
DEEP said it hopes to stock Connecticut lakes, ponds, rivers and streams with over 341,000 trout by this weekend, despite the cold weather challenges.
However, the future of stocked fish in the state may lack diversity.
The Legislature is considering budget cuts which could force the Kensington Fish Hatchery to close. Kensington is the only state hatchery which grows Atlantic Salmon and Seeforellen, a unique strain on Brown Trout.
"If we did have to close one, it would be a problem and the fishing wouldn't be as good as it is now, certainly," Peter Aarrestad, the Director of DEEP Inland Fisheries, said.
There are a total of three state fish hatcheries in Connecticut.