Getting Connecticut’s lakes, ponds and streams stocked has suffered quite a few job freezes this year.
The Department Of Energy And Environmental Protection said it’s three to four weeks behind schedule with releasing trout, due to the bitter cold.
Many lakes and ponds remain frozen over, so state fish hatchery crews have been using augers to drill holes in the ice to stuff fish through those holes.
Transferring the trout from trucks to the water has been weather dependent as well.
“They can suffer physical damage, from actually get partially frozen, so there was a few days earlier this month that we actually had to postpone runs because it was so cold,” Tim Barry, DEEP Supervising Fisheries Biologist, said.
DEEP stocks state lakes, ponds and streams with about 650,000 trout each year.