In search of ambitious fish

SOMEWHERE IN NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT — It took a while but I’m finally on the board for 2025.

The state stocked the Blackberry onMarch 13. The stream is typically stocked in the spring at least once more, and usually twice.

Statewide all trout fishing is catch and release until “Opening Day,” which is Saturday, April 12.

This is the most ignored law since Prohibition. On Saturday, March 15, I saw anglers taking fish. They weren’t trying to be sneaky, either. Maybe they just don’t realize the regs have changed. And maybe announcing on social media where stocking has occurred isn’t such a great idea.

I feel bad for these fish, frankly. Imagine being a hatchery trout and enjoying ideal temps in your tank, which is the only home you’ve ever known.

Then suddenly you’re shoved in a much smaller, much darker tank and bounced around, only to be dumped into a stream or lake that’s also dark and weird and has things living in it and is about 20 degrees colder than the home you’ll never see again.

And then you bite something that looks edible and next thing you know you’re in the frying pan.

It’s a depressing prospect for an ambitious fish.

On that SaturdayI had time before and after the 2 p.m. performance of “Urinetown” at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. So with the Blackberry mobbed I tippy-toed up a little blue line and got the first fish of 2025, a ferocious eight inch wild brook trout that came up for a size 10 Stimulator after ignoring half a dozen nymphs that would have been much less work.

Then I had to beat it down to Housy for the show.

Afterwards at 5 p.m. or so, the weather had given up even pretending to be pleasant. The Blackberry was deserted.

So I suited up again and found a pod of recent stockers willing to play. I tested out an experiment, a Chinese-made bamboo rod, seven feet long for a No. 4 line.

I wasn’t expecting much, and that’s what I got. It’s a serviceable rod, but nothing to get worked up about. At about $160 shipped from China it’s a way for the budget-conscious angler to get into bamboo, but I advise saving your money and buying something better from somebody stateside.

I dutifully took photos of fish in hand and in the net,but let us now reflect on just how useless and unexciting they are.

Here’s how I imagine a dialogue between me and the reader.

Q: How big is the net?

A: Not very.

Q: Where is this?

A: Could be anywhere, and you think I’m gonna tell you?

Q: Did you release the fish unharmed?

A: No, I stuck it in my pants.

You see? Unedifying, at best.

On the medical front, I am pleased to report that I did just about everything I usually do when fishing that involves my right shoulder and rotator cuff, with minimal pain and agony. So the physical therapy and long layoff worked.

Now about my right knee…