Young Anglers Learned New Skills Along The Banks Of The Pootatuck

The Candlewood Valley chapter of Trout Unlimited (CVTU) hosted its first Youth Education Day on Saturday, May 3, in Sandy Hook along the banks of the Pootatuck River.

Chapter volunteers and friends from the community were on hand for the event, which ran from 8:30 until 1:30 and included a fantastic lunch spread for the participants and their teachers. The workshop taught nearly three dozen children the basics of fishing for trout with a fly rod, let them try their hand at tying a fly, and explored the stream bed to understand the food chain in this habitat. Also, there was time for stocking the stream with three types of trout.

The event was open to children ages 8 to 18 years old.

The day was a huge success, according to CVTU chapter board member and event organizer Steve Zakur. “[There was] very positive feedback from many who attended both at the event and in emails following the event. We’ve even had several folks join Trout Unlimited.”

The trout stocking was done by Rowledge Pond Aquaculture. Todd Bobowick conducted an entertaining and informative overview of the brook trout, rainbow trout and brown trout that he brought to stock in the river.

“The kids got to see and handle the fish. Much fun,” said Mr Zakur.

The macro invertebrate sampling was perhaps the biggest hit after the trout stocking, Mr Zakur said. “During the macro invertebrate sampling Joe Hovious and Ann Astarita — both TU members and I believe Joe is on the Conservation Commission and Ann, my wife, is the town’s Inland Wetlands Enforcement Officer — waded into the stream, sampled using a special net, and then let the kids sort through the samples to identify the different types of ‘bugs’ that are in the stream bottom. The samples clearly indicate the good water quality we have in the Pootatuck River.”

Fly tying was also a big hit. TU members Tony Mortimer and Pete Peterson taught the large group how to tie Wooley Bugger flies.

“The Wooley Bugger is a key fly that every fly fisherman has in their fly box,” Mr Zakur explained. “It doesn’t resemble any bug in particular but is just a very ‘buggy’ looking fly. It’s also fairly easy to tie. Even an ugly Wooley Bugger works very well.”

A casting clinic introduced the students to casting with a fly rod. Jerry Rekart, Tony Ballato, James Belden, Jason Stewart and Doug Peterson were the instructors for these sessions and they were helped out by others including Lou Anrico from the Valley Angler tackle shop in Danbury.

Also leading portions of the day were TU members Dan Holmes and Kit Kechekian, and Bethel teacher Gary Whipple, who participates in TU’s Trout in the Classroom (TIC) programs. Some of the young anglers who attended Youth Education Day came from several TIC classrooms in Newtown and Bethel.

In addition to CVTU, the day was also supported by the Connecticut Aquatic Resources Education (CARE) program that is run by the DEP. Tom Bourret of the DEP provided much needed literature for the program.

“The Hammonasset chapter of Trout Unlimited has been running a program like this for several years. I was able to pick their brains and model our event after theirs. Without their help we would have had a steep learning curve to climb,” said Mr Zakur. “I was very pleased with the event. It was the first time we’ve done an education event for fishing. Our focus in the past has been more on the conservation side of things whether it’s doing stream habitat improvements on Deep Brook or getting schools involved in the Trout in the Classroom program.

“Getting kids and their parents involved in the sport of fishing was very exciting,” he continued. “Hopefully we’ve seeded a few new fisherpersons. This is definitely an event we’re going to run on an annual basis.”