Fishermen Cast Their Lines

On A Slow, Chilly Opening Day

By Andy Hutchison

Fishermen cast their lines and reeled in some dinner on the official opening day of trout fishing on Saturday, April 16. Among the hot spots was Taunton Pond, although hot was definitely not the operative word when it came to the weather — the fishing conditions for that matter. It was a chilly 30-something-degree morning with a biting wind, and the incoming rain and wind storm meant a slow day of trying to hook a catch, the fishermen said.

“Not too many people caught fish today,” Easton’s Louis Melfi, a member of the Newtown Fish and Game Club, said as he drop in his lure from a rock along the edge of Taunton Pond.

The usual bustling start to the first day saw plenty of eager fishermen (women and children, too) and the crowd thinned out due to the cold and frustration of limited bites.

Newtown residents Don Butler, Jr, and his father, also members of Newtown Fish and Game, came to shore with their boat after fighting the elements for most of the morning. “It was really slow today,” said the elder Butler, a member of the club for 12 years.

His son, a seven-year member of Newtown Fish and Game, said the conditions were challenging because the fish hide out when they feel the falling barometric pressure resulting from a storm brewing. The rain held off until the middle of the afternoon, but the impending storm put a proverbial damper on the day.

“As far as opening day goes, this is the worst we’ve ever had,” Don Butler, Jr., said. “A lot of people pulled out early.”

The father-son tandem did manage to bring in some brown trout, a little brook trout, and a couple of bass.

Gary Cascio of Monroe and Mike Vidmosko of Stratford were on the water at 5:30 am when the temperature read 37 degrees, they said. These fishing buddies spent almost five hours on the pond and caught several little brook, rainbow, and brown trout. “When you catch ’em it warms you up,” Cascio said.