WILD TROUT ALL YEAR LONG

WILD TROUT ALL YEAR LONG


By Dick Alley



                 As a youngster, I was introduced to trout fishing at Walker's Reservoir in Rockville. The surrounding property was owned by the Belding family. It was posted and the grounds and waters were patrolled by a caretaker. My buddies and I wouldn't dare go fishing in the stream running out of the "Rez".

              Many years passed before I found out about the Wild Trout Management Area in this same stream that was formerly forbidden. Today it reigns as one of the best "wild trout" fisheries  in the State.

A trio of the "wild ones" tagged and returned to the WTMA

  Recently, I was invited along on a DEEP survey of the Belding Wild Trout Management Area, located in Vernon, CT. I was happily surprised to learn it was only about 5 miles from my home in Manchester. I was even happier when I learned it was a fishing spot that was forbidden territory when I was a kid.
       Having grown up in the area, I always remembered the Belding property as a stream running through a stretch of woods below Walker’s Reservoir in Rockville. It feeds the Tankerhoosen River in Vernon. Walker’s was the place Grandpa took me on my first fishing adventure for sunnies and the spot where I caught my first trout only a couple of years later. I enjoyed many days in the 1940's and 50's, riding my bike to Walker’s, a telescopic rod and a can of worms balanced precariously on the handlebars.

They are as frisky as they are pretty

       As kids, we were absolutely convinced that sneaking onto the Belding property could result in certain death. We knew it to be patrolled by guys with guns and had little doubt we would be executed on the spot for fishing there. Besides, fishing at the “RES” (Walker’s) was good enough. Why take the chance.
      At that age, I didn’t know there was a difference between wild and hatchery-raised trout. All were beautiful fish that fought really hard and tasted great. While we weren’t really poor, Mom always welcomed free fish dinners.
      It rang a bell when the Belding property was listed as a TMA by the state, but I didn’t really make the connection with my youthful adventures until I visited the spot.. It was the first designated Wild Trout Management Area in the state.
      My reintroduction to the Belding property more than a half-century later was revealing and exciting. I accompanied a crew of DEEP biologists, led by Bill Hyatt and Neil Hagstrom, to the TMA. It is located on open land off Bolton Rd. in Vernon. There is roadside parking on Bread & Milk Rd. next to a cornfield, but the stream is most easily accessible by walking to Bolton Rd. and down through the open field opposite Bamforth Rd. A stone bridge marks the spot where the stream flows beneath Bolton Rd. Upstream of Bolton Road, a short hike through a cathedral of towering pines leads to a small pond, which feeds this brook full of wild trout.
      My first thought on viewing the pond on a windless day was that catching fish didn’t matter. The sheer beauty of the spot makes every moment there, a time to be treasured.
   

These little guys  can grow to lengths of 10 to 12-inches

  The stream itself is small, probably too small to fish comfortably with an 8 or 9-foot rod. It is more ideally suited to a four or five-foot, ultra-light spinning stick or a tiny 5 or 6 foot flea rod. It is maybe 10 feet across at its widest spot, and the water is waist deep in the largest pools.
      Neither would any of the trout caught here be big enough to decorate an office or playroom wall. The stream is first of all catch-and-release fishing only. The biggest trout may measure 10 or 11 inches, and there will be far more 5 to 8-inch specimens, but they will be among the prettiest trout you will catch in a lifetime.
      They are wild trout, native to the stream and they spawn and continue their particular strain from one year to the next. Yes, an occasional stocked fish does show up in the annual survey (this year, there were two out of more than 400 fish counted). They probably make their way downstream from Walker’s Reservoir in a spring flood, but they are easily distinguishable from the wild fish. The colors on a wild trout are brilliant.
         Bill Hyatt is excited about wild trout in Connecticut. He revealed that there are many streams in the state like Belding that hold wild trout. In some there are only brookies, while others contain brooks and browns. In fact proposals have already been written to establish some of these areas as wild trout management areas in the near future.
        The DEEP survey team was comprised of 6 biologists or people training to be biologists. Neil Hagstrom leads the way, wearing a backpack machine that delivers enough electricity to a pair of probes, to temporarily stun the fish so they can be gathered, measured, counted and returned to the water with no visible harm. Two additional crew members work in concert with Neil, netting the fish and placing them in buckets. They are followed by another pair of crew members who measure the fish, record the condition, species and size and then return them to the stream.
       The fish are hardy, so much so that we were even able to pose some for photos before returning them to the water no worse the wear. The data recorded by the team is then compared with previous surveys to determine just how well the fish and the habitat are doing.

Another pretty specimen - Lots of fun on ultra-kight
either spinning or fly

      Spin-fishermen and fly-fishermen alike can enjoy this spot. Fishing is restricted to single-hook lures or flies. No bait fishing allowed! The daily creel limit is zero, meaning that fish must be immediately returned to the water without avoidable injury.
      Early settlers in Connecticut enjoyed good trout fishing in most rivers and streams before the industrial revolution. There were no hatcheries and every trout was a wild trout. Stocking operations have enhanced trout fishing for the many more anglers who fish today, but it’s nice to know that we can step back in history and experience the same fishing today that was available then. Belding is the place to be.


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