Fish Tales: Record-Size Freshwater Catches in Connecticut

Anglers fishing in Connecticut have scored some pretty impressive catches over the years, setting all sorts of records for freshwater fish taken from the Constitution State's ponds and streams.

Here are some of the most impressive record fishing catches in Connecticut, according to the state's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

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The most recent record setter was a walleye that weighed in at 15.4 pounds. That fish was caught at Beach Pond in Voluntown by Vincent Deledda in 2015. There is also a brown trout weighing in at 19 pounds that was caught at West Hill Pond in New Hartford by James M. Lucas II in 2014. Other top catches was the 43.12-pound common carp caught in the Connecticut River in Hartford by Michael Hudak in 2012 and the 2.4 pound fallfish caught in the Farmington River in Simsbury by Chad Tessmann the same year.

A tiger trout weighing 7.14 pounds was hauled in from the Quassapaud Lake in Woodbury-Middlebury by Jerry Barth in 2011 while a kokanee at 2.14 pounds was caught at East Twin Lake in Salisbury by Tom Pasko the same year. It was several years before that when other new records were set, such as a brown trout being pulled from the Saugatuck River in Westport that was 10.8 pounds. That beauty was caught in 2006 by Ronald J. Merly.

An 8.9 pound chain pickerel was taken from West Twin Lake in Salisbury by Alden L. Foss in 2005. There was also a channel catfish weighing 29.6 pounds was pulled from Mashapaug Lake in Union by Appleton Barrows in 2004.

Other records to beat that were set prior to 2000 are an American eel at 10.3 pounds, an American shad at 9.4 pounds, a Bluegill at 3.4 pounds, a brook trout at 9.3 pounds, a brown bullhead at 4.15 pounds, and a calico bass at 4 pounds, which was set in 1974.

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The oldest standing record is the lake trout taken at 29.13 pounds from Wononscopmuc Lake in Salisbury in 1918.

Other records include a largemouth bass at 12.14 pounds, a northern pike at 29 pounds, a pumpkinseed at 1.3 pounds, a rainbow trout at 14.10 pounds, a rock bass at 1.3 pounds, a smallmouth bass at 7.12 pounds, a white catfish at 2.15 pounds, and a yellow perch at 2.13 pounds.

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