CTFishTalk.com: West Thompson Lake Carping - 5/1 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

I went carp fishing yesterday afternoon at “the dam” as everyone calls it in town. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the lake was created in the 1960’s by the addition of a large dam on the Quinebaug river. Anyway, I staked out a spot at the north end of the lake where it transitions back to being a river. I found an eddy the other day while bass fishing where the carp are almost always feeding. In a few hours I caught two 11’s (ties for my PB), one 10, and one 7 pounder. Oddly enough the 7 pounder fought the hardest of the four! I had a number of others on, but they are great at running for snags and unhooking themselves…

I also caught a small (way under legal length) pickerel with my landing net. It was cruising slowly in the shallows, ignoring me entirely… It was clearly sick with some sort of disease. I figured it was best to get it out of the lake, as it had white blobs along its back and open sores on its sides (nasty!). In this case what is the best thing to do? I chose to “dispatch” it and toss it in the woods, but I wasn’t sure about the legality of this.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

I'd bet that the DEP wouldn't have a problem with anyone removing an obviously sick fish from any lake or pond, although I'm sure they'd like to have a chance to examine it. You should probably send the the DEP an email with the details (e.g., exactly where you were and what it looked like). They always respond to my emails.
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therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

Alright, I will send them an email with a location/description/etc. I’ll be putting a plastic bag in my tackle box in case I encounter something like this again. Yesterday I would have had no way to take it with me anyway.

perfect hook set · Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 1069 Location: Danbury

you tossed it int he woods for an animal to eat it then get sick Shocked

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therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

Yeah I guess it wasn't the best thing to do with it... but likely most fish pathogens aren't going to infect a mammal or bird anyway. If I had left it in the water something would have probably eaten it anyway, so either way...

In the future I'll give it to the DEP i guess? What if they want me to bring it somewhere? I can't be driving all over the place dropping off dead fish. And what if they don' t want it at all... what do you do with it then? lol

This is getting complicated!

colburn · Joined: 16 Apr 2010 Posts: 125

most mammals would smell it and if it was bad wouldn't eat it

TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

The DEP has a Facebook page. Post your question on their wall and you'll get a response pretty quickly.
http://www.facebook.com/CTDEP
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Kira

*~ "Not everything about fishing is noble, reasonable and sane..." -Henry Middleton ~*

therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

I did send an email, just waiting for a response. Pretty cool that they have a FB page though!