Imagine you’ve just arrived at your favorite lake. On the bank you see one of your friends, fishing rod in hand, sitting and waiting. You visit with him for a while and find that he hasn’t seen a fish, nothing has bitten his worm, and he hasn’t seen anyone catch anything. Most bait anglers from the bank or from a dock or pier may not take into account that fish don’t feed everywhere, so they may be throwing their bait and weight in at the wrong place. Offering a juicy worm to a hungry fish will almost always result in the fish biting, but offering the worm where fish aren’t will result in no bites and an unsuccessful fishing trip.

Even those friends of yours with expensive boats filled with spinning rods and spinning baits, expensive as they might be, may have unsuccessful days fishing, because, let’s face it – there are only so many fish and you’ll want to be in the best part of that lake to get them. If all the other boats and anglers are out there, you’re going to have some crossed fishing lines. Wielding a fly rod, you’ll always be in control of your line, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone get crossed lines while fly fishing.

One of the very first things that fly anglers learn is that they can present their fish food imitations on the water’s surface, just below the water’s surface in the “surface film”, anywhere lower, and even down near the substrate (the bottom surface of a body of water). Something else that fly anglers learn almost immediately is where they are likely to find fish when fishing lakes, streams, and even seas.

Closer to home, here in Connecticut and in most of New England and New York, many rivers, especially where trout are present, are Fly-Fishing Only, or Fly-Fishing Only/Catch and Release. For instance, the Housatonic River in Northwestern Connecticut has two Trout Management Areas (TMAs.) Both are Fly-Fishing Only.

The Cornwall TMA begins just about 1 mile north of the covered bridge in West Cornwall (CT-128) ( and the Fly Fishing Only area begins at the covered bridge in West Cornwall and ends at the concrete bridge in Cornwall Bridge (CT-4.) Around ten miles to the south, the Bulls Bridge TMA (from the bridge at CT-341 in Kent, south to CT-55 in Gaylordsville) is also Fly Fishing Only. The Housatonic River in Connecticut and most of Massachusetts is poisoned with PCBs from years of dumping at a General Electric plant in Pittsfield, so don’t harvest what you catch.

The Housatonic River also hosts a Bass Management Area, which begins in the village of Cornwall Bridge and ends at the CT-341 bridge in Kent.

In order to thrive, trout need clean, cold water, food, shelter, and currents they can hold in without expending too much energy. Connecticut DEEP knows these areas exist, and it is there that the state stocks many with trout, and posts signs regulating the area as a TMA. Trout are not cheap, which is probably why we have a trout stamp, in addition to the regular fishing license. The state has also designated some lakes as Trout Management Areas and have imposed special regulations for trout fishing in those lakes. 

So, the best areas for holding trout are generally restricted to fly-fishing gear