The sterile Triploid Grass Carp (left NY Dept of Env Conservation) is the reason why Opening Day of the trout season will now be a week earlier than usual. The General Assembly’s Regulation Review Committee just approved new rules that include the Opening Day’s calendar move from the typical third Saturday in April to the second. The biggest part of the bill would require notice for communities around lakes such as the multi-town Candlewood Lake, when Triploid Grass Carp are brought in to munch invasive weeds. Because they are sterile, environmental officials don’t have to worry about them proliferating.
State Sen. Clark Chapin, R-New Milford, co-chairman of the bipartisan committee that has rotating chairmanships, said that the previous regs didn’t take into account multiple owners of water bodies or multiple jurisdictions. “When the regulation was originally introduced it didn’t contemplate a five-town lake as the host for these carp and Candlewood Lake has Eurasian milfoil problems 
and the Candlewood Lake Authority would like to use these carp,” Chapin said after the meeting this morning. He said the milfoil problem is increasing and the carp are expected to alleviate it. The new regulations took effect with this morning’s committee vote.
While Opening Day came along for the ride, it’s a move requested by eastern Connecticut lawmakers who complain that Rhode Island’s trout season starts earlier.