Trout Unlimited Volunteers Add Boulders to River to Enhance Fishing

Members of the Farmington Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited along with additional volunteers gathered at the river bank Saturday morning, October 19th, to accomplish a special project designed to improve fishing from the Handicapped Access Fishing Pier adjacent to the parking area at the new Route 4 bridge in downtown Farmington.

The project involved stacking large boulders on the river bottom in the area of the pier to provide the structure necessary for a healthy fish habitat.  Prior to this undertaking, the river bottom in this area was largely composed of silt and mostly devoid of aquatic life. 

On Saturday, moving and placing the boulders was accomplished both mechanically and physically.   Volunteers Brian Marek and Bob Grigerek of Marek Brothers Construction of Southington brought in heavy equipment to move the boulders to the riverfront and to lift them onto rafts made of plywood and inflated tire tubes. These were floated into place by TU volunteers in waders, who then carefully tipped the large rocks into the water at pre-arranged locations.

Before this project could proceed, permits were obtained from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Town of Farmington.  The boulders themselves were obtained at the site now under construction for the new Walgreens in Unionville, with the cooperation of the property developer Sound Development LLC and the site developer Complete Services, LLC, who donated the collection and transport of the boulders to the Trout Unlimited project site.

Farmington Valley Trout Unlimited’s club mission is “To preserve, protect, and restore cold water fisheries in Connecticut and the Farmington Valley region.”  For more information about our activities and events, visit our website at www.fvtu.org.