Here is the excerpt from the CT DEEP Website for the number of pike stocked in CT for all of 2017:
Northern Pike Fingerlings
Bantam Lake Litchfield, Morris 1,202
Connecticut River Lower River 39
Mansfield Hollow Reservoir Mansfield 61
Winchester Lake Winchester 1,172
Total Northern Pike Fingerlings 2,474
For those of us that enjoy pike fishing, it is time to be concerned. It looks like we will be relying solely on natural reproduction to keep these fish in our waters. PLEASE be extra diligent in caring for your catches during the catch and release process.
For those of you that consider pike a trash or nuisance fish, please reconsider carelessly disposing of these resources. I know there are plenty of fisherman out there that despise these fish for various reasons. I just ask that everybody have some empathy for other anglers and release any by catch to swim another day.
For those of you that pike fish for consumption, please consider letting the big girls go to keep the population in tact. Eat them if you like. it is your prerogative, if you have caught them legally. Due to the slow growth rate and years it takes to reach the reproductive age, these apex predators have a hard time overcoming human cultivation.
I just wanted to make everybody aware of the situation that we are now facing.