The bass may have gone into early hibernation for the winter, but there are still plenty to be caught in our local lakes.
Twin Lakes Preserve is home to three easily accessible ponds, Upper Twin Pond, Lower Twin Pond, and an unnamed pond. All of these ponds are teeming with life, with bass and pike to catch as well as pan fish such as bluegill, perch, and crappie.
But each year, as temperatures cool, these native fish begin to slow down and eat less, making it difficult for anglers to catch anything. Luckily, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has the perfect remedy for that: trout.
On Nov. 3, the DEC released brown trout from its upstate hatchery and released them into several lakes and ponds on Long Island. The two closest to Wantagh and Seaford are Upper Twin Pond, which is in Wantagh, and Massapequa Reservoir, which is just a few miles east in Massapequa.
The DEC hatches other species but chose brown trout for this specific average because they are hardier than some of their relatives.
“They fight in water that’s over 70 degrees,” said NYSDEC biologist Heidi O’Riordan. “So they’re fine right now. And they’ll be fine all winter long if they don’t all get caught.”
Often a few arrive in the spring, but many are indeed caught. Trout are not native to the Twin Lakes, so their sole purpose is to keep anglers busy during the fall and winter. Anglers can practice catch and release, but they can also keep the trout for food.
“They don’t establish any breeding populations in these lakes that we know of,” O’Riordan added. “So anglers can take some home, with a limit of five.”
NYSDEC workers, as well as volunteers, assisted in stocking and throwing buckets of trout into the water. According to Marty Weinstein, a local fisherman who participated in the process, throwing them gives them the jolt they need to help them survive in the lake.
Twin Lakes Preserve is officially located on Park Avenue, but has several access points on both Park Avenue and Old Mill Road.