08-09-2009, 08:13 PM
[size 2]OWEN CANFIELD: Fishing with the Worm and Jig Club
Published: Sunday, August 9, 2009
It was Gary Lewis’s grandmother Alice who introduced him to fishing some 40 years ago when he was about 7 years old.
“I grew up with my grandmother in Winsted,’’ said Lewis, who now lives in Torrington. “She was a proofreader for the Winsted Citizen. She was 72 when she retired. She’s 97 now. And by the way, she’s still active. Drives her car to bingo every week.’’
Lewis, whose wife Sheryl works in the Torrington City Comptroller’s office, is an enthusiastic member of the Worm and Jig Club. The club has 44 members from Torrington, Waterbury, Bristol and environs. They are all serious competitive bass fishermen.
When I spoke to him last week, Lewis said the club most recently had fished at Candlewood Lake (Aug. 2) and next would be dropping their lines on Aug. 23 at Lake Zoar near Newtown.
The big event of the season will come Sept. 5 and 6 on Lake Champlain.
“We stay at Ticonderoga,’’ Lewis said. “It’s a great time. We have a big barbeque, everybody has a good time and the next morning we’re out on the lake, fishing for blood.’’
The men fish in teams. Every club member has a partner. Lewis’ teammate for the past eight years has been John Ehrhardt, a Torrington carpenter.
They hit the lake, fish their heads off, and return with their catch. The five heaviest bass submitted by each team are weighed. Heaviest catch wins.
Here’s one of the good parts: None of the fish is eaten, none die and all are thrown back.
Personally, I’ve never been a fisherman, but I used to argue with a friend who claimed he would never go fishing because he felt sorry for the fish. My argument was that fish are there to be caught and it didn’t hurt them anyway. I know this: the Worm and Jig guys are gentle with them.
“Every boat has a ‘live well,’ ‘’ Lewis said. “Which is a fresh-water well where the fish are placed after they’ve been caught. Every once in a while, the well water is pumped out and replaced by new fresh water. And eventually the fish are all released.’’ So the life of a fish is not half-bad if they are captured by the men of the Worm and Jig.
Lewis owns an 18-foot bass boat which he purchased in 2005 at Boat Works in Windsor. It is a Ranger Comanche powered by a 150-horsepower Evinrude engine. His boat is not the biggest he said, but plenty big enough. “Speed limit on Connecticut lakes is 45 miles an hour,’’ he said. “My boat is capable of getting up to about 60, but I never do that.’’
The club’s tournament season started April 26 at Highland Lake. Since then, they have fished Twin Lakes, Colebrook Reservoir, the Connecticut River, Candlewood and Mahopac Lake in New York State besides those mentioned. Candlewood, Mahopac and Highland are on the schedule twice. The season winds up at Highland Lake Oct. 11.
Lewis is a bowler, too and he has made some impressive numbers at Sky Top Lanes; but not lately. “I didn’t bowl last winter,’’ he said. “But I’m going back to it this fall.’’
He works at Richard Septic Systems, Inc. at the bottom of the hill on Cedar Lane in Torrington. Jimmy Richard owns the company. “I started with the company about 25 years ago, right after old Roger died,’’ Lewis said. I told him I had grown up in the house at the corner of Cedar Lane (then known as Bakerville Road) and Torringford Street and that I well remembered brothers Harry and Roger Richard, both young men then and in business at the bottom of the hill.
I was a young kid at that time. So, when Gary mentioned “Old Roger’’ I started to feel like “Old Owen’’ and swiftly switched the conversation back to fishing.[/size]
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Published: Sunday, August 9, 2009
It was Gary Lewis’s grandmother Alice who introduced him to fishing some 40 years ago when he was about 7 years old.
“I grew up with my grandmother in Winsted,’’ said Lewis, who now lives in Torrington. “She was a proofreader for the Winsted Citizen. She was 72 when she retired. She’s 97 now. And by the way, she’s still active. Drives her car to bingo every week.’’
Lewis, whose wife Sheryl works in the Torrington City Comptroller’s office, is an enthusiastic member of the Worm and Jig Club. The club has 44 members from Torrington, Waterbury, Bristol and environs. They are all serious competitive bass fishermen.
When I spoke to him last week, Lewis said the club most recently had fished at Candlewood Lake (Aug. 2) and next would be dropping their lines on Aug. 23 at Lake Zoar near Newtown.
The big event of the season will come Sept. 5 and 6 on Lake Champlain.
“We stay at Ticonderoga,’’ Lewis said. “It’s a great time. We have a big barbeque, everybody has a good time and the next morning we’re out on the lake, fishing for blood.’’
The men fish in teams. Every club member has a partner. Lewis’ teammate for the past eight years has been John Ehrhardt, a Torrington carpenter.
They hit the lake, fish their heads off, and return with their catch. The five heaviest bass submitted by each team are weighed. Heaviest catch wins.
Here’s one of the good parts: None of the fish is eaten, none die and all are thrown back.
Personally, I’ve never been a fisherman, but I used to argue with a friend who claimed he would never go fishing because he felt sorry for the fish. My argument was that fish are there to be caught and it didn’t hurt them anyway. I know this: the Worm and Jig guys are gentle with them.
“Every boat has a ‘live well,’ ‘’ Lewis said. “Which is a fresh-water well where the fish are placed after they’ve been caught. Every once in a while, the well water is pumped out and replaced by new fresh water. And eventually the fish are all released.’’ So the life of a fish is not half-bad if they are captured by the men of the Worm and Jig.
Lewis owns an 18-foot bass boat which he purchased in 2005 at Boat Works in Windsor. It is a Ranger Comanche powered by a 150-horsepower Evinrude engine. His boat is not the biggest he said, but plenty big enough. “Speed limit on Connecticut lakes is 45 miles an hour,’’ he said. “My boat is capable of getting up to about 60, but I never do that.’’
The club’s tournament season started April 26 at Highland Lake. Since then, they have fished Twin Lakes, Colebrook Reservoir, the Connecticut River, Candlewood and Mahopac Lake in New York State besides those mentioned. Candlewood, Mahopac and Highland are on the schedule twice. The season winds up at Highland Lake Oct. 11.
Lewis is a bowler, too and he has made some impressive numbers at Sky Top Lanes; but not lately. “I didn’t bowl last winter,’’ he said. “But I’m going back to it this fall.’’
He works at Richard Septic Systems, Inc. at the bottom of the hill on Cedar Lane in Torrington. Jimmy Richard owns the company. “I started with the company about 25 years ago, right after old Roger died,’’ Lewis said. I told him I had grown up in the house at the corner of Cedar Lane (then known as Bakerville Road) and Torringford Street and that I well remembered brothers Harry and Roger Richard, both young men then and in business at the bottom of the hill.
I was a young kid at that time. So, when Gary mentioned “Old Roger’’ I started to feel like “Old Owen’’ and swiftly switched the conversation back to fishing.[/size]
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