After multiple failed attempts to have Suffolk County or the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation restock the lake with native fish, local Canaan Lake resident Ray Crescenzi set up a GoFundMe. About 35 people helped raise $2,500 of the $7,500 largemouth bass price tag; the rest, he said, they have self-donated. When asked why he has taken the project upon himself, he simply replied, “a lake should have fish.” On Monday, June 6, he oversaw an order for 500 largemouth bass and 250 pounds of feeding minnow dumped into the lake. The fish came from upstate New York, a requirement of the DEC.

Back in October of 2021, when the Canaan Lake project was completed, former Legis. Rob Calarco, who spearheaded the project, explained that he anticipated the DEC to fulfill their trout restocking project last fall. According to current Legis. Dominick Thorne, over 900 rainbow trout were restocked in April of last year and a few hundred brown trout in November.

At that time, the DEC was also reviewing a Suffolk County permit request to stock largemouth bass and yellow perch in the lake. Restocking species requires that the fish be certified disease-free, native species, and are a fish species that have been present in a particular water body in the past.

According to DEC spokesperson Bill Fonda, the standard program consists of stocking brown and rainbow trout to waters throughout the state, including at Canaan Lake, to enhance fishing for license holders. These stocked species are not expected to reproduce or have a sustained population in these water bodies, but are stocked to provide angling opportunities.

The DEC suspended stocking operations in Canaan Lake in Patchogue in 2011 due to a draining and dredging project that was being conducted. Since the completion of the dredging project, DEC has resumed stocking and completed the 2021 fall stocking of 200 brown trout and the 2022 spring stocking of 900 rainbow trout. 

Additionally, the DEC issued a stocking permit to the Canaan Lake Home Owners Association (HOA) to restock other fish species in the lake. The DEC reviewed previous fish surveys in Canaan Lake and approved species that have historically existed there, including largemouth bass and yellow perch. Additionally, fathead minnows were approved, as they are a commonly used baitfish and often stocked with bass as a food source.

Although largemouth bass are not native to Long Island, they were approved due to their presence in most Long Island waters and were inhabitants of Canaan Lake prior to the dredging project. The DEC approves stocking permits based on existing or prior fish communities, but does not dictate the size or number of fish and rather suggests that the permittee follows hatchery guidelines on size and number for the acreage of the water being stocked. The cost associated with stocking any species into a water body other than state-raised trout is the responsibility of the lake owner or HOA.

This fall, Crescenzi hopes the county will make good on their promise by setting aside the budget for the remaining species, which he estimates will cost about $5,500. The lake is also missing pickerel, assorted sunfish, and perch.