Middlebury Boy Wins Statewide Youth Fishing Contest

MIDDLEBURY, CT — A Middlebury 7-year-old whose father says he has been fishing for nearly his whole life recently won a statewide fishing contest.

Noah Savin took home first place in the 2021 Connecticut Youth Passport Fishing Challenge: A competition run by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection that ranks participants based on the number of fish species they caught over the course of a year.

Anyone under the age of 16 could participate. But Savin, who was 6 years old when he entered, caught 17 species of fish to become "2021 Youth Angler of the Year."

Savin is in first grade at Middlebury Elementary School, his father, Harris Savin, told Patch, and he has lived in Middlebury for his entire life.

In fact, Savin said, around half of his son's catches were from Middlebury lakes and ponds — three trout species caught around the corner from his elementary school, five species in a park behind the town's police department, two more in a lake across the street.

Savin said Noah found out he won on Monday, and said his son was "crazy excited."

"He's been doing fishing like this ever since he was old enough to hold a kiddie fishing rod," Savin said. "The minute he could hold a fishing rod, he was holding a fishing rod."

To enter the contest, Savin uploaded photos to the DEEP website of his son holding various species of fish he caught — among them a summer largemouth bass, a springtime trout, a fall striped bass and a fall tautog.

And as first-place winner, his son will receive a fishing rod and reel, lures, several books, a gift certificate and more as prizes, Savin said.

Savin said Noah will likely continue to enter the contest for as long as he is eligible.

"He's gonna wanna continue to fish as much as he fishes now," Savin said. "He will definitely be participating every year — probably, I would say."