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Not only were the four men fishing in the reservoir after dark on Sept. 17, but they also didn't have any life vests in their canoe, a disconcerting fact, Wilton police Capt. John Lynch said.
Police received a report just after 7 p.m. of a noise and people in a canoe on the reservoir near Nod Hill Road and Ryder's Lane, police said.
When officers arrived, one of the four men, Martin Walsh, 23, of Whipstick Road, said they had been fishing in the reservoir repeatedly. He said it was "just fishing and that it was not important," Lynch said.
"They said they had been going there for 12 years and fishing most of the summer," Lynch said.
The foursome also claimed there were no signs visible saying it was a reservoir, Lynch said.
Although the police report didn't mention whether the foursome successfully landed some fish, they did have beer in the canoe, Lynch said.
Walsh and Jay Gilligan, 23, of 55 Prospect St.; Connor Gore, 23, of 30 Silver Spring Lane; and Geoffrey White, 23, of 76 Aspen Ledges Road, were each ticketed for trespassing, fishing without a license and unauthorized fishing in the reservoir.
Lynch said the information will be passed to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection if it wants to follow up.
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