Connecticut and Rhode Island Fishing Report 3-1-2012

It’s finally March and there is light at the end of the wintry tunnel – signs of spring are all around us from trout stocking to the first returning river herring. Rhode Island’s trout designated waters just closed, but heavy stocking across Connecticut has anglers scheming for ways to get out of work and honey-do lists. If fresh “stockies” aren’t your thing, there are a whole slew of other species to target from white perch to holdover striped bass. In the saltwater scene, cod fishing bounced back in a big way this week southeast of Block Island. Both codfish quantity and quality were up since our last forecast with impressive catches up to 45-pounds! If you can’t go fishing, then naturally the next best thing to do is learn about it; there’s an informative seminar on fishing the lower Connecticut River this Saturday at River’s End.

Rhode Island

Cod fishing off Block Island improved considerably since last week’s forecast, at least when weather permitted trips. The Frances Fleet sailed last Wednesday, Thursday and this past Tuesday with good results on all three outings. Their biggest fish of the week was a broad-shouldered cod that tipped the scale at just over 35-pounds caught by Jon Duggan. The pool-winning cod on the other two trips were in the 15 to 20-pound range with plenty of others between 7 and 12-pounds. Captain Chris at the Island Current also reported a big improvement on the cod scene from last week. Their best catch was Brian Huggard’s 45-pound beast on Tuesday from 110-feet of water southeast of Block Island. Nearly all of the action lately has come on bait. Mixed in with the cod are a handful of nice pollock up to 25-pounds, ling, red hake, conger eels, ocean perch and mackerel from time to time. Dogfish are around in surges, but it seems when the cod bite is strong the dogs are scarce. Unsettled weather could throw a wrench in plans again this Saturday, so be sure to check with the outfit you plan on sailing the night beforehand.

Rhode Island’s holdover striped bass have been rather nonexistent over the last week. OTW contributor Dave Pickering said he hasn’t caught a striper or seen one caught by anyone else in the past several trips to the Providence River. He believes the bass that were wintering there have scooted out into Narragansett Bay for parts unknown during the recent spell of warm weather.  Dave’s uncertain if these holdovers will return or if striper anglers will have to wait another month and change before migrating bass return.

All designated trout waters in Rhode Island are off limits until April 14, but that still leaves plenty of freshwater options for pike, pickerel, bass, and perch. Thom at Quaker Lane Outfitters has been selling their largest shiners to some pike anglers fishing them under floats at Worden’s Pond and 100-Acre Pond. A quick glance online at the RI DEM’s Freshwater Fishing Abstract will reveal all bodies of water stocked with trout, so public places not on the list are open game. (http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatres/fishwild/pdf/freshabs.pdf)

Connecticut

If you like trout fishing, you’re in luck. To take advantage of the mild winter conditions, CT DEEP began the 2012 spring stocking season early this year, releasing more than 12,300 brook, brown and rainbow trout into a number of designated catch-and-release Trout Management Areas (TMA) across the state. Among the fish just stocked were over 1,500 trophy-size trout (12-inches and up) including 125 breeders. Two weeks ago the Salmon River TMA and the Yantic River TMA were stocked with 2,170 and 1,500 fish respectively. Last week, the Moosup River TMA was stocked with 800 trout, Hockanum River TMA with 1,200, Willimantic River TMA with 815, and the Hammonasset River TMA with 1,410. In western CT, the Naugatuck River TMA was stocked with 1,450 fish, Mill River-Hamden TMA with 1,050 and the Mianus River TMA with 1,160. As expected, anglers are reporting high catch rates and nice-sized trout. Cappy at Captain Morgan Bait and Tackle said fly anglers drifting nymphs and stripping Woolly Buggers are cleaning up, as are spin anglers drifting live shiners and retrieving lures like Rooster Tails. To read up on all the current regulations, an electronic version of CT DEEP’s 2012 Angler’s Guide is available online at www.ct.gov/deep/fishing.

A number of Connecticut River coves and marinas remain great choices for panfish. Andrew at Fishin’ Factory III said Hamburg Cove is loaded with white perch right now. Anglers on shore and in small boats are capitalizing with small white curly tail grubs on light jig heads. The coves are also stacked with yellow perch and calicos. Andrew prefers to use a small marabou jig tipped with a pinhead shiner. Sometimes using a bobber to suspend the offering a few feet off bottom works well for the calicos.

The lower Housatonic River continues to be one of the only games in town for holdover striped bass opportunities. Nick at Fisherman’s World said Alabama Rigs continue to be the rage for boat anglers, but most shore fishermen are sticking to the holdover standbys like white bucktails, soft-plastics on jig heads, and swim shads. A good sign that these bass are shaking off their winter lethargy is that they are responding well to 9-inch Slug-Gos and swimmers like Bombers. From one major river to another, this Saturday there will be a presentation titled “Stripers in the Connecticut River” at River’s End put on by “Q” Kresser & Pat Abate. These two fine anglers have long believed that the Connecticut River has a world class spring fishery and they want to share their knowledge and experience.

Best Bets for the Weekend

As long as the weather holds up, the best bet in Rhode Island this weekend will be cod fishing southeast of Block Island. The bite took a turn for the better recently with both size and numbers of fish. Hopefully that trend will continue through March. In Connecticut, it’s all about trout fishing. Over 12,000 hungry trout were just dumped into a number of catch and release areas, so get ready for some fast, fun action.