As I’m typing this report, bodies of water across the Northeast are transforming from liquid to solid. The sub-freezing temperatures look like they are here to stay for at least the next week and I’m confident that there will be some safe ice across parts of our area by this weekend. If ice fishing isn’t part of your usual winter fishing plans, the schoolie striper bite continues to be very good in all of our major tidal rivers and it looks to be one of the better holdover years in recent memory.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

Captain Matt of The Frances Fleet in Narragansett reported that anglers who braved the breezy, colder conditions over the past weekend were rewarded with a couple good days on the cod grounds. Multiple keeper fish came over the rails including a 20-pound slob that took high hook on one of the trips. The black sea bass are starting to thin out, but the fish that remain are large, with many over the 4-pound mark. The fleet has been coming home with a mixed bag of cod, sea bass and scup and will continue to sail for the upcoming weeks (weather permitting).

Steve McKenna at Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle in North Kingstown indicated that he is starting to hear some rumblings about ice fishing in the upcoming week in the northern parts of Rhode Island. The upcoming forecast is a great one for ice making across most of Connecticut but it also looks like it will be cold enough to start locking up some of the smaller ponds across the Ocean State. Schoolie stripers don’t seem to mind the cold too much as they continue to be caught with regularity in the Providence River. Soft plastics on 3/8 –ounce or ¼-ounce jigheads have been the ticket both night and day, with the larger specimens still showing up after the lights go out. Some second-hand reports of Atlantic herring in the breachways and in the Pawcatuck River have come in, but the bite doesn’t appear to have taken off just yet.

Reports of a hot schoolie striper bite have also flowed into The Saltwater Edge in Middletown. Customers reported good fishing in all the usual hot spots and while the fish have been on the small side, most anglers report plenty of fish to go around.

While waiting for the hardwater to set up, consider stalking one of Rhode Island’s many trout streams as the coldwater trout bite has remained very good. River and Riptide Angler in Coventry reported that trout have been falling on both the fly and spin across the state, with the largest concentration of good fish coming from the Wood River.

Connecticut Fishing Report

For all the ice fishermen across Connecticut, hardwater is on the brain with the single-digit nighttime temperatures forecasted for most of the foreseeable future. In the interim, open-water anglers in eastern Connecticut have continued to score some nice fish in the Thames River basin. Jack at The Fish Connection in Preston reported that the regular salmon hunters in the area had another good week fishing the Baltic stretch of the Shetucket River. Fish have been falling to all sorts of artificials with no real pattern except that pink and orange colored offerings have been the most consistent producers. The Thames River from Norwich to Montville continues to be home for a large concentration of striped bass. Boat anglers have been marking fish throughout the whole stretch while shore-bound anglers have been scoring good catches after dark in the western stretches of Norwich Harbor and just below. The vast majority of these holdovers are of the schoolies variety but anglers have managed some small keeper-class fish on most trips.

Andrew at The Fishin Factory III in Middletown is going through shiners like wildfire as ice fishermen across the state are preparing for the ice and loading their bait tanks. A few brave anglers were able to get out on Sunday in the northwest hills of Connecticut and most reported typical hot and heavy first-ice action. Northern pike and calico bass (crappie) have been biting with consistency in the Connecticut River coves but a skim-ice coating should be forming soon and will shut the fishing down until the coves are walkable. Much like the Thames to the east and the Housatonic to the west, the Connecticut River is holding a good number of over-winter bass in the lower stretches from Essex to East Haddam. Hamburg Cove is a usual hotspot for holdover stripers this time of year and anglers fishing the area this week reported increasing numbers of bass and white perch staging up in the cove. If you cringe at the thought of walking on thin ice, the perch and bass bite in the lower river should remain consistent throughout the long winter months.

TC Marine Bait and Tackle in Shelton reported that striped bass have continued to hold strong in the Housatonic River. Large schools of bass can still be found throughout the entire lower river from the mouth north to the Shelton/Derby area. Fish have been hitting soft plastics on small jigheads as well as small swimming plugs; however, the lure of choice on the Housatonic remains the Alabama rig. The Alabama rig is basically a castable umbrella rig that offers you the opportunity for multiple hookups on one retrieve. If the forecast holds true and we fall into a true deep freeze this winter, Housatonic River anglers may have the opportunity to jig for stripers through the ice on some of the coves. The Housatonic (and to a lesser extent the Connecticut River) remains the only body of water in the Northeast with this truly unique type of striped bass fishery.

In the Western Sound, the Atlantic herring bite continues to go on in Norwalk Harbor, the Saugatuck River and the inlet to South Benson Marina. According to Fisherman’s World in Norwalk, the herring bite has been steady but the large numbers of herring that we had last December have yet to show up.

Best Bets for the Weekend

For the ice-fishing enthusiasts across the region, the 7-day forecast is something to smile about (other than the potential nor’easter this weekend). If the forecast holds true and no freak acts of nature occur, plenty of smaller ponds and shallow lakes across northern Connecticut and Rhode Island should be safe for the picking. Don’t let your urge to be on the ice make you overanxious and be sure to take all the proper safety precautions when venturing out on the ice for the first time. Early and late season ice conditions could change very quickly and a pair of ice picks, a safety rope and a change of clothes are essentials that no ice fisherman should leave behind.