Opening Day on the Wood River

When you think of a destination trout fishing trip in New England, names like the Housatonic, the Deerfield, and the Farmington River are on most people’s short list. From my home on the Cape all these fantastic trout fishing waters are a two to three hour trek, so a day trip becomes more like a half day trip when you factor in the drive time. But closer to home in the smallest state of them all, there is a river just over an hour away that is chock full of trout by the second weekend in April. I had read about the Wood River for some time, and how it was revered for its early-season action for both spin and fly fishing. With a favorable forecast in place I decided to make the foray to the trout haven of Rhode Island.

There are miles of river to choose from and, having never fished it before, I asked for some advice from friends that had experience on the Wood. I focused on the stretch south of RI Route 165. My first stop was before dawn at the DEM Deer check station. Here I met fellow OTW staffer Joe Pechie. Joe lives less than 20 minutes from the river and had an hour to kill and decided to try his luck on opening day. Arming ourselves with spoons, spinners, and small swimmers we made the short walk to the first open area of “fishy” water. The trout season officially opens at 6 a.m. No fear if you forgot your watch at the car as the hoots, hollers and sounds of lures hitting the water will tell you it’s time to wet your line!

I opted to start off with a small white/pink/purlple Kastmaster and Joe chose a fluorescent Thomas Bouyant. Not ten casts later we were both tight with quality brown and rainbow trout. The first pool we fished gave up 3 or 4 fish, and after changing lures with no more luck we headed downstream to the next patch of good looking water. My first, second and third casts all came tight with a mix of chunky browns and ‘bows. Joe had just as much success with back to back fish. The trout got wise to our offerings about the same time Joe had to call it a morning.

Now working the river solo, I headed south downstream, my pack filled with a fly rod, some snacks, and a big bottle of water. While the Wood River is very narrow—the widest I saw no more than 30 feet—it had no less than a flotilla of canoes paddling and fishing its length. My strategy was to get ahead of them by foot and hit the pools, undercuts, and riffled before they could turn off the fish. This paid off in spades as I was able to hook fish after quality fish. I fished a pool until I could hear the riff raff of canoe traffic, at which point I packed up and moved down river to the next pool. This let me really explore the “S” bends and curves of this small river.

All in all I covered almost 6 miles of river on foot by noon. I lost count of the fish I caught and even caught a few on the fly by swinging streamers by the banks. There was a significant hatch on the water and with the mild temperatures it was pretty buggy by 9 a.m. Unfortunately, the fish did not take much interest in the insect activity. No matter, the fishing was great and the day was beautiful. Easily waded or enjoyed from a canoe or float tube, the Wood River features the best of the big three New England trout rivers in a smaller package.    More on fishing the Wood River HERE.