The spring run certainly took its time to arrive, but when it finally showed up, it did so with a bang. By what seemed like the flip of a light switch, our cold and seemingly dormant waters erupted with hoards of tautog and squid in Rhode Island, while migratory striped bass have invaded the coastline.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

Ryan, at The Saltwater Edge in Middletown, reported that a great deal of angling attention is being spent on tautog, as reports of keeper-sized fish have been pouring in over the past 3 to 4 days. Large tautog can be found with regularity in 10 to 20 feet of water on the rockpiles of Newport and the upper Narragansett Bay. The pilings around the Barrington Bridge have also been an early season hotspot for keeper whitechins. Over the weekend a large influx of squid poured into the Newport area, and whether it’s for the table or for bait, anglers have taken full advantage. Pink squid jigs fished after dark have accounted for the most full buckets, with Fort Adams and the causeway to Goat Island being two of the more consistent spots.

Coastal water temperatures are still holding a bit below the 50-degree mark, but the recent warming has brought some large schools of migratory striped bass to the area. Schoolies are plentiful across all of the Newport beaches and a few larger keeper-class fish have been mixed in. Small bucktail jigs and soft plastics have accounted for the most fish, with the larger bass falling to plastic swimming plugs and topwater spooks.

Down at Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle in North Kingstown, Captain Thom reiterated the fact that the ocean has come alive with keeper tautog, squid and an abundance of school striped bass. Keeper tautog can be found in the upper bay as well as out front on the Narragansett rockpiles and the breakwalls in front of the Harbor of Refuge. Squid is plentiful just about everywhere along South County and anglers have been filling 5-gallon buckets in short time the past few nights. Schoolie striped bass have hit the area hard and can now be found beyond their first arrival point at the West Wall, with sightings coming in from the beaches up and down the coast.

This past weekend was free fishing weekend across Rhode Island, and freshwater anglers have been taking advantage of the expanded trout stocking across the state. The Wood River was recently re-stocked and remains a hot spot for brown and rainbow trout, while Silver Spring Pond and Lincoln Woods were stocked with a few golden trout that have piqued the interest of Rhode Island trout fishermen. Largemouth bass fishing remains good to great across the state, and a few slob bass were reported from trout-stocked waters and ponds with a coastline connection and herring run.

Fishing Forecast for Rhode Island

The spring we have all been waiting for is finally here and fishing opportunities are plentiful. Whether it be hunting for a meal of squid and tautog, chasing quality striped bass up and down the coast, or wetting a fly in a local trout stream, the options are there and the warm weekend should only improve things.