It may feel like spring, but the hardwater reigns supreme across southern New England. The warm weather has done very little to the black-ice bases on our lakes, and anglers are soaking up some sun while waiting for flags to fly.
Rhode Island Fishing Report
The tail end of last week saw a few more bouts of winter weather before the spring-like weather settled in over the weekend. The Frances Fleet in Narragansett took advantage of the long-awaited break in weather and hit the water Sunday. Unfortunately the cod bite was slow, with only a handful of short fish coming over the rails. Another trip on Wednesday once again saw mostly short cod fish, but temperatures were warming up and the fishfinder was starting to show more signs of life. A good number of silver hake have moved into the area and kept anglers busy, including a 10-pound fish that won the pool. Blustery winds are in the forecast for Thursday, but other than some rain this weekend should be a good one for cod fishing. The fleet plans to sail Friday through Sunday at 5 A.M., and with the continued warming, life on the cod grounds should be picking up more and more each day.
The Island Current Fleet in Point Judith took advantage of the beautiful weather on Tuesday and put together a successful trip to the cod grounds. Captain Scott reported that everyone on the boat was able to take home a few keepers for the table, with each angler landing 4 to 7 fish. Most of the fish were in the 8- to 10-pound range with the pool fish weighing in at 12. High hook took home a full limit of cod, with a few ling and bergals mixed in. There was a fair amount of shorts around once again, which kept action steady throughout the day. The Island Current will continue to sail each day that the weather allows at 5 A.M., and private charters are available by contacting Captain Chris.
The quick jump in temperature has eaten up some edges and made a slushy mess on most of the lakes across the state, but it’s going to take at least another week or two to put a dent in the thick bases of ice that have built all winter.
Anglers have continued to take to the ice and enjoyed “T-shirt” weather out there this week. Wordens Pond has continued to produce a steady bite of quality largemouth bass, perch and the occasional pike. Similar positive bass and pike reports have come in from Watermans, while Stump Pond has been on the slower side.
Good, mixed bag action has also been reported from Wilson’s Lake, Wakefield Pond and Ponaganset.
Connecticut Fishing Report
Andrew, at Fishin Factory 3 in Middletown, reported that ice fishing has remained the method of choice for most anglers, with most of the tidal rivers still iced over enough that open water fishing is difficult. The thaw is underway and as we get closer to the end of the month pike fishing in the upper stretches of the river, along with white perch fishing from Essex to Saybrook, should start to intensify. The holdover striped bass game should also pick right up where it left off before the deep freeze, with strong populations in the Housatonic and steady numbers in the Connecticut and Thames rivers. As far as ice fishing, the Connecticut River coves are still holding plenty of ice and plenty of hungry panfish, despite the river starting to rise. Candlewood has remained a hot bed smallmouth bass action, and the trout bite has started to intensify over the past week. Moodus Reservoir, Lake Winchester and Coventry Lake still have solid amounts of ice, and solid largemouth bass reports. Batterson Park Pond is now officially open to ice fishing, and quite a few anglers have reported decent walleye and good bass action this week. The catch and release trout management areas remain open and the shelf ice is melting, look for the Salmon and Farmington rivers to fish well this weekend.
At Rivers End in Old Saybrook Joe reported that most area anglers are still heading out to the hardwater, but the spring-like weather is getting everyone ready for spring-run stripers. Another week or two should see the rivers start to open up enough to target bass and white perch without the help of an ice auger. There is no better way to kick off the spring striper season than with the shops annual surf day, which will be happening on March 21st, so be sure to mark those calendars.
The Valley Angler in Danbury reports that nothing has changed in terms of the excellent fishing at Candlewood. We have now entered the best time of year to ice fish the lake, as temperatures are comfortable, the water is rising, and the bite is intensifying with influx of warmer water into the lake. With the extreme winter we’ve had there is plenty of ice on the lake but the edges tend to get sloppy this time of year, as water levels fluctuate. Proceed with caution over the edges, and keep a plank in the truck if possible.
Torrey, at Upcountry Sportfishing in Pine Meadow, was happy to report that the Farmington is pretty much slush-free, and the total flow through the C&R area is at a nice medium 340 cfs. The warmer weather has brought fly-fishermen out to the river, and results have been good. With water temperatures remaining low, the numbers of trout caught are also low but the ones being landed have been large. The average fish has been between 16-18 inches, with multiple 20-inch browns and a 25-inch rainbow reported over the weekend. Bug activity has picked up with various early and winter stones showing up along the riverbanks. Imitating these bugs with Tiny Winter Black (18-24), Early Black (12-16) and Early Brown (14-16) flies should prove successful over the next few weeks. Subsurface winter caddis (16-24) flies are also a solid producer for the morning hours, with midges (20-28) producing in the afternoon hours.
Fishing Forecast
There is some precipitation in the forecast this weekend, but for the first time in a while it shouldn’t be of the frozen variety. Generally, ice fishermen are not pleased to see 40+ degrees and a chance of rain, but with the massive bases of ice we built this winter there will be some more quality ice fishing this weekend. As the region continues to warm up the cod fishing should continue to improve along the Rhode Island coast, and look for the fleets to be able to sail on a more regular basis. Trout enthusiasts should look to get some fly-fishing in at the TMAs before increased snow melt sends the rivers to flooding levels.
This is a great fishing report, thank you for sharing! Very extensive, cannot wait to start the fishing season.
Lake Erie Fishing Charter