Rhode Island Fishing Report – April 13, 2017

Pictured above: John Migliori landed his first bass of the spring on his Schadeycreek Lure Spinner.

Opening day was a success despite sub-par conditions, and the increased flow in our larger rivers has really kicked off the spring herring run. The biggest news of the week is that some fresh striped bass have hit the west wall, which signifies the start of the salt season for many anglers across Rhode Island.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

The Frances Fleet in Narragansett will continue to sail at 5 AM every day except Tuesday and Thursday. They will also not be sailing on Easter Sunday. The crew is hopeful that we are now past the rough weather cycle that has haunted us and the spring fishing should really kick into gear.

Dave, at Ocean State Tackle in Providence, reported that the opening day was a success despite tough conditions in the river, and some nice trout are still being caught at many of the state’s trout parks. The Blackstone and Wood Rivers have also settled down, and are fishing well. Local carp anglers are still scoring some good fish, and it should only get better as the water warms up. The entire Blackstone River system holds good fish and is fishing well, other spots you may want to investigate include: Scott’s Pond, the ponds at Roger Williams Park and Olney Pond in Lincoln Woods. The biggest news of the week is that some fresh striped bass have hit the west wall, which signifies the start of the salt season for many anglers across the state. Another week or two of warm weather should result in more fish, and some of the first trophy bass of the year.

Mike, at Watch Hill Outfitters in Westerly, reported that opening day was on the slow side, due to the tough conditions that the streams were left in after all the rain. There were a few good catches, and things have been vastly improving as everything starts to settle this week. There have been some second-hand reports of a decent amount of small bass in Quonny Pond, while the Pawcatuck was quiet due to the high flows. A lot of anglers are still targeting winter flounder, although things haven’t really gotten going besides a few reports from eastern CT. With the water warming pretty quick at this point, things should start to ramp up.

Connecticut Fishing Report

At Fishin Factory 3 in Middletown, Andrew told me that the timing of the spring floods hurt opening weekend a bit, but overall it was a success. Plenty of good trout hit the scales from the local lakes and ponds, as well as the larger rivers that weren’t as affected by the rains. The Farmington River fished well into the early part of the week, and put up one of the largest fish of the weekend at 5.60-pounds. The timing of the flooding in the Connecticut River should coincide nicely with the spring herring/striper run. The eastern CT herring runs are starting to fill up with fish, and the striped bass fishing should really get going when the floods start to subside. The sound remains on the cool side, so tautog reports have been quiet, but the winter flounder guys are catching a few in the Niantic River and Bluff Point. The Housatonic River striped bass fishery fired back up this week as well, with word of a decent push of herring and bass to 20-pounds or so.

Over at Hillyers in Waterford, the guys are reporting that the local flounder fishermen are just starting to see an uptick in action in the river, as well as at Bluff Point. As the bottom substrate continues to warm so will the fishing, but the best action thus far has been on the high incoming tides. There seems to be a better number of school striped bass between the bridges in Niantic, as well as some bigger fish around Norwich. Those are both good signs that spring is just about upon us.

Gene, at Black Hall Outfitters in Old Lyme, shared a report from members of their BHO kayak fishing team. The local striped bass have woken up from their winter slumber, and anglers aren’t having a hard time hooking up. Fish to 35” have been in the mix, along with huge numbers of schoolie bass. Fish came on plum island plastics with a 3/4oz head and SP minnows. The bass are starting to spread out a bit, but the usual holdover spots are also still holding a ton of fish, and activity levels are increasing. Local largemouth bass fishing has been strong along the rocks and lay down trees. Anglers seem to be having the most success on jerkbaits, hair jigs and slow fished swimbaits. The trout season is upon us and the state has stocked a lot of fish, all of the usual local spots are flowing well and producing fish. The flounder bite has been reasonable with some quality fish being caught but you will have to put in some time for them, and most likely a bunch of sandworms as well!

Jeremy, at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk, reported that opening day was a bit quieter than usual due to the floods, but anglers fishing the Norwalk River found some nice trout to 5-pounds. High flows have spread this fish out, and the fish aren’t as highly concentrated in the same spots as usual. Spinnerbaits, flies and live bait all seem to be producing equally well. Flounder and tautog reports remain quiet, although that should be changing with the quick warm up we are having. Jeremy also made mention of some better bass fishing in the Housatonic. The herring are now starting to run to the northern stretches of the river, and anglers are catching fish from 20-inches to 20-pounds.

Torrey, at Upcountry Sportfishing in Pine Meadow, reports that it was an eventful opening weekend along the Farmington. The Riverton Fishing Derby winner on Saturday was a 10-pound 13-ounce beast of a rainbow caught by Matthew Musumano. That wasn’t the only big one in the group, as the next two biggest were 9 and 8 pounds respectively. Flows, conditions and weather all continue to rapidly improve, and the permanent C&R area is down to about 500 cfs. The warm weather is getting a good hatch cycle started, including a good Baetis hatch that was reported in the permanent C&R earlier this week. Once water temps hit 50 degrees for a few days in a row, expect to see the Hendrickson hatch start. The river is highly stocked and conditions are improving each day, the next week or so should really bring about some excellent fishing throughout.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

Opening day was a success for a number of anglers, with plenty of big trout reported throughout our region. Flow conditions weren’t ideal, so I’d expect an even better weekend upcoming on the rivers. The spring run of herring and striped bass is starting in some of our tidal rivers, and before long the Connecticut River should be full of big bass. This marks a time that a number of New England anglers look forward to each year, when it’s finally time to dust off the bass gear. Go out this weekend and shake the rust off before it completely blows open.