Spring fishing is hot… time to cast a line

 Michael Laboissioniere of North Providence with a 2 pound trout he caught at Olney Pond, Lincoln.

Alicia DeAngelis caught her limit of trout (five fish) in just a couple of hours at Silver Spring Lake, North Kingstown.  “She used PowerBait fished on size 14 snelled treble hooks eighteen inches above a bass sinker.” said Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle. 

 Rich Andrews with a 27”, three pound trout he caught opening day.  Trout seemed larger this year.

The RI Party & Charter Boat Association donated cash and canned goods to the Johnnycake Center food bank as part of their annual meeting Sunday at Spain’s Restaurant, Narragansett.  In photo:  Captains John Rainone, past board president; Steve Anderson, vice president; Andy Dangelo, treasure; Paul Johnson, secretary and Rick Bellavance, president.  

Late start OK: John Soloyna of Warwick caught this rainbow and brown trout within an hour after he started to fish around noon Saturday.

Spring fishing is hot… time to cast a line

It’s spring and the fishing is great. Opening day of the freshwater fishing season was a big hit, tautog season opens Saturday, April 15 and anglers are catching school striped bass in southern Rhode Island saltwater ponds, coves and rivers.

Tautog season opens

Tautog fishing is fun.  I like to relax with friends and family, shoot the breeze and enjoy a great Rhode Island fishery all at the same time.  Tautog (or Blackfish) is a great eating fish too with a dense whitish meat.  The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) regulates tautog fishing with three seasons. 

The spring tautog season opens Saturday, April 15 and ends May 31 with a three fish/person/day limit; fishing reopens August 1 to October 14 with a three fish/person/day limit; and then the late fall/winter season runs from October 15 to December 15 with a six fish/person/day limit. 

A fishery-wide closure, to protect tautog during their spawning period, is in effect from June 1 to July 31.  At all times when the fishery is open, there is a limit of 10 fish/vessel daily limit. Party and charter boats are not subject to the 10 fish/vessel limit. 

You have to be over or near structure (rocks, piers, wrecks, ledge, humps or holes, etc.) to catch tautog so anglers use a number of strategies to ensure their vessel stays in position.  The trick is positioning the vessel without getting your anchor stuck in rock.  I’ve lost three anchors over the years which can cost as much as $300 to $500 depending on the type of anchor and chain.

Anglers often use a grappling hook anchor make of rebar to tautog fish. The soft rods allow the anchor to bend if it should get caught in structure.  Capt. Sherriff said, “Another method used by anglers is to tie a line to the end of their Danforth or grappling hook anchor (opposite the chain end) and attach a float to the other end of the line”.  When ready to leave they pick up the float and line which pulls the anchor out of the structure the same way it went in.

I use an anchor retrieval system (www.westmarine.com ) which cost about $100.  A float on a six foot line is attached to your anchor line with a sliding metal ring.  When the vessel is pulled forward toward and beyond the anchor the ring eventually works its way down to the anchor and the float brings the anchor to the surface where you can retrieve it off the stern.  The trick is not getting the anchor line caught in your prop as you move forward toward and beyond the anchor.

Another method that worked well for me when I had a smaller center console was the use of a cinder block as an anchor. The cinder block costs about $1.50.  However, it often does not hold in strong current or seas and does not work well with large or heavy vessels.

Anchoring over structure takes some practice too. Locate a rock pile with electronics, estimate wind/drift direction and anchor up current from where you want to fish and drift back to the spot as the anchor is setting.  Once in position, fish all sides of the boat casting a bit to cover as much area as you can.  If still no bites, let some anchor line out a couple of times to change your position, if still no bites it is time to move the vessel. 

Watch for more tautog fishing tips next week.

Freshwater season Opening Day big hit

If you missed Opening Day Saturday it is OK as there are plenty of fish left to catch.  Jeremy Barton of Narragansett said, “There weren’t nearly as many anglers fishing Saturday morning at Silver Spring Lake in North Kingstown but the fishing was very good. And as you can see you have a lot more elbow room fishing from shore.”

Not only was the fishing good but the size of the stocked trout were larger than usual. Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren said stocking efforts were successful, “We had a father/son and an uncle/ nephew team come in for photographs for our Facebook page.  All four of them limited out on trout (five fish/person).  Trout fishing was good at Melville Pond, Portsmouth and Willet Avenue Pond, Riverside.”

Fishing after the start of opening day did not deter John Soloyna of Warwick who caught a nice rainbow trout and a brown trout in about 60 minutes when he started fishing a 1:00 p.m.  And, Tim Jacobs of Richmond who caught two nice rainbow trout at 2:00 p.m. said, “I’m using a trout spinner bait with a very slow retrieve rate.” Soloyna landed two fish in five minutes as I watched him from shore,

Visit www.dem.ri.gov for licensing information and locations, a list of waterways that have been stocked with trout and details on regulations.

Striped bass coming on strong

On-the-Water magazine’s striped bass migration tracker (www.onthewater.com/striper-migration-map) shows school striped bass are working their way north up the Connecticut coastline with keeper fish being caught off New York. Jason Howell of Narragansett fished the Narrow River in Narragansett this weekend and landed school striped bass. 

Rhody Fly Rodders meeting

The Rhody Fly Rodders will hold their Annual Cookout Get-Together Tuesday, April 18^th, 6;00 p.m. at the Riverside Sportsmen’s Association, 19 Mohawk Drive, East Providence.  Meeting will include fly casting as well as the continuation of the striped bass movie ‘Running the Coast’ that was first shown last month. Flies will be on sale with money donated to 'Project Healing Waters’.  Contact Peter Nilsen, president, with questions at pdfish@fullchannel.net .

Where’s the bite

Striped bass. School striped bass ae being caught in southern coastal ponds and rivers like Narrow River, Narragansett.  However, it is early and hard to tell if these are migrating fish or hold-over fish from the winter. 

Tautog season opens April 15 (see above article).

“Cod fishing has been spotty and the water was cloudy from storms earlier in the week.” said Dianne Valerien of the Seven B’s Party Boat.  Capt. Matt Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “We fished last week but the water was still churned up from last weekend's big storm. Fishing was quite slow with a few handfuls of market cod fish up to 8 lbs. However, tons of bait were noted on the local grounds which is always a good sign.”

Freshwater fishing has been focused on trout and opening day (see above story). However, early signs are that the largemouth bite is good and picking up too.