New England - New England Freshwater Fishing Reports

Aaron at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk provided this week’s Saugatuck Reservoir update. He fished there one day last week and hooked a nice smallmouth on a Senko in the Valley Forge Road section after having caught nothing at the bridge where the Saugatuck River enters in the north end of the reservoir. Other anglers have not been doing much either, something Aaron blames on adverse weather and high water which is keeping the fish scattered. A couple weeks back, anglers fishing near the bridge were catching trout on Kastmasters.

Andrew at Fishin’ Factory 3 in Middletown heard that trout fishing at the Salmon River in Colchester and Easthampton has been pretty good. He also received a thank you message from a family who caught trout at Chatfield Hollow Pond (Schreeder Pond) Trout Park after Andrew had recommended the place to them. But considering all the trout stocking that has occurred in recent weeks, the lack of reports is baffling. Same for Atlantic salmon. A few guys have been targeting leapers in the Shetucket River and Naugatuck River, but no one has reported back. At the Connecticut River, carp action is still good at Harbor Park in Middletown, Mainline boilies being popular baits for the buglemouths.

Last week Jeff Sullivan in Bristol shore-fished Upper Melville Pond in Portsmouth and caught a number of rainbow trout including a trophy 26-incher on a Spybait early in the morning. He also hit Carbuncle Pond in Coventry for largemouth bass to 5 pounds, also on a Spybait, but in the afternoon. Jeff let us know that autumn trout stocking in Rhode Island ended October 8. Winter stocking should begin in December or January.

Mike at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay let us know that he weighed-in a pair of 2-pound-class rainbow trout last week. The anglers were ‘tight-lipped” and would not say where or how they caught their fish. Mike added that the anything orange, whether PowerBait or hardware, is selling well among trout anglers.

Rick in Milford told us about Barry White who has been catching his six-trout limit of rainbows from shore every time out at Pratt Pond. He has also been scoring trout at Ashland Reservoir and Hopkinton Reservoir. The local bike-ridin’ kids continue to have fun with sunfish and small largemouth bass on minnows everywhere they fish, last week being Ashland Reservoir. Also, an elderly gent hit Wachusett Reservoir for a few lakers. (Lake trout fishing at The Chu should get better as autumn progresses and water gets colder. The impoundment stays open through December 31.) On the bass scene, North Pond produced a few nice largemouths on shiners. In addition, Rick mentioned that two big largemouths, both scaling 5 to 6 pounds, were caught by two different anglers at Milford Pond a couple of weeks back. One of the lunkers hit a plastic worm delivered from shore; the other, a shiner sent from a kayak.

Roger Aziz, Jr. in Methuen and Bob Langley have been fishing brackish sections of the Merrimack River and Parker River for loads of white perch to 1 pound, 10 ounces. Bob’s been catching his on a jig sweetened with a mummichog while Rog has been using worms on a homemade rig. The perch have been on bottom or suspended at mid depth. On one trip last week Rog and Bob combined for at least 125 boated and many, many others missed. Baldpate Pond and Plug’s Pond (Lake Saltonstall) were stocked with rainbow trout October 13.

Skip at Saunders Boat Livery, Inc. in Southwick nearly recorded a three-peat in Thursday evening’s bass contest at Congamond Lakes, missing first place by 2 ounces. A win would have given him his third consecutive first-place finish in the once-a-week event. The winning bass, a largemouth, weighed 2 pounds, 8 ounces. Skip’s entry tipped the scale at 2 pounds, 6 ounces. Overall, bass action at Congamond Lakes has been okay. Lots of fish are in shallow water which is where Skip contacted his second- place largie on a drop-shotted finesse-size plastic worm. Trout action has been picking up. Congamond’s Middle Pond was stocked with rainbow trout September 30, and trout guys are catching both stockies and holdovers. Skip and his buddy also worked the Oxbow on the Connecticut River in Northampton. The bass bite remained slow although it was somewhat better than the week before.