New England - New England Freshwater Fishing Reports

Rich at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk reiterated that local stocked rivers including Mianus River, Norwalk River, Saugatuck River, and Mill River in Fairfield continue to churn out large numbers of trout. Most are of decent size with very few “ultra-small” specimens. Saugatuck Reservoir anglers are still catching plenty of smallmouth bass along with a few largemouths, trout, and walleyes. Shiners remain a dependable bait, but Rich thinks fishermen will do better and become much more familiar with the impoundment by walking the shoreline, trying lots of spots, and probing a variety of cover and structure with artificial lures such as swimbaits and suspending jerkbaits.

Much to report this week from Andrew at Fishin’ Factory 3 in Middletown. Despite recent rain, flow levels in streams and rivers are quite manageable. Indeed, weather for trout fishing has been ideal—cool and cloudy—and action has been phenomenal with best reports coming from anglers at the Salmon River, Coginchaug River, Butternut Park Pond (Rowan’s Pond) Community Fishing Water, and Day Pond Trout Park. Regarding Butternut Park Pond and Day Pond, Andrew added that both are excellent places for family fishing. They are generously stocked with trout and offer an obstacle-free shoreline to fish. Butternut is also stocked with channel catfish. Shad fishing in the Connecticut River is “tremendous.” Carpin’ is not bad either. The annual Carp Shoot-Out on the Connecticut River will be held this coming weekend, and Andrew expects action to be sensational. He has been selling “tons” of carp fishing baits especially the new Carp Maxx boilies and pop-ups.

Red Cattey in Litchfield heard from his former fishing partner Skip Zander who relayed reports from a few of his VFW friends. The gent who docks his boat at Wononskopomuc (Lakeville) Lake picked up a few throwback brown trout during his latest outing, and a couple of fellows who went to Mohawk Pond hoping to score some big brook trout caught just yellow perch and pumpkinseeds on worms from shore near the ramp. Another shore angler at Wono using live bite also had yellow perch along with a 20-inch pickerel.

Connecticut saw its first big wave of migratory bass this week, these fish have been reported from both ends of the Sound and various sizes have been reported. Karen from AW Marina said that the best action she’s heard of has been from the shores adjacent to the mouth of the Thames where striper action has been showing signs of improvement in both numbers and size. On the Connecticut River, Andrew from Fishin’ Factory 3 says that there are still lots of guys scoring fish on worms inside the river, but bigger fish are beginning to show around the mouth and pluggers are starting to cash that bite now. Live eels are also putting some fish on the local sand and rocks. There haven’t been any true giants reported yet, but that should be coming next. The best beach fishing is still happening out west, says Bobby J’s, where Hudson River spawners and Housy holdovers are combining forces to fire up the fishing. The surfcasting reportedly spilled out of the estuaries onto the beaches this week where anglers throwing needles, swimmers and glides scored well with fish from schoolies to a few over 40 inches. It’s primetime now, don’t miss out!

What a difference a week makes. With Crafty One Customs reporting last week that the bass bite was mostly a boat game, things have changed in a hurry as more bass and more bait has shown up over this week. Anglers casting around herring runs have been scoring some good numbers in low light and ‘no light’ situations using speedy swimmers like Magic Swimmers and paddletail swimbaits like the 7-inch K-Tail from NLBN rigged weightless on a 10/0 BKK Titanrider swimbait hook. Other surf guys have scored bigger fish by finding bunker schools and casting big glides and swimmers around the schools or in adjacent ‘passage areas’ where the fish set up to intercept schools of baitfish moving into the area. There have been some good last light reports coming from the Narragansett area according to the crew at Snug Harbor Marina, a few guys reported fish into the 20-pound class on pencils this week. Overall, there were more reports of over-slot catches this week than last week and a noticeable increase in larger fish around the 40-inch class as well. The breachways have been producing stripers of a similar class according to Declan from Breachway Bait & Tackle, lots of school and slot fish have been reported both in the breachways, along the beaches and inside the ponds. Some larger fish into the low 40-inch class have also been caught, primarily after dark, but these fish are possible at any time. One thing that has been showing more and more over the past week is 10-plus pound bluefish which have been terrorizing topwater plugs at first and last light.

Not a lot this week from Connor at Red Top Sporting Goods in Buzzards Bay. More and more freshwater fishermen have switched to saltwater resulting in a dearth of sweetwater reports. What he did hear is that Mashpee-Wakeby Pond continues to kick out smallmouth bass, most on Ned Rigs and drop-shot rigs in dark colors under cloudy conditions and natural hues on sunny days. Also, trout-stocked ponds in Falmouth are producing big largemouth bass—Connor called the largies “trout eaters”—on large swimbaits and wake baits with clear bodies and a bit of faint black coloring.

Rick in Milford told us that big smallmouths are hitting at Wachusett Reservoir. Danny Southwick fished there May 8 and tallied six large smallies on topwater lures. Danny called the biggest bronzie a “gorilla.” Rick viewed a photo of the bass and said it was huge, 5+ pounds at least. Rob also had a great day at the ‘Chu beaching largemouths and smallmouths on shiners between Gate 8 and Gate 6. A smallie weighing 4+ pounds was Rob’s best bass. Trout action remains outstanding at all spring-stocked destinations, among them West River, Mill River, Louisa Lake, Hopedale Pond, and Wallum Lake where Markie is still catching rainbows on PowerBait from shore.

From Roger Aziz, Jr., in Methuen we heard that local stocked rivers such as the Parker and Shawsheen are loaded with decent trout, but many are now hiding in hard-to-reach sections. Shad are in the Merrimack River. Numbers are not high, but anglers can expect at least one or two fish per session. Lots of smallmouths, however, are being caught in the Merrimack on spinnerbaits. White catfish and channel catfish are also being taken in healthy numbers.

Skip at Saunders Boat Livery, Inc. In Southwick let everyone know that water temperature at Congamond Lakes is 65 degrees, and all three ponds (North, Middle, and South) are producing bass. Action is not steady, however, because of erratic weather—chilly one day, warm the next—but enough bass are in shallow looking to feed and spawn, so making contact is easier now especially during warming periods. Even then, according to Skip, you must hit the bass on the head to get them to strike. They are not yet in lure-chasing mode. Some bass have started to spawn but most are still in prespawn. Lures that are working are Chatterbaits and plastic worms. Spinnerbaits and jerkbaits, on the other hand, do not appear effective yet. Many other species including trout, rock bass, and sunfish are active. Skip also fished a bass tournament at Onota Lake in Pittsfield where water temperature registered 60 to 61 degrees. Top three finishers weighed in 14, 9, and 8 pounds respectively. Skip logged 7 pounds, placing sixth. Many other participants either blanked or managed only one scorable fish.