Skip the holdovers and take on a new challenge this month!
Winter is coming. Each night gets a little cooler and frosts go from sporadic to frequent. The best fall run blitzes are in the rearview. Fishing options are changing by the day as the calendar slides into December, and many anglers turn their attention to the same old thing… holdover stripers making their way into well-known spots, nearly always willing to eat a set standard of soft plastics on jigheads fished slow.
But aren’t we just a little bit tired of that? Luckily, gluttonous schoolie pounding isn’t the be all, end all of December fishing in the northeast. There’s a lot more variety to be had!
From Another Mother
Striped bass have a cousin, and though they may be smaller, they might actually have them beat in tenacity pound for pound. Morone Americana – the white perch – is a widespread denizen of tidal creeks and rivers, salt ponds, and other brackish water habitats. Averaging about 10 inches in length, they’re perfect light and ultra-light tackle targets. More laterally compressed in shape than striped bass, white perch are capable of hard digs and short runs that will make you think a larger one is much bigger than it really is. In December, they become especially active and targetable as they concentrate in thick schools.
The preferred bait is grass shrimp, which are plentiful and easily caught with a dip net around rocks and marsh banks at lower tides. You can fish these two or three at a time on a #6 hook, under a float with shot for weight. Targeting the species with artificial lures is also effective. Slow-rolled Kastmasters and 1/16- to 1/4-ounce- jigs are both effective presentations. Jigs can be hair or marabou, but soft plastics are especially productive. Fly-rodders also have a shot using small streamers in light or bright colors like white, pink, or chartreuse. Targeting choke points like bridges or rocky points at slack tide is often a surefire way to run into a few perch. Though they’ll feed well in hard current when the water is warmer, they feed and school best in slower water in December.
Esox Minor
As lake and pond temperatures fall, a lot of the summer and fall mainstays get a bit slower and go deeper. One, though, is still in the shallows, lurking, waiting for a baitfish to make a critical error. Chain pickerel are an, often maligned, freshwater predator that’s prevalent throughout the Northeast. Unlike largemouth bass, they’re native here. The species has a cult following that will sing their praises for violent – often visual – strikes and powerful fights. Those praises are well deserved, and pickerel are one of the most underrated species present in this part of the world.
That notorious vigor maintains itself well when water temperatures begin to fall, and even with temperatures in the mid to high 30s, it’s plenty plausible to get pickerel to strike a lure. And though they may not be as massive as their larger Esox brethren – pike and muskies – pickerel can grow well over 20 inches, and the latter parts of the calendar year may be one of the best times to look for the biggest ones.
Conditions dictate size, of course, and I look for a handful of factors when seeking out the largest pickerel. Lakes and ponds with heavy trout stocking seem to produce outsized individuals, likely because fish that have already achieved a larger size, have an especially reliable source of calories. A pickerel that is already closing in on 2 feet long, is just one 9-inch rainbow away from being a monster. Likewise, water bodies that are connected to the ocean and get a run of alewives have a similar tendency to produce large chain pickerel.
To tempt one of these predators, fish around deep weed beds, gravel shoals, drop offs, and woody structure with swimbaits, spoons, spinnerbaits, or large, flashy streamers with a fly rod. When fish are more fickle, try presentations that involve hang time or a slow sink rate. Thought their teeth do some damage to soft plastic, an Albie Snax is a great lure to tempt big pickerel when the water is cold. If you’re worried about handling these fish, given their mouthful of sharp teeth, consider switching over to single barbless hooks. This is good for both you and the fish, as pickerel are also more susceptible to damage from barbed treble hooks than bass.
Micro Hardtails
In isolated pockets, here and there along the southern New England coast, a bite exists that actually gets a lot of attention by anglers from specific demographics and hardly anyone else, while flying just about completely under the radar elsewhere. It’s like a continuation of the fall hardtail season but in miniature: Atlantic mackerel. Smaller and more cold-tolerant than their larger scombrid cousins, mackerel linger longer inshore to feed on silversides and other non-migrating small bait. Narragansett Bay is the most well-known hotspot but there are others, and with numbers of mackerel increasing locally in recent years it wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprising to have schools pop up in just about any larger deep bay or harbor along the Connecticut, Rhode Island, or Massachusetts shoreline.
These fish are often present, but on their way out in December, and with water temperatures dropping, they may not show on the surface as well as they do in October or November. Often, it’s just a good sign to see a handful of other people fishing your chosen location. The key to finding such a location is immediate access to deep water. It’s rare that the mackerel will run into an area that has less than 20 feet of depth within a short cast of shore.
Of course, those willing to keep their boats running late can use their electronics to mark schools, but the shore angler should look for any sign of life; a stray boil, schools of bait close to shore, and diving birds are all good signs. Often, a higher tide produces best and good flow is beneficial. Harbors, docks, and steep, rocky shorelines are prime haunts. The former two are certainly the safer given the dangers of a fall into December waters.
Light tackle makes these smaller fish much more enjoyable. Give them a chance to run and they actually will. Light and ultra-light spinning rods are a blast with mackerel. Close your eyes and you wouldn’t even know it wasn’t an average bonito on the end of you line were it not for that cold December breeze. Choice presentations are small spoons or resin jigs and the ever productive Sabiki rig.
Stocked Salar
Connecticut and Rhode Island both have salmon stocking programs. Connecticut’s are the genetic progeny from the now defunct federal Connecticut River salmon restoration program. These fish are now being produced specifically for the popular fishery that was originally created as a way to utilize surplus or spent broodstock. Nowadays, the fish average a bit over 20 inches and the state is stocking more than ever. In 2025, CT DEEP is stocking out 400 more 2-year-old salmon than they did in 2024. These fish go into the Naugatuck River, Shetucket River, Crystal Lake, and Mt. Tom Pond. Connecticut anglers be advised, that salmon caught in the Housatonic, Naugatuck and Shetucket rivers are catch and release only until December 15th after which anglers may keep one per day. Salmon caught in any other river must be released immediately.
Rhode Island DEM stocks “Sebago salmon”, or landlocked salmon, into a number of waters including Melville ponds in Portsmouth, Stafford Pond in Tiverton, Watchaug pond in Charlestown, Peck Pond in Burrilville, and plenty of others. These fish average smaller than the Connecticut fish but are available in addition to trout in more water bodies. In both cases, the salmon often hold true to their Latin name, Salmo salar, “the leaper”. They’re acrobatic and sometimes frantic fighters. They also often have a ferocious strike, even in the colder months of the year.
In Rhode Island, salmon fall under trout regulations. In Connecticut, the rivers have specific gear restrictions limiting anglers to flies or lures with a single, free-swinging hook and no additional weight on the line. Where legal, small soft plastics like paddletails and flukes on jigheads work well. Spoons are a classic and traditional salmon presentation as well. Vary your retrieve speed based on the fish’s mood. Some days they want it fast, some days slow, a safe assessment is that slower retrieves work better on the coldest days. These fish will also take traditional streamer and wet fly patterns, making it possible to practice on them if you’re planning a trip to the hallowed waters where wild, sea run Atlantics still run.
Cold Water Carp
Perhaps none of the previous four options provide a chance at a fish that can measure up to hooking into a December striper. Or, perhaps you’d rather enjoy a hot thermos of soup while your bait soaks than take on more active pursuits. Although I’ve long been an advocate of using artificial lures and flies to catch common carp, I will admit that this isn’t the best way to do it in December. The water is cold and while the fish are sluggish and spend most of their time in deep water… they’ll still feed, and baiting a spot and letting them find you is the best strategy.
Winter carp rigging should be a bit lighter than warm season gear. A medium action spinning rod is sufficient, spooled with 10- or 12-pound braid mainline and a supple monofilament leader. A fish finder rig with a small, dull egg sinker and dull bead is an effective rig, coupled with a size 6 hook. Try a hair rig, a short loop of braid tied to the shank of the hook and threaded with corn or your bait of choice using a needle and stopped off with a short piece of monofilament or a small twig. Baiting is of particular importance in the winter. Bear in mind that the cooler the water, the slower the fish’s metabolism. A heavily chummed area may overfeed the fish and reduce your chances. I always chum less the colder the water is.
Additionally, the carp won’t travel miles to get to your bait. Winter carping requires getting right near the fish, and because they’re deeper and less likely to roll or jump than in the spring, summer, and fall, that means making inferences. I typically choose to fish smaller ponds and rivers in December, ones where I know the bottom contours well and where the fish can only go so deep. A carp pond with a basin of 6 to 12 feet, or a stretch of river between dams with similarly deep pools, are prime targets. Focus on those deep pools and basins, that’s where carp are most likely to be. Chum lightly with corn or an oat and bread crumb based particle bait, set out a couple rigs, and wait for the run off. Winter carp fishing is rarely fast and furious, but it can produce some beautiful specimens.
As we cast into yet another winter, it can be pretty easy to get down on the options. Certainly, the diversity of available species is definitely not what it was just months ago. Most of the saltwater targets have gone south or gone deep. Though everything in freshwater is still here, many slow down a lot and can seem a bit out of reach. Things aren’t all doom and gloom, though, and there’s plenty of exploration and learning to be done on a myriad of waters with even more species than those I’ve already described here. We don’t always have to resort to the “same old same old” to get a rod bent during the final month of the year.
