November 10, 2025 - 10:38:04
Mainly trout news this week from Andrew at Fishin’ Factory 3 in Middletown. He has been hearing reports from customers and friends that the Salmon River is producing beautiful brookies, and that the Farmington River and Chatfield Hollow Pond (Schreeder Pond) Trout Park are churning out trout. Also, local kids have been having a ball catching catfish at Butternut Park Pond (Rohan’s Pond), a community fishing water inside Butternut Hollow Park in Middletown. Andrew also wanted readers to know that the store is now open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If you need something when the store is closed, phone the shop at 860-344-9139, and your call will be transferred to Andrew’s cell phone.
November 10, 2025 - 10:37:57
Andrew at Fishin’ Factory 3 said the weather was the story this week and although they had plenty of customers going out over the weekend, they hadn’t heard lots of results back in the shop when we talked. He did say that with steadily falling water temperatures it would be a good bet to move out into deeper water to target tautog. He suggested trying 30 feet and deeper to find the fish as they will be moving off the shallow structure they’ve been on thus far this fall. He also mentioned that while jigs are still effective in deeper water, getting them down in heavy currents can be a challenge so it's a good idea to be ready to fish with rigs and heavier sinkers as well. As of when we’d talked, the tournament leading tog was still clocked at 12.5-pounds caught (and released) by Eric Abrahmson. The shop continues to run their annual blackfish tournament and they have built on the format they used in previous years with not only winner take all, but also weekly and even daily winners. They have lots of sponsors providing rods, reels, jigs, boxes and all kinds of other tog related prizes and they are excited for this year’s contest to come. 30-dollars gets you in and must be paid in person at the shop. There is a change this year as the boundary for Rhode Island is now at Point Judith and excludes Newport. The shop is switching to their late-fall hours. They will be open Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. With that said, Andrew noted that all calls to the shop are forwarded to his cell phone and even if the store is closed there will likely be someone around to help out, or, weigh a fish for the tournament.
November 03, 2025 - 09:05:15
According to Andrew at Fishin’ Factory 3 in Middletown those huge brook trout stocked in the Quinnipiac River are the hot angling topic in town. Seems like everyone is marveling at the size and beauty of the squaretails. Andrew added that trouters fishing the Salmon River are catching beautiful brookies too. (The Salmon River TMA and TTA were stocked with trout October 15, 16, and 28.) The Connecticut River is nearly blown out from heavy rains. Carp fishing had been excellent before the river swelled and should be just as good when the river relaxes. Connecticut River fishermen can also expect action with yellow perch and crappies in marina basins and coves such as Wrights Cove, Wethersfield Cove, and Chapman Pond.
November 03, 2025 - 09:05:08
Andrew at Fishin’ Factory 3 said the foul weather had made for a quieter week at the shop as lots of boats were forced to stay at the dock. On the days it was decent enough to fish there was a good bite for blackfish and word from most customers was that the best bite is still shallow, in 20-feet of water or less. They heard from a few customers who caught their 3 fish limit on jigs around shallow rockpiles. Short black sea bass were reportedly still a problem for anyone fishing in 30-feet or deeper. Andrew speculated that it’s not that the blackfish aren’t there but getting through all the little sea bass to get to them is the real challenge. The hope from the regular tog crowd is that this storm cools the water by a few degrees and kicks those sea bass out of the area. As of press time, the tournament leading tog was still locked at 12.5-pounds caught (and released) by Eric Abrahamson. The shop continues to run their annual blackfish tournament and they have built on the format they used in previous years with not only winner take all, but also weekly and even daily winners. They have lots of sponsors providing rods, reels, jigs, boxes and all kinds of other tog related prizes and they are excited for this year’s contest to come. 30-dollars gets you in and must be paid in person at the shop. There is a change this year as the boundary for Rhode Island is now at Point Judith and excludes Newport. The shop is switching to their late-fall hours. They will be open Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday. 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. With that said, Andrew noted that all calls to the shop are forwarded to his cell phone and even if the store is closed there will likely be someone around to help out, or, weigh a fish for the tournament.
