After what seemed like a never-ending spring of great catches of trout up in Massachusetts (thanks to the year-round open season and plentiful stocking), Rhode Island and Connecticut finally joined in on the fun this past weekend. With more than 500,000 trout stocked throughout the two states leading up to opening day on April 9, suffice it to say there were opportunities-a-plenty.
The early reports in both states on Saturday morning were of cold air temperatures the likes of which we haven’t seen in a few weeks. Was this Mother Nature’s way of toying with the trout faithful or just more dues to be paid? Either way neither the fish nor fishermen seemed to mind all that much as most every fishable water body across the region saw a crowd of anglers vying for that coveted “hot spot” along the shoreline.
In Rhode Island, the fishing was reported to be very good in places like Meadow Brook, the Wood River and Carolina Trout Pond. Most all accounts from our reporting stations indicated that the fish being caught this year were on the somewhat larger-than-average size and they were more than willing to strike all manner of offerings including live bait, lures and synthetics like PowerBait. But it’s not over with after the passing of the 9th as excellent fishing will continue for some time. After all, it’s not as if all those stocked fish were caught in two days!
Looking forward to the free fishing days in May in Rhode Island—May 7 and May 8 this year—another opportunity is on the horizon as those beautiful golden trout that we told you about in the April Monthly Issue of The Fisherman will be stocked in preparation for the free fishing weekend. Looking sort of like a cross between a rainbow trout and a goldfish, the golden trout is a strain of rainbow trout that have been bred from one single mutation that was discovered in a West Virginia fish hatchery back in 1955. That original specimen was then bred with other rainbow trout and ultimately the coloration and size perfected to a point where the unique variation could be stocked in local waters. The golden rainbow is a true rainbow and not a variation of the golden trout which is only found in high-altitude waters of California and is unrelated. The golden rainbow is primarily yellow/gold with a lighter yellow to whitish belly and sometimes prominent red stripe down its side.
In Connecticut, much like in Rhode Island, excellent fishing was experienced state-wide. The broodstock Seeforellen brown trout are still being landed from the stockings that took place the last two winters. Lakes including Black Pond (Meriden/Middlefield), Cedar Lake (Chester), East Twin Lake (Salisbury), Highland Lake (Winchester), Long Pond (Ledyard/North Stonington), Mashapaug Pond (Union), Squantz Pond (New Fairfield) and West Hill Pond (Barkhamsted/New Hartford) have all received fish with some specimens approaching and some even exceeding the 20-pound mark!
The state also stocks more “normal-sized” brook, brown, rainbow and tiger trout across the state, and you can find out exactly where by visiting the state stocking page. Added to this bounty of fresh fish this year is nearly 200 specially-tagged trout from the 2016 Tagged Trout Promotion that we’ve been telling you about for the last few weeks. Capt Greg of the Black Hawk reported to us that some very good returns on the tagged fish were being made all weekend long, and as this promotion runs through May 7, there is still plenty of time to get in on the action.
