Get the Fishing Forecast sent to your Email

February 4 , 2010

By Rick Bach

Colder temperatures have Rhody and Connecticut anglers back on the ice, and the fishing’s been heating up as temperatures drop.
    From Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle in North Kingstown, I heard that Johnsons Pond was turning up some great trout fishing, as were Wordens, 100-acre, and Barbers ponds. With temperatures climbing and dropping above freezing, you can’t be too careful in search of safe ice, check and double check for sufficient ice thickness before treading out.
      From Breachway Bait and Tackle I heard that Watchaug Pond in Charlestown had 6 to 8 inches of ice as of Thursday and pound-plus crappie were hitting the ice. For tips on how to target big crappie at night, check out Tim Allard’s piece on page 34 of our January issue. Fishing after sundown can make a big difference in catching slab crappie.
    The Frances Fleet boats have been hitting the cod grounds pretty hard in the past week, and Tammy said there have been good numbers of 5- to 10-pound fish, with cod into the teens coming over the rails, and 20-pounders taking the pool money. Some hake are mixed in as well.
     In Connecticut, Joe at the Fish Connection said that holdover stripers in Norwich Harbor are the best game in town, with fishermen vertical jigging 4- and 7-inch soft-plastic baits like Zooms with good luck. In Brown Park, to the right of the boat ramp, the fishing was steady last week, for stripers and white perch. Joe thinks that maybe the stripers are hanging on schools of white perch. For holdover stripers, keep the presentation very slow, as these fish are lethargic and won’t be crashing any baits like June and October stripers are known to.
     In the sweet water, Gardner Lake has been producing some good perch fishing as of late. Bass and panfish have been active on Rogers Lake as well.
       Captain Morgan from Captain Morgan’s Bait and Tackle in Madison said that the Guilford Lakes have been hot for ice fishermen recently.
      John at the Valley Angler in Danbury hopes the approaching front picks the fishing up, although it sounds as if it’s been pretty good to begin with. He reported an 11-pound brown trout coming out of Candlewood Lake this past week, and said that the smallmouth bass fishing was good as well.
    With some potential snow predicted this weekend, take extra care on the ice, as a blanket of snow can make it more difficult to discern which bodies of water are safe for ice fishing.

Best Bets for the Weekend

Hit the ice. It sounds like anglers are getting in on some of the best ice fishing in New England in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Grab some shiners, tip-ups, and an auger and hit the hardwater. If you’re not the ice-type, you’ve got another great option. The Frances Fleet is limiting out on cod on almost every trip, with some prized-size cod taking the pool money. So, you can head down to Point Judith and make way for the cod grounds, with a cooler and an appetite.

Do you have a current great catch photo? Email it to us and you might just see it in the fishing report. Send photos to kevin@onthewater.com, and be sure to include the angler's name and the size of fish.