Its the most Wonderful Time of the Year

   With all due respect to the Holiday Season we are upon my favorite time of the year. In my opinion and in the opinion of others in our area of southern New England the time period from April 15- the end of May produces the best fishing.

   Backtrack to the last couple of weeks. I’ve been fishing most every day with almost nothing to show for it. For a week straight I went carp fishing almost every day after work. Although I have friends that were doing okay, I was striking out. I also went trout fishing once, I got a couple, but nothing to brag about.

Fast forward to this week; we finally got some weather consistently in the sixties and a couple warm nights. That has really gotten the fish going. This Saturday was opening day for trout fishing in Rhode Island. The few days before the opening, guys scouting the ponds reported watching so many fish feeding at the surface it looked like rain.

  Opening day did not disappoint. Although I did not deal with the zoo in the morning, fish were willing. I know of one guy that caught 16 trout in 90 minutes. I went later in the afternoon dragging my friend Laurie along. I caught two quick trout in a few minutes. Sunday afternoon after work, I went for longer catching six trout in an hour of fly fishing.

   Tonight I went carp fishing again. After last week’s disappointment I was not expecting any action. I brought two books with me to keep me occupied. I went to the Blackstone River and set up on the riverbank. I actually caught three carp up to 12 pounds and had another runner. The fish were aggressive and fought hard. After many fruitless outings it was nice to have so much action.

   All of this good fishing can easily be attributed to spring finally getting to the area. The great thing is the fishing will get better and better. Not only will fishing for carp and trout get better, but as the water warms a few more degrees there will be more options.

   Largemouth bass and pickerel are also hitting well right now. Largemouth bass are going to be spawning a couple weeks. Besides the water temperature getting near perfect the bass also want to put on some weight before they spawn. They will hit just about anything this time of year.

Any day now a tidal wave of schoolies stripers will be hitting the West Wall and Narragansett Bay. With warm winters the last couple years, schoolies have shown up in early April. This year the stripers will reach us at a more normal date. That date is any day now

   

   In early May for saltwater bait dunkers, fluke and blackfish will be on the feed. By the end of the month bluefish and scup will be everywhere (assuming bluefish numbers have recovered).

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!