Hello from Rhode Island

[woodrivertroutbum]

Hey guys! My name is Alex, I am 23 from Rhode Island. I have been bass angling and surf casting for stripers for almost as long as I can remember. I am just now getting in to fly fishing (and tying) although I have had an interest in it for quite some time now. I am really in to the politics and conservation of the striped bass and plan on taking my trout fishing to the same level. I am looking forward to spending some time on here and getting to know some of you.

Alex

 

[milt spawn]

Welcome woodpro! I would ask where you were from, but I guess Rhode Island pretty much narrows it down! milt.

 

[mcnerney]

Woodpro, welcome to the forum! I'm looking forward to reading about your fishing adventures.

Larry

 

[FlyBum]

Welcome Woodpro I like forward to what you have to share!

 

[Rip Tide]

hey Woody,
I was a resident of the 'biggest little' for years but now live just over the state line in CT.
It's been a long time since I fished the Wood. Even when I lived in RI I trout fished here in eastern CT more often.
Now I travel back to RI to fish the shore. Maybe I should have stayed put.

Give some thought to fly fishing the salt as well as trouting
http://www.connri-saltfly.com/

 

[Frank Whiton]

Hi Alex,

Welcome to NAFFF and thanks for becoming a member. I hope you enjoy your time on NAFFF and share in your fly fishing adventures. You might want to consider adding a location to your profile. When we know where you live it helps us to give a better response in future post. A general location is just fine.

Frank

 

[jpbfly]

:welcome:Alexfrom...across the pond.

 

[woodrivertroutbum]

Thank you all for the warm welcomes! I am looking forward to do a lot of fly fishing this year and will be sure to share pictures as well as trip reports as I plan on trying to get a lot of river time in the back country of Maine as well as NH, VT and PA.

Rip Tide, I definitely plan on fly fishing for blues and striper in the future but it will probably have to wait until next season as the RISAA saltwater show drained my pocket and I just bought a TFO Lefty Kreh pro series rod and G loomis reel today. I was planning on getting my MA fresh water license since they have no closed trout season so I could start fishing right away instead of waiting for April 9th. Would it be worth it to get my CT license instead? I may get my MA license as well to fish in Western Mass but if I am better off getting CT first I will do that.

I am spending a ton of time looking at trail maps and satalite images to try to scout out some spots on the rivers. I plan on also going on some hikes probably starting this weekend to scout the rivers.

Alex

 

[littledavid123]

Welcome to the site Alex, we all look forward to seeing and reading about your adventures. Also I highly recommend that you spend some time in the search option, there are a lot of good stories and info hidden in there.

Dave

 

[darwin]

Hi Alex

 

[Rip Tide]

. I was planning on getting my MA fresh water license since they have no closed trout season so I could start fishing right away instead of waiting for April 9th. Would it be worth it to get my CT license instead? I may get my MA license as well to fish in Western Mass but if I am better off getting CT first I will do that.

I am spending a ton of time looking at trail maps and satalite images to try to scout out some spots on the rivers. I plan on also going on some hikes probably starting this weekend to scout the rivers.

Alex

I'd spend the next 2 weeks practice casting and scoping out some spots closer to home rather than buying an out-of state license if I were you.

There's some quality water in RI, but it can be a madhouse with all the crowds vying to fish just a few choice streams. And it will be like that until the stripers show in numbers and bass fishing warms up.
That's one reason that I chose to fish eastern CT. Not that it can't get crowded here, it's just less so.
Most of the best trout fishing in Mass is west of I-91 or north of Quabbin and because you're a newbie fly fisher your time would be better spent fishing (almost anywhere) rather than traveling to fish.
I'd stay local and then branch out after developing some skills

Here's some good maps of the management areas that may help.
RI DEM Geographic Information System

One thing about RI though, they stock big trout , Good luck.

 

[woodrivertroutbum]

Thanks! I will look in to the eastern CT stuff because it makes more sense to get that license since it is close and then get Mass if and when I am heading out to western Mass anyways. We hike a lot so the fly fishing will just be added enjoyment to the hikes we already have planned. Is the trout fishing stable all season? It seams like with the rediculous creel limit and no size limit in this state that all the trout would be gone fairly quickly. Wish there were more catch and release areas around to keep the populations stable.

 

[Rip Tide]

It seams like with the rediculous creel limit and no size limit in this state that all the trout would be gone fairly quickly. Wish there were more catch and release areas around to keep the populations stable.

Except for where you are. (you know the river I'm talking about) there's almost no hold-over or wild trout in RI. They're nearly all stocked. Reduced creel and size limits would be meaningless. There are other exceptions but not many.

here's a map of the range of wild trout in RI
red is "expatriated"
the orange is only a slight step above

 

[woodrivertroutbum]

Good point RT. So there are wild trout in "my" river? You were right about RI stocking some nice fish. I was in the right place at the right time in Exeter yesterday and happened to bump in to the trout truck. Some of the fish were easily 2+ lbs. I also bumped in to a couple guys taking pictures and information of some of the bridges in the area. One new one was just built, another one is designed and going up for bid and they are working on a few more like the one at frosty hollow. Good to actually see my our money go to work

RT, do you surf cast or just throw flies for the stripers?

 

[Rip Tide]

There's hold-overs in "your" river. Wild trout only in the smaller tributaries

I only fly fish. Not because I'm against fishing with meat rods, only because fly fishing is what I enjoy and know best..

 

[woodrivertroutbum]

I only fly fish. Not because I'm against fishing with meat rods, only because fly fishing is what I enjoy and know best..

Awesome, I never use bait with any kind of fishing I do. I throw tins, buck tails and wooden plugs. I love getting right in to the crashing surf but will probably start tossing flies for striper next year. This spring will be all trout until the stripers get up here, then it will be surfcasting until they slow down. Then it will be back to trout and I will get a 8 weight setup for bucket mouths and smallies, then back to striper in the fall and trout over the winter. I have a lot of fly fishing to do to make up for all the years I have put it off.

 

[wtsobsessed]

Except for where you are. (you know the river I'm talking about) there's almost no hold-over or wild trout in RI. They're nearly all stocked. Reduced creel and size limits would be meaningless. There are other exceptions but not many.

here's a map of the range of wild trout in RI
red is "expatriated"
the orange is only a slight step above

Rip Tide, I think you may be misinterpreting the map. It's an illustration from wildtroutstreams.com.

The basins you refer to are from the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture dataset. "Extirpated basins" are shown brown, and actually that layer was turned off, so none are showing up in this image. In any event, there can be wild brown and rainbow trout within the extirpated basins... "extirpated" refers in this case specifically to Brookies. The red basins have severely degraded brook trout habitat then (in order of improvement) orange, yellow, green, blue (there is no green or blue habitat in RI). But yellow basins are likely to support one or two brook trout streams. Any of the cold water streams within a color-coded basin (even a red one) are likely to hold wild trout, although many will not provide a very good fishing experience. In the image, the cold water streams are blue; warm water streams are magenta.

There's a set of three web pages that explain data intepretation on the website:

Part I: A Guide to Interpreting Data to Find Trout

 

[peregrines]

Hey Alex-- welcome aboard-- you should definitely give stripers and blues a shot too-- you have some excellent places for them in RI, and since you've been throwing tins and plugs at them in the surf you already have a big head start, since you probably have a good sense of where to find them--