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Rhode Island fishing
- Thread starter Pa Mike
- Start date
Wood River, RI
Take 95 north to exit 5 for 102 east, then take rt 3 down to 165, then 165 east 2 miles. 2 options:
1) at the check station sign on the left go in park and fish from the steps or anywhere downstream. very good until the hard right bend in the river you'll find walking approx 10-15 downstream depending on your pace, or
2) pass the check station sign on the left and just as the road rises 100 yards past it, make the left on the paved road. Take that road in a little while and make the left where you see the solar post on the left just before the dirt road. Take that dirt road back, cross the wooden bridge, pass the deep pond sign, then when you see the pine trees on the left, make a left at the dirt road when you see (2) six foot fence posts on the right (without any sign). The dirt road is a little bumpy here so unless you have good clearance or 4wd, go to option 1.
Have a good time
CS
Take 95 north to exit 5 for 102 east, then take rt 3 down to 165, then 165 east 2 miles. 2 options:
1) at the check station sign on the left go in park and fish from the steps or anywhere downstream. very good until the hard right bend in the river you'll find walking approx 10-15 downstream depending on your pace, or
2) pass the check station sign on the left and just as the road rises 100 yards past it, make the left on the paved road. Take that road in a little while and make the left where you see the solar post on the left just before the dirt road. Take that dirt road back, cross the wooden bridge, pass the deep pond sign, then when you see the pine trees on the left, make a left at the dirt road when you see (2) six foot fence posts on the right (without any sign). The dirt road is a little bumpy here so unless you have good clearance or 4wd, go to option 1.
Have a good time
CS
Fished the Wood River today. Beautiful day, some brookies rising around Magic Pool at the Pines, but they were pretty picky to be honest, not a bite and I threw the kitchen sink out there over 3 hours... There were definitely some others, just up stream of Magic of some size which were in difficult spots to cast to. Such is life along the cut bank...
Today I spent a little "wormer time" on the wood (flat river bridge too) with some 7 year olds. We started off 10 min walk downstream from the check station and had some luck letting one of the boys pick up an 11 inch rainbow on a wooly bugger on light tackle. Did that put a bend in that rod. Beautiful day on the river, but unfortunately Sunday seems to be kayak (might as well be yakking...) day!!! All novice all the time in the rent-a-noe playing the paddles like lars ulrich on the drum kit for metallica with a 30 pack along for the ride. I'm tired of the kayak. I wish they'de stick to the salt water estuaries. That's enough out of me and have a great week!
cafriguy, I hear you. But the river is shared water so I just smile and say good morning as they pass. Sometimes I ask how many more are upstream so I can figure how long I'll have to wait for the fish to settle down. Most of the time rises start again in 5-10 minutes so it's not too bad. Years ago I was in paddling parties disturbing other fly casters so maybe it's just payback (although personally I knew enough to glide by silently and apologize for the interruption). I try to get on the water early because the paddlers don't usually show up before 10 am.
wood river update?
Hi guys,
I am going to be in RI on Mon-Wed, and I was hoping to go to the Wood River - is that the best trout fishing around? I'm going to be in Narragansett, but I'm not into salt water stuff yet. Still working on my freshwater fishing, and for now that's keeping me plenty happy. I saw the directions in the post below, and I was wondering if that's where I should be going from my location? Also, does anyone have input on how it is fishing now/water level/temp/etc?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Hi guys,
I am going to be in RI on Mon-Wed, and I was hoping to go to the Wood River - is that the best trout fishing around? I'm going to be in Narragansett, but I'm not into salt water stuff yet. Still working on my freshwater fishing, and for now that's keeping me plenty happy. I saw the directions in the post below, and I was wondering if that's where I should be going from my location? Also, does anyone have input on how it is fishing now/water level/temp/etc?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Ricky, I was on the Wood this morning and landed a 14" brown. The water is down to near normal levels and the fish are in the deeper pools and under cut banks. They're taking terrestrials so the rises are sporadic and patience is required. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times. Black ant, cricket and beetle imitations are working. All of the guys who regularly fish this section will give you advice and point out the pools if you ask. Standard practice is catch and release, but not required in this section of the river. Last bit of advice: make sure your gear is clean; we don't want the Didymo brought in. Good luck.
Picked up a brown that wailed on a 22 brown caddis. I'd also tell you that most of the fish rise first thing in the morning (5-6am, then take time off until strangely 1030 give or take 10 minutes for about an hour. Then they're active again around 4pm. The fish are active 10 minutes walk down stream of the check station I detailed in the directions. Walk the trail and make it through the water from the trail then start fishing through the bends in the river where you can see others have entered the water. That brown was 14-15 and had some good girth. By the way, I thought I was having an acid flashback when I pulled into the check station at 7am on Saturday and saw around 40 people on horseback, rubbed my eyes with my coffee in hand and asked what the hell was going on... guess they had been running through the area on a 50 mile endurance race... whoa, dude!!! Wooly success has dropped off. Smaller the better on the dries it seems now...
Laterrrrr
Laterrrrr
anyone fishing the wood this weekend? ...assorted questions
Hi guys, Was going to hit the Wood River Saturday and Sunday. Anyone fishing there?
Also, do you know a good website for temp/cfs for that river? And if you'll pardon one more question, what "should" the flows for teh Wood be? (I mean, when is it too much and when too little, etc.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Hi guys, Was going to hit the Wood River Saturday and Sunday. Anyone fishing there?
Also, do you know a good website for temp/cfs for that river? And if you'll pardon one more question, what "should" the flows for teh Wood be? (I mean, when is it too much and when too little, etc.
Thanks in advance for any help.
I'd like to be fishing but I'm doing surveying for a stream continuity project instead.
This website shows water levels on the Wood at the Route 165 crossing: USGS Real-Time Water Data for USGS 01117800 WOOD RIVER NEAR ARCADIA, RI. Compare against the average flow (the triangles in the plot) to see current flows relative to historical. It gets a little fast above 100 cfs. Right now it's running about 30 cfs.
Temps are fine, Ricky. It's been a cool summer. Get out early and fish ant, hopper, and cricket imitations. The bite slows toward noon.
This website shows water levels on the Wood at the Route 165 crossing: USGS Real-Time Water Data for USGS 01117800 WOOD RIVER NEAR ARCADIA, RI. Compare against the average flow (the triangles in the plot) to see current flows relative to historical. It gets a little fast above 100 cfs. Right now it's running about 30 cfs.
Temps are fine, Ricky. It's been a cool summer. Get out early and fish ant, hopper, and cricket imitations. The bite slows toward noon.
Scorton Angler
Hides dead mayflies in his dress shirt pocket
I thought I'd append to this thread my report of fishing on the Wood River yesterday morning. It was a perfect morning for fishing, althought the flow of the river was slower than I was expecting after all the rain the previous two days. It's only the second time I've fished it, so I actually don't know the typical conditions.
The short of this story is that I caught no fish, despite working lots of rising fish in the afternoon below the Pines parking area. I also fished for 3 hours in the bends below the Check Station in the morning and saw all of one rising fish and caught nothingon woolybuggers. There weren't even very many kayakers whom I can blame. My only consolation is that on the way out I chatted with a guy who looked and talked the part of a Wood River veteran, and he too walked off with a patch full of flies he'd tried that didn't catch any fish.
It suffices to say either: a) I suck, or b) they were picky, and I couldn't figure out what they were eating. For the sake of my vanity, let's assume b), since there was a great variety of insects floating by but no one type predominated. After all my frustration, you can imagine I studied the foam line pretty closely, and watching it for five minutes, I might see a couple BWO (including one remarkable one in about size 12!), several very small bugs that looked most like Griffith's Gnat, a caddis and caddis pupa shucks (I think) here and there. The only thing out of the ordinary I saw were these flat round spider-like creatures about the diameter of a nickel, light brown with six or so legs. If it's that they were feasting on, I had nothing to imitate it. So, there were bugs going by, but nothing I could be sure was the fish's passion.
I'll surely fish the Wood again, since it's just such a nice place to fish. But I won't hide my frustration over the picky fish.
. . . or, was it a)?
The short of this story is that I caught no fish, despite working lots of rising fish in the afternoon below the Pines parking area. I also fished for 3 hours in the bends below the Check Station in the morning and saw all of one rising fish and caught nothingon woolybuggers. There weren't even very many kayakers whom I can blame. My only consolation is that on the way out I chatted with a guy who looked and talked the part of a Wood River veteran, and he too walked off with a patch full of flies he'd tried that didn't catch any fish.
It suffices to say either: a) I suck, or b) they were picky, and I couldn't figure out what they were eating. For the sake of my vanity, let's assume b), since there was a great variety of insects floating by but no one type predominated. After all my frustration, you can imagine I studied the foam line pretty closely, and watching it for five minutes, I might see a couple BWO (including one remarkable one in about size 12!), several very small bugs that looked most like Griffith's Gnat, a caddis and caddis pupa shucks (I think) here and there. The only thing out of the ordinary I saw were these flat round spider-like creatures about the diameter of a nickel, light brown with six or so legs. If it's that they were feasting on, I had nothing to imitate it. So, there were bugs going by, but nothing I could be sure was the fish's passion.
I'll surely fish the Wood again, since it's just such a nice place to fish. But I won't hide my frustration over the picky fish.
. . . or, was it a)?
The fish get worked pretty hard in this section and if they haven't float-stocked lately, they just may be picky after having been caught and released a few times. I heard stocking was planned for last week, but may have been missed because of the rain. Hopefully, I'll get out on Saturday morning.
Scorton Angler
Hides dead mayflies in his dress shirt pocket
The veteran I talked to on the way off the river indicated he thought that they'd be stocking this week.
I'm singing in the rain... well not exactly. The river was at 22 cfs when I was downstream of the checking station on Friday. Fish were rising reliably on what must've been emergers and I wasn't smooth on the uptake to go with tricos and my 22 brown caddis wouldn't cooperate with my tippet... excuses, excuses... The story of the day was a couple of rainbows I saw. I was nymphing a turn in the river with some deeper water and hear what I thought was a rise. Looking upstream I see a couple of rish boiling on the surface. And now they're coming closer?!? These two rainbows were chasing each others tails in a circle, completely oblivious to me, coming right downstream with a very slow current. From front to back they must've traveled 100 yards of the stream with me, and I couldn't get them to look at me of a fly regardless... They were having such a time, they almost ran into the bank. I walked right over to the pair of SOBs and then they just played back upstream the same way... What a sight. They were absolutely oblivious and I probably could've netted one. Along with the beautiful weather, it was a magical day. Hope you all had a great weekend.
I saw the same thing, cafriguy, but it was three rainbows and about a half mile downstream on Sep 19th. Got within five feet of them before they spooked. I suspect that one fish may have had a fly hooked in its jaw and the others were trying to take it away. Although I didn't see a fly because they were moving too fast, I can't think of another explanation for this unusual behavior. All the other fish were lying in runs and rarely rising.
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