Trout larger and more plentiful this year

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Reports are in from opening day of trout season this Saturday and most feel the fish are larger and more plentiful. Thousands of anglers were on hand to catch their limit of five trout with over 80,000 hatchery-raised brook, rainbow, brown trout stocked by the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) in about 100 locations.

Angler Aidan Olf of Portsmouth, RI fished Melville Pond and said the bite was not only good but "The fish were substantially larger than other years. I was using rooster tails with repeated taps but Power Baits seemed to be working best to hook trout." Lorraine Danti of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren, said, "The bite at Willet Avenue Pond, Riverside was outstanding. We sold meal worms, power baits and a variety of lures for opening day."

John Wunner of John's Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown said, "Fishing was great this weekend. So far the largest fish in our week long youth trout tournament is 2 lbs. 4 ounces but it runs for the rest of the week." Wunner said, "Every opening day has a special story. This Saturday customer Phil Cahill of South Kingstown had a delay to his opening day when he accidentally got hooked in the face at Carolina Trout Pond when a young angler was casting his Storm Shad bait. The hook was dislodged but it delayed is fishing day by a couple of hours. He decided to try to improve his luck and moved to Wood River (South County, RI. He landed a large brown trout weighing 3 pounds 10 ounces as well as a 3 pound rainbow trout."

Angler Steve Brustein from West Warwick (and Portland, Maine) said, "We arrived late at Carolina Trout Pond at about 8:30 a.m. and it was still very crowded."

"We fished the Wood River on opening day." said Tackle Box (Warwick), owner Greg Bruning. "The River was packed with anglers, all catching fish averaging 18 inches which is quite large compared to the smaller 10" fish caught in past years." said Bruning.

Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle, Providence said "Mike and Colby both associates at our shop fished opening day at Carbuncle Pond, Coventry and at Lincoln Woods, Lincoln. Both said the fish were bigger than normal this year. A couple of weeks ago I was at Lincoln Woods an hour after DEM stocked there and things were very active. A lot of flashing and feeding all over the place."

Mate school

"My goal is to find a few good mates… your goal should be one of those mates.", said Capt. Charlie Donilon of Snappa Charters, Pt. Judith as he kicked off the first session of his Mate School this Saturday.

Capt. Donilon has 44 years of fishing experience as a captain working charter boats in Florida and Rhode Island. He is an industry innovator being the first Captain and charter vessel to have a shark diving cage in the 80's and this year he is conducting shark fishing charters that are strictly catch and release. "We booked seven shark charter trips so far this year and not one has objected to our new catch and release policy."

And this Saturday Capt. Donilon did it again with another industry first, his own Mate School. I checked on line and couldn't find another charter fishing Mate School like it.

I was one of eight students attending this Saturday; most students were in their teens or early twenties. Donilon said, "Mates are usually high school or college aged men and women who want to work outdoors. But I tell them you don't want to make this line of work your lifetime job as it is physically demanding, with long hours and it is seasonal employment here in Rhode Island with no benefits or pension."

Mate School teaches students who want to be mates on charter and party boats how to prepare the vessel to fish, how to take care of and prepare fishing gear, how to teach customers how to fish, how to treat customers and much more. The program as it is designed now includes two four hour in-classroom sessions and five hours on a trip aboard Capt. Donilon's charter fishing vessel the "Snappa". Additional on the job training would occur aboard the Snappa or on another charter boat when you are hired. Mate School aims is to introduce students to what it is like to be a mate and what is expected of them as a mate on a charter or party fishing boat.

For information contact Capt. Donilon at 401.487.9044 or snappacharters@cox.net.

Rhody Fly Rodders meeting

The Rhody Fly Rodders last winter meeting is Tuesday April 21, 6:00 P.M. The 'Annual Cookout Get-Together' will be at this meeting starting with fly casting on the lawn outside. Lawn fly casting will be followed by the cookout and then for those interested a DVD presentation on Steelhead Fishing, called "Rivers of a Lost Coast'. The presentation is about the rivers and fantastic steelhead fishing on the Northwest coast of California from 1910 to the 1960's, and the demise of this fabulous fishery. The meeting is open to the public and will be held at The Riverside Sportsmen Association, 19 Mohawk Drive, East Providence, RI. Contact Peter Nilsen, president, for information at pdfish@fullchannel.net .

Where's the bite

The warmer weather is warming water and this is expected to enhance fishing.

Cod fishing last week was still slow as party boats left the dock only once or twice due to high winds and seas. This week should be much better.

Tautog season opened this Wednesday, April 15 and bait shops are angling for green and Asian crabs which are often difficult to get this time of year. Lorraine Danti of Lucky Bait, Warren said "We have clam worms for spring tautog fishing and are expecting shipments of green and Asian crabs before the weekend." Al Conti of Snug Harbor Marines said, "We kept green crabs over the winter and they did pretty good so we will be selling them for tautog fishing." The spring tautog season runs from April 15 to May 31, 16" minimum size with a 3 fish/angler/day limit.

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing for over 40 years. He holds a captain's master license and a charter fishing license. Contact or forward fishing news and photos to Capt. Dave at dmontifish@verizon.net or visit his website at www.noflukefishing.com.

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