Today April 9 was opening day for trout fishing in Rhode Island. I normally avoid crowds, but I thought today I would go out with the expected 20,000 Rhode Island fishermen and see if I could catch some trout. There is a little pond just across the Rhode Island border that I knew had trout, but I had never fished it.After DJ got out of track practice, we put the canoe on the roof of the car, loaded it up with gear and went out.
Once we got the canoe in the water, we realized it was a waste of time almost instantly. The water was so shallow ( maybe 2 1/2 foot average ) that we could have waded across the the whole pond. It was a bright day so I was nervous the trout would not be very aggressive in shallow water. Unfortunately I was right. I saw one fish caught during the two hours we were in the canoe.
I kept seeing fish jump near the parking area ( near the dam) I casted over there with my casting bubble and got one hit. The problem was this was the shoreline everyone else was fishing. I didn't want to get to close and invade the shore guys personal space. I did after all have the whole pond ( they didn't know it was only a foot deep in a lot of places). Finally after going fishless in the canoe, we put it on the car.
I knew there were trout by the parking area. After going fishless for 2 hours I bet DJ I could catch a trout within five minutes fishing from shore. I walked over to the shoreline not even 25 feet from the car. I casted out my bubble and on the business end for a fly I used a pheasant tail. It was either a size 12 or 14, it definitely wasn't tiny. Within a cast or two I had a hit, but I missed it. It always seems like the first fish is the hardest to get. Then a cast after that another hit, but this one stayed on. After a short fight, I reeled in a foot long rainbow. Then another, then another.
In the period of 45 minutes, I managed to land 6 fish. Four rainbows and two browns. On top of that I had at least 4 other fish on and 5 more hits. In that 45 minute period I easily had 15 bites. It almost became embarrassing because I was the only person catching fish. In the first two hours I fished, I saw one fish caught. During my 45 minute magical run, no one else even had a bite. There were10 other people just watching me. I felt like I was a fishing tv show and I had an audience. It was fun for me, but I have been on the watching end before and that sucks. I kept 3 fish, and gave one away to a family with a 5 year old kid. I told the father I'd give him the fish but I was letting the rest go if I caught any more. I did, but he was grateful for the one I gave him.
I'm not sure how big my biggest was, but the biggest I kept was 14 inches. The brown that I kept was 12 inches.
The picture here is of the main ingredient of my soon to be famous-- fish tacos.
thanks Dave and Clay
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