Norwich Bulletin

Striped bass : The Thames River is about two or three weeks from "turning on" for the spring season. The snow has to melt and the sun will need to warm the shallows up to and above 50 degrees before things turn to bonkers. Joe Balint of the Fish Connection said that customers have been catching fish as far down river as Poquetanuck Cove in Preston, which is Stage 1 in this process. Those large schools of bass that have been stacked like cord wood in the harbor for the past few weeks are beginning to break up and spread on downriver.

Because of continued cold nights and snowmelt, river temperatures are in the high 30s to low 40s after a day of bright sunshine, but it's not quite there yet. When the snow melts off, the water temperature rises from 32 degrees, the freezing point of water, to 39, which is when it reaches its maximum density. This means this heavy, cold water will sit at the bottom of the river, often driving the bass up off the bottom into the warmer, less dense waters near the surface, making a depth finder screen look like a layer cake because the bass will suspend 8 to 10 feet off the bottom. Under these conditions, catching becomes difficult at times, especially when on top of this weird water temperature stratification a cold blast blows down from the north, dropping the mercury and pushing the barometric pressure sky high. By early to mid-April, depending on prevailing temperatures and the amount of sunlight we receive every day, the bass will spread out all the way downriver and out onto the flats, creating that crazy spring fishery.

Freshwater : Eric Covino and Rick Rinaldi, two of the most devout anglers I know, have been fishing for and catching both bass and pike from some of the shallow ponds across the border in Rhode Island for a couple weeks now. The Ocean State's coastal ponds are always free of ice a week or so before most of Connecticut's lakes and ponds.

Trout : The stocking trucks are running and many waters are closed to trout fishing. There are numerous Trout Management Areas (TMAs) open to fishing year-round, sea-run brown trout along the coast and the ponds at the Quinebaug Valley Hatchery open by appointment. Check the 2007 Connecticut Anglers Guide for specifics before fishing.