Outdoors in RI: Trout & Salmon stocked at 8 ponds, lakes for Veterans Day weekend

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is conducting a special trout and salmon stocking in advance of Veterans Day in honor of our veterans. Rainbow trout and Sebago Atlantic salmon will be stocked in eight ponds and lakes starting Wednesday, Nov. 9, and continuing through Thursday, Nov. 10. Cyanobacteria alerts will prevent stocking in some ponds and lakes.

“Stocking fish in popular waterbodies is a gesture by which DEM honors Rhode Island veterans for their service, sacrifice, and duty done,” said DEM Director Terry Gray. “We hope many veterans will get outside and drop a line in the water this weekend.”

DEM will stock the following waterbodies:

• Barber Pond, South Kingstown: trout and salmon
• Meadow Brook Pond, Richmond: trout and salmon
• Olney Pond, Lincoln State Park, Lincoln: trout and salmon
• Simmons Mill Pond, Little Compton: trout and salmon
• Silver Spring Lake, North Kingstown: trout and salmon
• Watchaug Pond, Charlestown: trout and salmon
• Willet Pond, East Providence: trout and salmon
• Wyoming Pond, Hope Valley: trout

Daily stocking updates will be available each afternoon. For more information on daily stocking, please visit DEM’s website at dem.ri.gov/fishing or DEM Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Outreach and Education Facebook page. Please note that Carbuncle Pond, Coventry, will not be stocked for this weekend.

A 2022 fishing license is required for anglers 15 and older and a Trout Conservation Stamp is required to keep or possess trout. Trout Stamps are not required for minors under 15, persons over 65, persons with 100% disability, landowners fishing from property on which they are domiciled, possessing trout taken from a lake or pond that shares a border with Rhode Island, or privately owned trout from privately-owned ponds. Fishing licenses can be purchased online on DEM’S Rhode Island Outdoors (RIO) portal.

DEM would like to remind anglers of following Freshwater Regulations:

• The daily creel and possession limit for trout and/or salmon is five fish, of which only two can be salmon, from April 9, 2022, through Nov. 30, 2022; and two trout and/or salmon, of which only two can be salmon from Dec. 1, 2022, to Feb. 28, 2023.
• The creel and possession limit for trout taken in the Wood River, between the Route 165 check station and Barberville Dam at Arcadia Road, is two fish from the second Saturday in May through the last day of February. That portion of the Falls River, from the bridge at Austin Farm Road to the bridge at Brook Trail, is a catch-and-release area. 
• The portion of the confluence of the Beaver River and the Pawcatuck River, upstream to New London Turnpike, is designated as a catch-and-release area.
• The daily creel limit for landlocked Atlantic salmon is two fish per day, statewide until Feb. 28, 2023, which must be part of the overall five-fish limit for trout and salmon.
• There is an eight-inch minimum size for any trout caught in any state waters.
• The minimum size limit for domestic (landlocked) Atlantic salmon is 11 inches.

The following activities are prohibited:

• The use of external felt-soled or any natural or synthetic porous material capable of absorbing water in any freshwaters in Rhode Island is strictly prohibited. This includes any waters shared with adjacent states in which Rhode Island fishing regulations apply.
• It is prohibited to enter or exit a state boat ramp with any vegetation attached to any type of boats, motors, boat trailers, or any other conveyance or equipment to curtail the spread of invasive aquatic plants.

Information about stocked freshwaters, size, and creel limits for all freshwater fish species is available in the 2022-23 Freshwater Fishing Abstract, or by calling DEM’s Great Swamp Field Office at 789-0281. For more information on DEM programs and services, visit www.dem.ri.gov. Follow DEM on Facebook, DEM’s Outdoor Education on Facebook, Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM), or Instagram (@RhodeIslandDEM).