Westport / S. Dartmouth report

[dstreck]

My first weekend outing this year was pretty slow. I
started on Saturday wading the Westport River by the
88 overpass...fished starting at the tail end of the falling
tide through slack and a couple of hours into the
incoming. One schoolie (caught at dead low) was all I
had to show for it. Saw a couple of other guys flyfishing
(no luck) and some folks chunking from the bridge. One
guy in a boat did bring in a nice bass as I was leaving.

Sunday I headed over to Little River in the A.M. and
fished the incoming inside the bridge. Nada. Guys
drifting chunks said the action had been non-existent.
At around high-tide I put the boat in at Hixbridge and
spent the next 4 hours drifing between the bridge and
the upper islands. Again, one little schoolie was all I
came up with.

How did anyone else do? Charlie at CMS said that guys
had been doing good at Little River and Slocum's. Any
news?

Dave

[cheerios]

I fished the Westport River today, 7AM to 11:30 AM Fly fishing brought in two small stripers, did not see sea lice on them.

Up by Hicks Bridge I saw two nice fish taken on live bait from a boat.

The river is realy dirty.

Cheerios

[JimK]

Good thing I didn't go down to westport as I was thinking. Instead I went to the sakonnet river a few miles south of stone bridge in tiverton. Well I didn't do anything. Not even a hit.

Where's the Little River?

[fudman]

We fished the mouth of the Westport on Sat (9:30AM-2:00PM) during the drop. Very surprising results as we expected a few schoolies. Hooked 4, landed 3. Largest went 28"+, another 25"+ and a schoolie. Lost a big one due to a wind knot. I believe he was big because I couldn't move him after I set the hook and I was using my 10 wt. A pretty decent day for the first one of the season.

[dstreck]

Little River is between the Slocum River and the
Apponagansett. Good wading, but local property
owners can be a little disapproving, and the bridge is a
favorite with the local kids for swimming. Chunkermen
usually take position on the bridge too, but that
presents no problem for us flycasters. Also, beware of
the current...on any kind of running tide, the current
towards the middle of the river is STRONG. There is
room for about three vehicles in the dirt turnaround just
to the east of the bridge on Little River Road. The
legality of parking is a little nebulous (anyone know for
sure?) but I've never had a problem.

Cheers...

Dave

[FishHawk]

I fished the Westport Saturday also. Nada .Water temp in am was 48.9 degrees.Saw two other flyfisherman hook up in front of Hicks dock. we were in a green Lund. Not even a hit and we saw very little bait.

[reed]

The Little River is just east of the Slocum River. Best
trick is to get to Padanaram, go over the bridge, take 1st
left onto Smith Neck Rod, follow 3.5 miles toward the end,
and take the last right in America onto Little River Rd. Go
3/4 mile to the bridge, where it all becomes clear.

The Little River is just that, a little river/estuary with
only a couple of holes and a feast-or-famine tendency. If
you stand on the bridge, facing north (with Buzzards Bay at
your back) the pool is immediately in front of you, on the
right (east) side of the river. There is also a bar which
runs north/south up the middle of the pool, directly
upstream from the bridge. The trick for flyfishing is to
wade from the west side, by walking 100 yards up the west
side of the river from the bridge, then out into the middle
of the river, and then back down the bar, to fish the pool
effectively.

This is a clumsy description. If you get there at low tide,
you can see all of this as plain as day.

The other problem is that parking is slim-to-none. Most of
the spaces during the summer are taken by swimmers who are
cannon-balling off the bridge, also screwing up the fishing.

Fact is: this is a gorgeous one-hole pool, where the tide
has to be pretty high to hold fish, but no too high or you
can't wade to the bar to fish the pool. If the swimmers are
there, the fish aren't. There's little or no parking, and
it's a long way to go to find the tide/wind/swimmers/parked
cars are working against you.

However, when the conditions are right, it's like having a
text-book Atlantic Salmon hole, possibly full of fish, all
to you

[smallmack]

Has anyone ever tried fishing the mouth of the small Herring Run near the end of the westport river? Its right before Elephants Rock.

I was there this past weekend at low tide. Water was cold, and I was using herring and a 1ounce Kastmaster but nothing.

Just wondering if anyone has had any luck there.

Thanks

[Pogie157]

Yeah, I've tried it a few times, at all different tides. Always got skunked. I've done much better at Elephant rock itself for some reason.

pogie