RI Fall Trout Stocking Begins

Brook trout. Photo/Tom Richardson

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) will be conducting fall trout stocking in select waters, beginning Oct. 4 and continuing through Oct. 10. DEM is not stocking some ponds and lakes years due to cyanobacteria alerts.

The following areas will be stocked with rainbow and brook trout:

• ♦Alton Pond, Richmond
• ♦Barber Pond, South Kingstown
• ♦Barberville to Wyoming Pond, Richmond, Hopkinton
• ♦Blackstone River, Lincoln
• ♦Bradford Fishing Area, Westerly.
• ♦Browning Mill Pond, Exeter.
• ♦Carbuncle Pond, Coventry.
• ♦Carolina Trout Pond, Richmond.
• ♦Cronan Landing, Richmond.
• ♦Eight Rod Farm Pond, Tiverton.
• ♦Grantville to Rt. 95, Hopkinton.
• ♦Hope Valley Fishing Area, Hopkinton.
• ♦Kings Factory Bridge, Charlestown
• ♦Lower Shannock, Charlestown
• ♦Meadow Brook Pond, Richmond.
• ♦Olney Pond, Lincoln State Park, Lincoln.
• ♦165 to Barberville, Exeter, Hopkinton.
• ♦Round Top Ponds, Burrillville.
• ♦Shippee Sawmill Pond, Foster.
• ♦Silver Spring Lake, North Kingstown.
• ♦Spring Grove Pond, Glocester.
• ♦Stafford Pond, Tiverton.
• ♦Upper Pawtuxet, (Hope), Scituate.
• ♦Willet Pond, East Providence.
• ♦Woodville, Richmond, Hopkinton.
• ♦Daily stocking updates will be available each afternoon via www.dem.ri.gov/fishing, or by calling (401) 789-0281 or (401) 539-0019 for more information on stocking.

A 2024 fishing license is required for anglers 15 years of age and older and a Trout Conservation Stamp is required to keep or possess trout. Trout stamps are not required for persons possessing trout taken from a lake or pond that shares a border with Rhode Island. Fishing licenses can be purchased online via Rhode Island Outdoors (RIO).

RI 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 13, 2024, through Nov. 30, 2024; and two trout and/or salmon, of which only two can be salmon from Dec. 1, 2024 – Feb. 28, 2025.
• ♦The creel and possession limit for trout taken in the Wood River, between RT. 165 Check Station and Barberville Dam at Arcadia Road, is two fish from the second Saturday in May through the last day of Feb. 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 and is no longer stocked.
• ♦The daily creel limit for landlocked Atlantic Salmon is two fish per day, statewide until Feb. 28, 2025, which must be part of the overall five fish limit for trout and salmon.
• ♦There is an 8-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 waders or boots or those soled with 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 strictly prohibitedto 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 in order to curtail the spread of invasive aquatic plants or invertebrates.