Hex Hatch Update

According to David at River & Rip Tide Angler in Coventry, the Hexagenia flies have made a bit of a resurgence early in the week in response to the heat and slowly receding water levels. If you need one final "hex fix" before it ends --- and it will end very soon --- get out there now.

Fishing Update

Heavy rains have put the Wood River nearly over its banks, and this has put off the Hexagenia hatch according to David at River & Rip Tide Angler in Coventry. Look for water levels to recede over the weekend and expect a resurgence in the hex hatch, though it is nearing its end point. Morning caddis provide dry fly action, with terrestrial rounding out the daylight hours. Some Light Cahills create a limited evening hatch.

In the salt, the western side of Sandy Point has been hot for schoolie striped bass feeding heavily on sand eels. Watch for feeding terns to clue you in on location of the feeding school. Bluefish in the 2 to 4 pound range have made an appearance, so if you are tossing flies go well stocked. Action on the reefs off of Watch Hill has been hit-or-miss over the past week, with a big offshore swell making things unconfortable at times, and churning sand and weed into the water nearshore. Expect this too to improve over the weekend.

Did I hear someone say bonito? Nope, not yet but keep your eyes open as they are due to arrive in the next week or so according to my calendar. If you can get there, Block Island is hot, hot, hot for large striped bass (a number of 50 pounders have been taken with lots of 30s and 40s) being taken by day on eels, cut bait and even surface plugs----yes, surface plugs by day to 30 and 40 pound striped bass.

River Runs High

What a wet year this has been. River watchers have their own benchmarks to judge the amount of water in the Wood River. Some of mine include how far I have to walk my kayak in the summertime shallows of the Upper Wood, how the water flows over the falls in Barberville (does it dribble, spill, or rage), and my favorite, the USGS gaging station for the Wood. The graph tells no lies, look what the flow is now (line) versus the 67 year average (triangles). There is a lot of water in that river (flow data as of 4:00 PM, Friday, 24 July 2009)!

Not just another Stinkpot!

In addition to seeing the little Stinkpot again today, there was yet another reptilian visitor to the WPWA campus, though much larger. Chelydra s. serpentina was spotted digging around the flower garden, like the stinkpot, locating a safe spot to lay her clutch.

The Sapping Turtle is common to the eastern United States west to the Rocky Mountains and south from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and into Central America. They will inhabit any permanent and many semipermanent bodies of water, both fresh and brackish. Like most turtles, they are bottom dwellers. They are almost entirely aquatic, though they will travel overland. One amazing feature of the snapper is the fact that, after breeding, sperm may remain viable in females for several years. In our region they usually lay one clutch per year, with typically 20 to 30 eggs per clutch. Hatching occurs about 90 days after egg deposition. However, nests are often destroyed by mammalian predators. DeGraff and Rudis, 1983.

Last year, at the WPWA campus, Denise and I encountered a female who seemed a little displaced. Instead of digging in the dirt, which there was evidence of, she had trapped herself up our deck which looks out onto the Wood River. Knowing that it would be best to move her closer to water, as she was looking very much overheated, we devised a plan. The aggravated turtle, who weighed close to 20 pounds, was in no mood for relocation. In order to safely move her without risking injury to ourselves we had to gently cover her face with a towel. Not knowing what was going on caused her to go along for the ride without objecting.

This years visitor created no fuss at all except for a few upturned stones in the driveway! After surveying the area she found a safe spot in the dirt and went to business. She was here and gone in the course of the morning.

Hopefully in a few months we'll be able to greet her little ones after they hatch before they make their way to the river!

Amphibians and Reptiles of New England, DeGraff and Rudis, 1983

Photos taken by Chris Fox, 6/04/09

Stinkpot Sighting

One of my favorite things about working at the WPWA campus is greeting a visitor. Many times throughout the spring and summer months members will stop by to say hello and renew their memberships. Other times people driving by will finally take the time to come into the office and check it out, often mentioning that they'd thought of stopping many times before. It is always a pleasure to see a friendly face and even better to see them return! Some of my favorite visitors though, are the ones that call the Wood River their home.

Today I was visited by Sternotherus odoratus, who I have not seen for almost a year to the day. However, she did not arrive by car, or by boat as many others do. She simply walked out of the water and up onto the riverbank, most likely looking for a safe spot to lay her eggs.

The Stinkpot Turtle is restricted to the Americas and is common to the Atlantic coast. Their habitat range is from Ontario down to Florida, though there are few in northern New England. They inhabit permanent bodies of water: lakes, ponds and rivers, and have even been found in reservoirs. They prefer areas with abundant aquatic vegetation and feed along the bottom for various foods, their favorite being dragonfly nymphs and caddisfly larvae (DeGraaf and Rudis, 1983).

Though they are also called the musk turtle, because of their musk glands, I do believe that name is misleading. When these little reptiles feel threatened they omit an odor quite unlike musk. Perhaps instead they could have been called the sulphur turtle, or even the burned rubber turtle. This afternoon, while Denise and I were enjoying the small visitor, I fetched a pair of gloves, which Denise happily traded me for the camera. Within seconds the familiar smell was apparent! Knowing we were interrupting a very important task Denise safely returned the stinkpot to the ground.

I know I will be fortunate enough to see another stinkpot on the grounds of the WPWA campus. However, what would really be a treat would be to witness the hatch of our visitor's clutch within the next few months!

Amphibians and Reptiles of New England, Richard M. DeGraaf & Deborah D. Rudis, 1983

Harbingers of Healthy Forests?

What do you think is one of the most common mid-sized predatory mammals roaming our Wood-Pawcatuck watershed woodlands at night? Raccoons? Foxes? The neighbor’s cat? Nope, the right answer might be fishers. Fishers are in the mammal family Mustelidae, the same as weasels and skunks. They are not cats, although they appear cat-like. They are a large (males can be 15-18 pounds) forest predator and feed on rabbits, mice, squirrels, and other small prey. When the Mammals of Rhode Island was written in 1968, there were no authenticated reports of fishers in RI. Today, fishers are common in our forests. This is probably a result of a number of factors; including the extent of forest habitat in the RI as well as the availability of prey.


The photographs here were taken along the Upper Wood River in the Spring of 2009.

Opening Day 2009

Bubblas, grinders, and the opening day of trout season -- uniquely Rhode Island! Opening Day 2009 at the WPWA campus was, as usual, a festive event. WPWA program staffer Danielle Aube and her stepdad Bob Perry had complimentary coffee and cocoa (free for anyone with reusable mugs!) ready at the crack of dawn (special thanks to Honey Dew donuts in Westerly for providing the hot drinks). The threat of rain kept the crowds to a comfortable level and at 6:00 AM, the lures, power bait, and worms were launched with hopes of landing the big lunkers. Fishing was good as the picture below attests. From my vantage point in the WPWA activity center, the first trout landing was at 6:10 AM by a darling 4-year old fishing with her family. Her beaming smile lit up Barberville. This is what Opening Day is all about.

PVA