[JohnR]

Hey Steve,

I'm putting my e-mail reply up (at least most of it, hehehe)...

I'll tell you, Rhode Island has probably more awesome fishing spots per mile of coastline than ANYPLACE I've ever seen. It really is that good.

I don't fish open beaches like Misquamicut all that often so I'm not up on the parking there. Most of the places I fish down there are rocky and less traveled. Most of the beaches offer parking at night to fisherman but some require a pass from the local town hall which can be difficult to access unless you are there during the week.

The next stop you mention is Weekapaug Breachway, one of three breachways in Rhody with the other two Quonny and Charlestown, and all 3 are big attractors of fish and crowds. One of the reasons they are hard to fish is because of crowds. Fishing from the breachways themselves can be a challenge to the first timer as you DO NEED KORKERS to fish these spots and there are certain unwritten rules about these places, especially on the dropping tide which is BY FAR the most productive, and especially at Quonny. You need to fish a rotation where one person will cast an eel or plug into the current and let the drift carry out well beyond casting range and into fish stacking up in the rips. Once you've passed a certain spot in the drift, you move up to a different rock and the next person casts. Usually four but no more than five are casting, drifting, or retrieving at any given time but you may have anywhere from 2-3 or 20 people waiting to cast. Especially on the weekends. I rarely fish Quonny, my favorite, because of the crowds they get. These really are not good places to chunk fish a static line because twenty people will take advantage of the drift and I've seen fly fisherman get bullied off the ends of the jettys because they would prevent the traditional (and most effective) methods of fishing those spots, drifting with plugs or eels.

Weekapaug and Charlestown both have lots but with Quonny, you are basically cutting through people's yards to get in. Charlestown has a fee but no one is there after 11pm til about 7am. 50/50 on whether they'll charge a fisherman...

Deep Hole is a great spot and parking is usually no problem but that spot is often busy if not crowded. Other good spots where you can park are Fresh Pond Rock and East Beach in the Quonny area and Charlestown beach, just to the side of the Breachway, also good beach fishing spots... The South side of Watch Hill is another popular spot for chunking but a bit of a walk with a lot of gear... Carpenters Bar, Green Hill, Narragansett, Point Judith. So many places from just Watch Hill to Narragansett to fish. Not even beginning to talk about the other side of Narragansett Bay by Newport and all...

I never fish Matunuck Beach during the meat of the tourist season so I don't know what to say about parking. There is a place I stash my truck for schoolie fishing in the spring but that's before the crowds park...

The West Wall is just east of Matunuck State Beach, the next road off RT1 that says Snug Harbor/Jerusalem. The Wall is near the end of the road and there is some parking there. I'll be putting up plenty of West Wall info when that starts up in a few weeks, hehehe...

Again, like I posted on the board, you may want to cut and paste your original e-mail on the board 'cause you'll get a very informative response from some of the other Rho Dyslanders about those spots....

Later,

John

I don't know what issues you would have for parking really early in the morning and if you are only fishing Rhody before the fish get to your favorite Mass Spot. There might be some problems at the big public lots like Misquamicut and Scarborough Beach (Narragansett) but some of the smaller spoys might be OK til about 6 in the morning. I think those beaches open by 6:30-7Am and you might want to be out by then... You also don't want to quit Rhody when the fish get to the Cape Cod Bay, still make the occasional trip to Rhody ;D