Pawcatuck River Fishing Guides and Conditions, Rhode Island

About the Pawcatuck River

The Pawcatuck runs from Worden Pond in the Great Swamp down through Kenyon, Shannock, Bradford and Westerly to Little Narragansett Bay, forming part of the Rhode Island and Connecticut border along the way. It is the main stem of the whole South County drainage, taking in the Wood, the Usquepaug and the Beaver, and it changes character completely from top to bottom: slow swamp water at the head, a set of dam pools and rocky drops in the middle, and a tidal river at Westerly.

The fishing changes with it. The middle reaches around Shannock and Bradford hold stocked and holdover trout in the cooler water, along with a solid smallmouth population on the rock. The slower upper river and pond outlets are largemouth and chain pickerel water, and the whole river carries river herring in spring. Substantial dam removals and fishways over the last decade reopened the river to migratory fish, and American shad and herring runs have returned, with striped bass following them into the lower river. It is a good paddling river, easy to float with several short trips between dams.

The Westerly gauge reads the whole basin at the bottom, so it responds to rain across all of South County. Moderate readings are comfortable paddling and wading; high spring water makes the dam drops pushy and colors the river; late-summer lows warm the middle reaches and push trout into the cold spring seeps and the mouths of tributaries like the Wood. Tide matters below Westerly, not flow.

Westerly, Bradford, Shannock and Wood River Junction give access, and the whole corridor is within a short drive of the Rhode Island beaches.

Access

Westerly: town access at the gauge and the head of tide.
Bradford: dam pool and put-in for the lower float.
Shannock and the Horseshoe Falls fishway: middle river access.
Kenyon: quiet middle-river paddling access.
Wood River Junction: the Wood River confluence.
Carolina and the Great Swamp: upper river and Worden Pond.
Little Narragansett Bay: the tidal mouth and striped bass water.

Seasons

March and April: herring and shad enter the river; high water and stocked trout.
May and June: the best all-around month, trout in the cool water and smallmouth waking up.
July and August: warm middle river, smallmouth and bass fishing, trout only in the cold seams.
September through November: striped bass in the lower river and good smallmouth fishing above.