Fishing Forecast - April Full Moon 2025

It sure feels good to be sitting here writing the first forecast of the new season. It's that magical time of year where spring fishing is just around the corner and the air is full of promise. The other day, I bought coffee creamer that expires on May 13th. My first thought was, "by the time this creamer expires, we'll be into big bass and the tog fishing will be on fire". As far as winters go, this was the realest and longest one we've had in quite a few years. The first fishing forecast signifies the end of winter (he types as it's 40 degrees out and blowing 20+) and the kickoff for spring fishing. Although the snotty weather isn't loosening it's grip on us just yet, there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel. Here in Rhode Island, April tends to be one of those months with two distinct halves - the first, an extension of winter with signs of promise. Ospreys, blooming flowers, budding trees, etc. The second is truly the start of spring. The days are long, the weather (usually) turns around, and the fishing can be fantastic. Very soon, there will be fresh migratory bass taking over the oceanfront and bay. It's a bit too early to go out with expectations of catching fresh fish, but it's certainly not too early to start trying. By the next fishing forecast, two weeks from now, we will hopefully be catching liced up bass everywhere from Westerly to Providence to Little Compton. Until then, we have the options of badgering the striped bass that have spent the winter locally with us, dropping crabs or soft baits for tog, or (if the weather allows it) getting out on the oceanfront for cod. 

Our Favorite Seven-Striped Friends

April is absolutely the best month of the year for targeting holdover striped bass. The herring are in full flow, the water temps reach those perfect numbers, and the bass feed hard. The bites can be good day or night, so there's really no wrong time to go. If you're fishing water with herring running, don't be afraid to throw big profiles. It's really tough to beat a big weightless soft plastic like a Hogy Original 10" or Lunker City Slug-go 9"when you're looking to imitate herring. The BKK Titan Rider is a great hook for these big plastics. If you know the bass are feeding on herring, don't be afraid to work your plastics fast along the surface to trigger a bite. Weightless plastics also fish very well slow, so get a feel for what the bass want for a retrieve and give it to them. The April full moon is probably my favorite window to go at night and throw anything that makes a wake. The Cotton Cordell Redfinis the king of this category. Give it a shot, you'll get some great visual eats if we get some nice clear, calm nights around the full moon. Another great way to imitate herring is glide baits. The Berkley Magic Swimmer is a really good one -  it has the perfect profile and action to trigger those fish that have their eyes set on a herring for their next meal. Lastly, a good ol' paddle tail can often get the job done. Gravity Tackle, JygPro, NLBN all make good ones. I don't have a particular reason why, but I tend to prefer the GT paddles for this early spring period. They're all solid options, though.

My first bass of the season, from early March, caught on the black 10" Hogy Original.

We probably have another week or two before the migratory bass begin to show up, but nobody should be surprised if it happens sooner than that. It's never too early to try - there's always "scouts" or a handful of fish that filter into the area before the bigger waves of fish begin to show up. When they do show up, they're generally hungry and willing to cooperate. Small-medium spooks like the Rebel Jumpin Minnow, Game On! X-Walk,and Yozuri Topknock can be a whole lot of fun for those early bass. They'll also readily eat minnow plugs like the Daiwa SP Minnow, Tsunami TP Minnow, or Yozuri Hydro Minnow. Other great options include the paddle tails mentioned above and Bucktail Jigs. If you're a fly fisherman, it's one of the best times to throw flies in their faces as they're generally on relatively small bait and fighting above their class in the cool water temps. 

Rock Donkeys

Although we're still a couple weeks away from good, consistent tog fishing, they are slowly beginning to filter into our waters with every tide. During this early April period, I tend to find them in a sort of "middle" depth - not too shallow, not too deep. 25-45ft seems to be a good place to start looking. Whether you're dropping Blackfish Rigs or Blackfish Jigs, you should have luck either way. The hot topic for early spring tog is what bait to use. The theory is that while they're still a little cold and slow, if you feed them a soft bait like a clam or worm, you can convince them a bit easier than with a crab. There's plenty of evidence to suggest this tactic works, and it's absolutely worth a shot if you're looking to get your first tog as early as possible. That said, personally, I tend to go straight for shore crabs as bait. They're around all winter long and start getting more active just about now. They're small enough that I imagine the tog aren't too worried about expending their energy picking it up, unlike a green crab which they have to work harder for. You can also peel the shell off your crab and present it to them that way - which I've had great success with in the early spring (or any time they're acting finicky or lazy).

Especially for local kayak fishermen, but really for local fishermen as a whole, the benchmark for early tog comes down to Dustin Stevens of RI Kayak Fishing Adventures. Dustin makes a point to get out for tog as close to the season opener, on April 1st, as possible. Every year. This year he managed to find a handful of fish willing to eat, including a couple of keepers. So while it may feel a little too early to get after them, there are absolutely some fish around and it can't hurt to give it a shot!

Dustin of RI Kayak Fishing Adventures with one of his first few tog of the year, from about a week ago. 

Kings of the Groundfish

Cod are one fish that not too many Rhode Islanders put much time into. At least not anymore. They chew best during the coldest, snottiest times of year, and you really need a boat to properly target them. That said, Dustin has been consistently finding them on his kayak for several years now around this time of year. If you can hit a weather window to get out there, the fishing can be pretty good. Putting in the work to get out to good cod grounds, and then locating the fish, is the hard part. You're looking for structure anywhere from 1-3 miles out. Although you can find them in tighter than a mile, too. Once you're on them, they're generally not too picky. They'll willingly eat Metal/Epoxy Jigs, Slow-Pitch Jigs, and soft plastics like Paddle Tails or Grub Tails. If you do drop a jig on them, try using a Teaser above your jig. It's amazing how often they'll eat the teaser over the jig if you offer it to them. They also respond well to bait, with clam and crab being favorites. 

Dustin with a nice mid-March cod from earlier this spring.

Overall, we're at that time of the season where everything is just around the corner. Each outing, though cold and miserable at this point, is full of promise and excitement. At any tide things can get good very quickly. You just have to be out there! So come grab whatever you may need for the next few weeks of the early spring grind, and hopefully in no time, we'll all be catching liced up bass, big nasty tog, and sneaking out on the oceanfront for some quality groundfishing.