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Flat River Reservoir Fishing Report

Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Coventry’s lake: Flat River Reservoir holds largemouth, pickerel and panfish in western Rhode Island.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~44 F est.
Air / High
44 / 52 F
Wind
W 8 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Monday
9
November 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Flat River Reservoir fishes cold and honest: earn your bites in the deep stuff. Today brings clear skies, wind W around 8 mph, rising pressure near 1006 hPa and a high of 52. Water sits around 44 F for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:11 PM-1:11 AM and 10:47 AM-12:47 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spawning runs begin soon after ice-out in the high 30s to mid 40s °F; before that, slow presentations with live bait in deep, low-current wintering areas and below dams.

Northern pikeGood

Ice season: tip-ups with live bait near weed beds; where water stays open, slow live-bait presentations.

Yellow perchGood

Ice season. Perch stay active under the ice in both shallow and deeper water, so small jigs or spoons tipped with live bait over known winter areas are the usual approach.

Smallmouth bassFair

Fish hold in slower, deeper water; fish slowly and expect fewer bites until spring warming.

Tomorrow: Similar at 50 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Tue, Nov 10, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Rhode Island requires a fishing licence from age 15, from $24.00 for residents. What a Rhode Island licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with RI DEM before you keep anything. The season dates for Rhode Island, read off the agency, are on the Rhode Island seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovNov, ~44 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp44 F
High / Low52 / 42 F
WindW 8-13 mph
Pressure1006.0 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 15%
Sunrise / Sunset06:28 / 16:32
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~44 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Flat River Reservoir this week

The best day on Flat River Reservoir this week looks like Saturday Nov 14, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Nov 14 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Nov 9 — Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
11:11 PM-1:11 AM and 10:47 AM-12:47 PM
Minor period
6:39 AM-7:39 AM
Sun
06:28 to 16:32
Moon
New Moon, 0% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 13 mph
Rain chance
15%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Flat River Reservoir: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spawning runs begin soon after ice-out in the high 30s to mid 40s °F; before that, slow presentations with live bait in deep, low-current wintering areas and below dams.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Fish hold in slower, deeper water; fish slowly and expect fewer bites until spring warming.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. Ice season: tip-ups with live bait near weed beds; where water stays open, slow live-bait presentations.

Yellow perch illustration

Yellow perch

Caught all year, including under the ice through winter

Yellow perch are schooling panfish of the Great Lakes and northern lakes, and Michigan DNR calls them the game fish most often caught in that state. Ice season. Perch stay active under the ice in both shallow and deeper water, so small jigs or spoons tipped with live bait over known winter areas are the usual approach.

When to come: the Flat River Reservoir calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
Smallmouth bass
Northern pike
Yellow perch
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 44 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovNov, ~44 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Flat River Reservoir today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Sun, Nov 8

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 56 F, wind to 15 mph.

Sat, Nov 7

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 63 F, wind to 12 mph.

Fri, Nov 6

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 66 F, wind to 13 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Rhode Island requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Rhode Island license. Bass, pickerel and panfish limits per current DEM regulations; check for any drawdown or dam-work notices.

Access

Public boat ramp and shoreline access in Coventry.

About this water

A 570-acre impoundment in Coventry, Kent County, Rhode Island, known locally as Johnson’s Pond.

Fishing Flat River Reservoir: the full guide

A reservoir known locally as Johnson’s Pond

Flat River Reservoir covers about 570 acres in Coventry, Rhode Island, known to nearly everyone locally as Johnson’s Pond. It is a shallow, weedy, wood-rich impoundment with an irregular shoreline, holding largemouth bass, chain pickerel, black crappie, bluegill, yellow perch and catfish, and it is one of the better bass waters in the state.

Largemouth in the cover

The lake is full of the cover largemouth want: lily pads, submerged wood, docks and weed lines. Frogs and weedless plastics over the vegetation, jigs in the wood and spinnerbaits along the edges all produce, with topwater at first and last light through the summer. Bass here reach genuine size in the heaviest cover.

Pickerel, crappie and perch

Chain pickerel are numerous and aggressive in the weeds. Crappie hold the wood and brush and fish best in spring, and yellow perch fill the structure and provide steady action. The lake produces a solid ice fishery in winter for pickerel, perch and crappie when conditions allow.

Coventry logistics

A public boat ramp serves the reservoir with additional shoreline access, and Coventry and West Warwick provide services with Providence about 30 minutes northeast. Water levels have been affected by dam work in recent years, which changes access and vegetation: check current status before making the trip.

Common questions

Why is it called Johnson’s Pond?

That is the local name; Flat River Reservoir is the formal one. Both refer to the same water.

Have levels changed?

Dam work in recent years has affected levels and access: check current status before going.

Is there ice fishing?

Yes when conditions allow: pickerel, perch and crappie are the winter targets.

Is fishing good at Flat River Reservoir right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Greenwich Bay11 miWood River13 miPawtuxet River13 miWickford Harbor14 miWorden Pond17 miNarragansett20 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 41.6800, -71.6600 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.