If only every public hearing could be like this: The state Division of Fish and Wildlife, the Division of Enforcement and Ducks Unlimited are sponsoring an outing with retriever demonstrations, decoy carving, door prizes, refreshments and other activities Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Following the outing, the state will conduct its annual public hearing on waterfowl hunting for this fall and winter.

The session is scheduled at the North Kingstown Community Center at Wickford Town Beach. Permits for the early Canada goose hunting season will be available there.

Major changes from last season’s regulations include the increase in the daily bag limit for wood ducks to three birds. Also, the number of days open for Atlantic brant has been increased from 50 days to 60 days with a three-bird per day bag limit. The canvasback season has been closed due to a decrease in population numbers. Finally, the scaup season will be 40 days long with a one-bird bag limit and a 20 day season with a two bird bag limit located towards the end of the season.

The proposed regulations are available at www.dem.ri.gov, by clicking on “Fish and Wildlife” under “Programs.” They are also available at DEM’s Division of Fish and Wildlife headquarters in the Oliver Stedman Government Center, 4808 Tower Hill Rd., Wakefield, or by calling 789-3094 weekdays.

Wolfenden wins again

Warwick angler Mike Wolfenden won the state Bass Federation tournament with 36 pounds of smallmouth bass on Lake Champlain last weekend.

It was the second time he has won the state title and the 14th time he has qualified to fish on the state team at the Bass Federation Nation Nationals, a step before the Bassmaster Classic.

He has represented Rhode Island in the Bass Federation Nationals three times, and finished third in the northeastern division this year.

Bass back to Block Island

Following two weeks of warm water, striped bass have moved back to Block Island as the water cools a bit, reports Chris Willi of Block Island Fishworks.

“Top-water plugs and white Deceivers are consistent winners,” he says in an e-mail.

“Fluking also has been good with an unusual amount of 8-pound-plus big boys.

“I returned offshore on the Island Lady on Wednesday/Thursday. Little action or life in the 75-degree water out there. We saw more life 50 miles from the island than we did 90 miles away. Managed to get a small yellowfin, a blue marlin, and a mess of mahi up to 15 pounds.

“Thursday morning was decent on the south side with plenty of 28- to 36-inch fish for the inshore anglers.

The Block Island Inshore Fishing Tournament is scheduled Sept. 19-21 and benefits the National Children’s Cancer Society.

“We are always looking for sponsors and participants,” writes Willi. The tourney Web site is www.bifishworks.com

Pawtuxet offers variety

“The upper reaches of the north and south branches of the Pawtuxet River hold bass, carp, pickerel, pike, trout, and crayfish,” said David Henault of Ocean State Tackle, “and it’s a totally under-fished resource.”

The north branch of the river rises at the Scituate Reservoir, and the south branch flows from the Flat River Reservoir, also called Johnson’s Pond, in Coventry. The north and south branches meet at Riverpoint in West Warwick, and the river flows 11.7 miles to Pawtuxet Cove on Narragansett Bay.

Since the late 18th century, factory owners had dammed the river for power and dumped their waste into it, often with the permission of the state. Towns dumped so much waste into the river, that The Providence Journal in 1981 reported “that on some late-summer days, half of the lower river is sewage.”

The river had become so foul and fetid, that “many people had given it up for dead,” said Robert Nero, chairman of the Pawtuxet River Authority. “No one thought the river would come back.”

In 1972, Congress approved the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, and the Pawtuxet River Authority was established. States received more power to stop polluters in 1977 when amendments strengthened the 1972 law that would become known as the Clean Water Act.

The Pawtuxet River Authority’s goal, said Nero, was to make the river clean enough for fishing and swimming.

The river has arrived. It is so clean that the state Division of Fish and Wildlife stocked trout in the West Warwick stretch this spring.

Fishermen can launch a canoe or kayak on the North Branch at the Hope Dam Fishing Area on Route 116 in the village of Hope.

There are several places to launch on the South Branch. One easy spot for a stretch of great fishing is on Sandy Bottom Road in Coventry.

tmeade@projo.com