New England's Clean Water Gem (Wallum Lake)

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

 Wallum Lake splits its residency between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, which means conflicting uses and double the stress. For instance, the Bay State allows gas-powered boats; the Ocean State forbids such craft. No one is really enforcing the no-gas rule, though, so motorized water play isn’t actually restricted to the Massachusetts end of the 322-acre lake. Two deep holes of 68 feet and 74 feet, a true two story lake.
  A Massachusetts fresh water fishing license expires on the last day of December and are now available on line for 2016. The 2015 Rhode Island fresh water license will be available in late Feb. /early March 2016 and overlaps the years.
“Weekends in the summer the lake is a waterpark,” said Wayne Barber, a longtime resident of the Burrillville village of Pascoag. “Jet Skis, water skiing and motorboats speeding at full throttle. People basically know the state boundaries but they go everywhere. If they happen to get caught, they’re told to go back to Massachusetts.”

Wallum Lake, in the northwest corner of Rhode Island, is a drinking water supply — a pipe from the campus of the Eleanor Slater Hospital runs some 600-800 feet into the lake, providing drinking water to hospital staff and patients.
 At one time in our past a train actually delivered city people out to enjoy a cool day at Wallum Lake and most local textile mills in the industrial revolution golden age held their company picnics there. It also provided a lot of winter local employment when Ice was a requirement in our ice boxes.
  Barber called the lake the “freshest, cleanest, coldest water body in Rhode Island.” He said the lake is fed by underground springs, and noted that there isn’t too much development around it, especially on the Rhode Island side. The Burrillville Land Trust owns 16 acres around the lake.
“It’s a pretty well protected lake, but there are development pressures,” he said. “It’s a beautiful lake and an important water body. It’s also an excellent lake to go canoeing or kayaking on.”
 Wallum Lake is normally the last body of water to freeze in the State because of the wind and clarity of the water and it's depth. Another ice fishing tip is to place your tip-up live bait a few feet under the ice for trout or salmon with a gold colored hook and a clear monofilament leader. Sound and go deeper for the two types of bass. Very little weed cover in this lake. The colors of the trout in the cold water are vibrant. ( I prefer jigging with a spoon and a meal worm on the tip)

Wallum Lake is a 322-acre (1.30 km) lake that lies in Burrillville, Providence County, Rhode Island and Douglas, Worcester County, Massachusetts. It is adjacent to Douglas State Forest and Wallum Lake Park.
  You can observe the American Bald Eagle and the great Osprey on a regular basis. You can listen to the assortment of Owl's and Coyote packs along with a occasional Black Bear or a herd of Whitetail Deer. Wild Turkey have really formed a foothold here also.The lake also has a very healthy population of alewife bait fish that will boil the water like what happens in salt water with bluefish underneath and I also wonder what brought the fish to the surface in a escape frenzy.
There are two paved boat ramps: one at the north end off Wallum Lake Road, Douglas, Massachusetts, the second at the southern extreme in Burrillville, Rhode Island. A study reported eleven species of fish, based upon a 1994 summer sampling. Largemouth bass, small mouth bass, yellow perch and bluegills are common. Additional species present included pumpkinseed, chain pickerel, landlocked alewife, brood salmon and eels. Licenses from either state are valid, but Rhode Island regulations apply.
 Our Burrillville Bass Club (BBC) competes on the lake during the summer and the weigh ins are about 50/50 small mouth/ large mouth and normally a 5 pounder will win the lunker prize with a 5 fish weigh in of between 10 and 13 pounds to make the podium.
  Wallum Lake has been stocked with rainbow trout and brown trout. Rainbow trout are stocked on a put-and-take basis, and the state of Rhode Island and Massachusetts has stocked numerous landlocked salmon and occasionally broodstock salmon.
 The lake is off limits as of last day of Febuary for salmon and trout and the traditional opening day for trout in Rhode Island is the second Saturday in April each year. Massachusetts is year round but Rhode Island fresh water fishing rules apply at the pristene Wallum Lake.