How to catch bonito and albacore… and take great photos of your catch

 First fluke… first fish:  Durjoy Maitra of Brookline, MA caught his first fish ever on his very first cast off the DEM pier on Salt Pond.  The fluke was twenty inches and weighted two pounds.

 Fluke fishing is good:  Josh Olczak of Maryland, Marchello and Tony Carulli of Pennsylvania enjoyed a mourning of summer flounder fishing (fluke) in Greenwich Bay last week.  Fluke fishing has been good in  Narragansett Bay, along coastal shores and Block Island.

How to catch bonito and albacore… and take great photos of your catch

Learn how to fish for bonito and false albacore and how to take better fishing photos at the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association’s (RISAA) monthly meeting Monday, July 29, 7:00 p.m. at the West Valley Inn, West Warwick, RI.   Captain Eric Thomas will speak about how to catch bonito and false albacore.  Thomas specializes in fly fishing… light tackle and often fishes the Aquidneck Island coastline for striped bass, false albacore, bonito, fluke and many other species.  Steve Medeiros, editor of RISAA’s newsletter has had many photos published in the RISAA newsletter.   "I can't tell you how many times someone has sent in a photo of their prized catch, only to reject it because the angler's head was cut off, or the photo is out of focus, or too dark and unrecognizable," he said. His mini-seminar will provide you with a few simple tips to make your photos more impressive, and will show examples of good and bad photos and how to easily correct them.  Non-members invited to attend and are requested to make a $10 donation to the RISAA Marine Fisheries College Scholarship Fund.  The West Valley Inn will be serving dinner starting at 5:30 p.m.

Rhody Fly Rodders summer fishing meeting, Thursday, July 18th

The Rhody Fly Rodders will hold their summer fishing meeting Thursday, July 18 at Seapowet Marsh, Tiverton, RI.  High tide on July 18 is at approximately 4:30 p.m. and the group will fish the out-going tide, from whenever anglers arrive until dark.  A small grill for anglers to cook their own hot dogs, burgers, etc. will be available but participants are asked to bring their own beverages. Water and chips are provided. Directions: Take RI. Rt. 77 South from Rt. 24 (Sakonnet Bridge), take right on Seapowet Avenue, and follow to you get to a small bridge. Parking lot on right at bridge.   For information contact Peter Nilsen at pdfish@fullchannel.net.

New England Fishery Management Council seeks fishermen for Electronic Monitoring (EM) Group

The New England Fishery Management Council is forming an ad hoc Electronic Monitoring (EM) Working Group. Its members will be asked to identify any existing barriers or necessary steps that would enhance groundfish sector operations plan(s), in particular those plans that rely on electronic monitoring as a primary mechanism to achieve their stated compliance and catch attribution goals. 

The Council will appoint two fishermen, who participate in the Northeast Multispecies Sector Management Program and who are not currently on Council advisory panels, to serve on the working group. The working group also will include representatives of the Council and its staff, NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Office and Northeast Fisheries Science Center staff and fishermen.

Please indicate your interest in participating on the Working Group by mail, email or fax and include information about the gear type you use, the areas you currently fish and any other information you think may be relevant. If you have questions or need additional information about the EM Working Group, please contact Chris Kellogg at 978.465.0492, ext. 112 or ckellogg@nefmc.org.

Where’s the bite

Off-Shore.  Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina said, “This weekend we had customers landing tuna.  Four yellowfin tuna, albacore and even some mahi-mahi were caught Saturday and Sunday just on the south side of the Dump.

Striped bass fishing remains strong around Block Island.  Ken Landry of Ray’s Bait & Tackle landed striped bass to 41 pounds fishing with eels on the southwest side of the Block Island this past weekend said Patti Ferrara.  Matt Conti of Sung Harbor said, “Customers are landing bass with eels during the day and night on the southwest side of the Island.  Some are using umbrella rigs with success too.”  Mike Gill of Quaker Lane Outfitters, North Kingstown said bass fishing for customers is good at Block Island with customers using eels and umbrella rigs with success.

Summer flounder (fluke) fishing has been very good with fluke being caught in Greenwich Bay in numbers that haven’t been seen in ten years.  Fluke have been caught at the mouth of the Sakonnet River, around Newport and Jamestown, along the southern coastal shores, and out to Block Island. Wednesday I had three anglers on board and we had good luck fishing the Greenwich Bay area from the can at Round Rock to the Warwick County Club.  Many anglers fished the edges of the trough that runs between Warwick Light and the Country Club. “Fluke fishing has been great.  People are catching them everywhere.” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor.

Black sea bass fishing is good.  Anglers are often catching their limit… three fish/angler/day with a minimums size of 13” until August 31.  The catch limit increases to seven fish per anglers from September 1 to December 31.