The "Striker" strikes with a 295 pound thresher

 Steve Brustein with some of the fluke and black sea bass caught off Seal Ledge, Newport last week.

 

 First place thresher and overall tournament winner was a 295 pound thresher caught by Adam Littlefield (right), North Kingstown with captain of the Striker, Russ Blank. The Snug Harbor Marina Shark Tournament was held this weekend.

 251 pound mako shark took first place in its category. Tom Lai, Bill Ward (Capt. and angler), John Durand and Ken Lai.

 Lary Norin with a 22” summer flounder (fluke) he caught from a State dock in South Kingstown on his lunch hour Tuesday.

Five pound black sea bass caught aboard the Francis Fleet last week by Ginny Reed of Bristol, RI and her grandson Cole.

The Striker strikes with a 295 pound thresher

Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown, ended their two day shark tournament Sunday with a 295 pound thresher taking the tournament’s top prize. 

Adam Littlefield of North Kingstown caught the fish while aboard the Striker captained by Russ Rand.  Al Conti of Sung Harbor said, “57 boats and 200 anglers participated in the tournament.  And, 43 fish were tagged and released with only eight fish captured.  This is a great use of the resource when you start to think about the economic impact of such a tournament”.  Elisa Martin of Snug Harbor said, “The sharks topped fishing news this week but there was a lot of other news too.” Proceeds from the tournament are being donated to the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) and the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA).

“We had anglers fishing the Gully, the Suffix and the Horns area and some went all the way to the edge. But you do not have to go that far.” said Elisa Martin. Bill Ward of Mansfield, MA took the mako shark first place prize with a 251 pound fish.  No blue sharks were weighed in at the tournament.

Lunchtime fluke big surprise

Lary Norin fished for fifteen minutes for summer flounder (fluke) during his lunch break Tuesday from a State dock at Snug Harbor.  Here’s what he had to say, “I only made about ten casts but I did manage to hook up five times.  Two of them were keepers.  The biggest was 22 inches and weighed 4.4 pounds at Snug Harbor.  I was using a very simple setup, a small white bucktail tipped with local squid.  Sometimes you just need to be in the right place at the right time.  Best day of fishing yet this year!”

Rhody Fly Rodders meeting July 17

The Rhody Fly Rodders are holding their summer fishing meeting Thursday, July 17, 3:00 p.m. to dark at the Narrow River.  A grill, condiments, water and chips will be provided, but bring your own food items to grill (and a chair if you want to sit).  The head guide for the meeting is Geno Rapa.  Meeting at the Sprague Bridge parking lot at Narrow River on RT 1A.  Contact Peter Nilsen at pdfish@fullchannel.net with questions.

Trout Unlimited stream side meeting

The Narragansett Chapter of Trout Unlimited (#225 ) will hold streamside meeting Wednesday, July 30, 6:00 p.m. at the Arcadia Management Area Check Station, Rt. 165, Exeter, R.I.  Hot dogs, hamburgers and beverages will be available. All members and guests welcomed. For information contact chapter president, Ron Marafioti at (571) 643-1452. 

Where’s the bite

Striped bass.  Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren said, “Block Island was on fire the past few days, starting the weekend we weighed in several fish in the 40 plus pound range.  We weighed in a 34 pound fish caught in the Westerly area by Charlie Soars trolling tube & worm.” Elisa Martin of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown said, “Striped bass fishing blew wide open on the north rip and southwest side of Block Island this weekend with several fish in the 40 plus pound range being landed.”   Angler Jack Leyden of North Kingstown said, “We fished Block Island this weekend and landed a nice fish in the thirty pound range.”  Phil Tower reports on the RI Saltwater Anglers Association blog, “My brother, me and three dozen live eels launched at Pt. Judith for a bumpy ride out to the SW corner ( of Block Island Saturday night)… We were greeted by lots of birds and bluefish that we're scattered all around the area. After about 2 hours of trial and error we landed our first striper at 8:00 p. m. We found good action between bass and pesky blues. We landed seven bass with four over 40" and the largest weighing 26 lbs.”  Dave Henault of Oceans State Tackle, Providence said, “Capt. Billy Silvia of Can’t Imagine Characters caught (striped bass) at 51, 53 and 61 pounds last week off Newport and Capt. BJ Silvia of Flippin Out Charters caught several bass in the 40 pound range.”

Shore fishing.  “30 and 40 pound striped bass are being caught at night with eels from the Charlestown Breachway along with large bluefish.” said Julian Trozzi of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown.  Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait said, “Scup fishing has been great all over with 12 and 14” fish being caught.  Guys have not been catching their thirty fish limit, but they are going home with fifteen or so good sized fish.  Scup fishing is good at Colt State Park and even at the Warren Bridge where we don’t normally see scup until later in the season.”  Dave Henault of Ocean State said, “Bass still in Providence and Seekonk Rivers”.

Summer flounder fishing remained strong with fish being landed off Newport, at the mouth of the Sakonnet, all along the southern coastal and out at Block Island.  Angler Steve Brustein of West Warwick landed fluke to 22 inches off Newport drifting southwest of the Seal Ledge, Newport area.“We weighed in two eleven pound fluke caught on the south side of Block Island this weekend.” said Elisa Martin of Snug Harbor.  “Fluke fishing at the Sakonnet was good Sunday, we weighted in a 6.2 pound fluke that was being entered in the RISAA fluke tournament.” said Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait.  Julian Trozzi of Breachway Bait & Tackle said, “Anglers fishing from boats along the beaches in the Charlestown area are doing well but fluke fishing from the rocks on shore is slow.”

Black sea bass fishing is good with anglers catching them when the fishing for summer flounder.  I fished off Newport this weekend and had no trouble catching my limit of three mixed in with some keeper fluke.  Ken Landry of Ray’s Bait & Tackle, Warwick said, “Black sea bass, fluke and scup are all being caught by anglers when fishing form fluke.  The mid Bay area has been good with guys catching fish right at the red can off Warwick Light.”

Offshore.  Adam Dunstan reports on the RISAA blog, “We were heading south to Tuna Ridge, put in there and trolled to Ryans Horn… Caught four BFT to 40 inches (kept one), fought something much bigger for a few minutes … Best performer was my trusty and old cedar plug in the wash”.  Spencer Ingram, who fished for tuna both Saturday and Sunday, said, “Trolled for four hours, mostly north past The Fingers, with small football BFT blind hitting us… Kept one 30” BFT for dinner.  Green machines were never hit but my rainbow daisy chains, bird with a feathered red/black teaser and pink spreader bars were the ideal choice for trolling.”