Rock stars on the high seas

 

Captains DeFusco and Sprengle of East Coast Charters with a Wahoo they caught last year in warm August water.

  Capt. Dave Monti with a school size striped bass caught Saturday in East Greenwich Cove.

 

Gisele Golembeski with the 6.42 pound fluke she caught off Block Island this weekend.

Visually Impaired Persons (VIP) will fish once again this year at the 8^th Annual VIP Tournament being held on June 21. Call Ken Barthelemy at 401-828-0185.

 

Capt. Brandon Lake uses the ‘jig and pop’ method at East Coast Charter to land tuna.

 

 

Rock stars on the high seas

Captains Jack Sprengle, Louis DeFusco and Brandon Lake are charter fishing rock stars and the ocean is their stage. 

The three captains run small and large center console fishing boats from their East Coast Charters headquarters in Warwick, RI. They fish a 21 foot center console on Narrgansett Bay for striped bass, fluke and tautog up to a 38’ Donzi center console with three Mercury outboards  for high speed trips to fish warm water at the northeast Canyons for such species as Wahoo, Mahi Mahi, a variety of tuna, swordfish, sharks and more. 

They are a new breed of charter captain that are unconventional in their methods.  Their boats are fast, the action is fast and includes the exciting “jig and pop” approach (particularly for tuna) which places emphasis on the physicality and skill set of the individual angler as much as it does the efforts of captains and crew.

The three captains were guest speakers at a “Close to shore… offshore” presentation at a Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) meeting Monday.  Capt. Jack Sprengle took the lead talking about how they often fish the Dump, Cox’s Ledge and other areas fairly close to shore (20 to 30 miles) to catch fish normally caught further offshore.  Sprengle said, “Don’t go by fish to catch fish. We often find what we are looking for closer to shore. In recent years warm water (and warm water fish) have come closer to shore.”  

Warm water fish such as cobia (a species normally found in Florida) have been caught in Narragansett Bay, off Newport and off Jamestown in the past couple of years, never mind the warm Gulf Stream spires targeted by Captains Sprengle and DeFusco.  Capt. Sprengle said, “What we look for is structure, temperature and water clarity.  Sometimes we find gin clear tropical water even at the Mudhole.” 

East Coast Charters utilizes their private network of captains and fishermen, social media and satellite imaging services to plan trips and find fish for customers.  Capt. Lois DeFusco said, “If you are going for a 130 mile ride to find fish, you have to get it right.”   East Coast Charters is all about using the latest tools and technology to find, hook and land fish.

“Last year we did really well with Wahoo.” said Capt. Sprengle.  “We start looking for Wahoo usually around August when water temps reach 76 + degrees. We use chlorophyll charts to find the clearest water we can then search hard for floating debris. We will attach short sections of wire to our baits and troll at higher speeds up to nine knots for them but prefer jigging and casting to them when possible. When conditions permit we will even jump in and spear fish them.” said Sprengle.

Visit www.eastcoastchartersri.com for more information about East Coast Charters.

 

Introduction to Freshwater Fly
The Department of Environmental Management will hold a fly fishing seminar on Saturday, May 30 at Addieville East Farm, Mapleville, RI. The six- hour workshop will focus on equipment needs, fly tying, fly casting, basic entomology, and fishing in some of Rhode Island's premier fishing areas. Families with children 10 and older are welcome and all equipment is provided. Bring a lunch and have a great day of fishing.  Space is limited and registration is required. Fee is $15.00/person. For more information and to register call 401-539-0019 or email kimberly.sullivan@dem.ri.gov.

VIP Tournament and Pabst relationship still brewing

The RI Lions Sight Foundation (RILSF) will host their 8th Annual Fishing Tournament for Visually Impaired Persons (VIP’s) of Rhode Island on June 21, 2015.

The Tournament which takes place on a Frances Fleet party fishing boat and is supported through donations from RI Lions Clubs, individual donors and one special corporate sponsor.  For the second year in a row, the Tournament will receive support from the Pabst Brewing Company through the Pabst Blue Ribbon Northeastern Fishing Tournament held from June through September.

 VIP Tournament includes breakfast and a half-day of fluke fishing followed by lunch and an awards presentation.  Participants vie for the opportunity to represent Rhode Island at the Lions National VIP Tourney being held in October in North Carolina. 

The event is free of charge to all VIP’s and their guides. To be eligible participants are must be legally blind, at least 17 years old, are physically able to fish from a party boat, and must be accompanied by a guide (transportation and/or guides will be provided if needed).

VIP’s and guides must fill out an application to participate.  Visit http://www.lions4sight.org/index.htm or call Ken Barthelemy at 401-529-6173 for information.

Where’s the bite

Freshwater fishing has been very good.  Angler Steve Brustein of West Warwick, RI said, “I ended up going to Johnson pond (Saturday) and caught some large mouths, a few perch, and 1 pickerel.  I was fishing with shiners (and planned to do some relaxed fishing) with the live bait doing the work, but the bite was fairly active so I went through a dozen shiners in an hour and never sat down.” 

Tautog bite is fair with anglers catching fish with few reports of big fish.  Noted local tautog expert Scott Kiefer of Coventry (he caught a 16 pound tautog in 2013) said, “Finally got the boat in and went out and was able to get a few short tautog. At least there was a bite, worms were the food of choice.” John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside said, “Two customers caught their limit of tautog (three fish/angler/day) at Conimicut Light this week. Some boats did well and others did not, it’s just a matter of position and being over the fish.” “Tautog fishing picked up this week with anglers landing keepers at Hope Island, the Spindle and Ohio Ledge.” said John Wunner of John’s Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown.  “We have weighed in some nice fish to nine plus pounds last week but anglers are saying the bite is slow and sporadic… the fish are down there but they are just not very aggressive.” said Greg Bruning of the Tackle Box, Warwick.

Summer flounder (fluke) fishing has picked up this week with anglers catching shorts with keepers mixed in as summer flounder moves closer to coastal shores.  Gisele Golembeski, who fished with her husband Saturday said, “Tried outside the West Gap... nada. We headed out to Block Island to try our luck there. Nice smooth ride over. Lots of shorts, but ended up with 3 keepers. Biggest was a nice 6.42 pound fish.”  Mike Cardinal of Cardinal Bait, Westerly said, “Fluke fishing has picked up.  Customers are catching keepers in 50 to 60 feet of water along the southern coastal shore.” Roger Simpson of the Frances Fleet said, “Fluke fishing has wildly improved this past weekend. (the biggest fish Friday) was caught by Chris Mace, Boston, MA with a buck tail jig at 9.2 pounds…Saturday with a handful of anglers again scoring keeper counts in the four to six per fish category, Mr. Lee from Palisades Park, NJ had the biggest fish of the day again on a jig with a fish that just hit the 10 pound mark.”  Captain Bob Masse said, “Left Oakland beach around 7:00 a.m. heading for Austin Hollow fishing for fluke. Got one keeper size 19 ½” and one sea robin. It's a start.”

“Striped bass and saltwater fishing in general exploded this week. School bass can be found in just about any cove in the Bay with soft baits and top water lures (particularly at night).  Some keepers were caught by kayak anglers fishing with tube and worm.” said John Wunner of John’s Bait, North Kingstown.  The bass bite is on this week in East Greenwich Cove said angler Steve Brustein of West Warwick who landed school bass Sunday.  “School bass in the 23” to 27” range are being caught at Sabin Point, Barrington Beach and off the bridges with anglers using clam tongue and worms.  One customer squid fishing in Bristol said the bass were working the schools of squid with one bass hitting a squid with its tail sending it flying 15’ into the air. By the way, some squid fishermen had five gallon pails full of squid.” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait.  “Anglers fishing the north side of Conimicut Point from shore caught a 29” and 35” striped bass.  They said the keepers were mixed in with school bass.  Eight to ten school bass to one keeper.  The bass were feeding on Atlantic menhaden.” said Greg Bruning of the Tackle Box, Warwick. Mike Cardinal of Cardinal Bait said, “Anglers continue to land school bass from shore with keepers mixed in along the coastal beaches.”

Scup fishing is just starting to warm up.  Roger Simpson of the Francis Fleet said, “Those folk who have tried to catch a few scup at night with fresh squid have managed a few handfuls of jumbo porgies to 1.5 pounds.”