Catch and release… and then mount your fish?

 Steve Brustein caught this cod (about to be filleted) while tautog fishing off Newport.

 Kevin Fetzer of East Greenwich with a black sea bass caught with a green crab while tautog fishing

 Mike Radziszewski’s 57 pound, eight ounce striped bass that took first place in the Pabst Blue Ribbon Fishing Tournament.  

Capt. Joe Pagano of Stuff-It Charters will speak about taxidermy at a RISAA meeting Monday, October 26 at the West Valley Inn, West Warwick, RI.

Catch and release… and then mount your fish?

How would you like to stuff a 10’ 2” Alaskan Kodiak brown bear, a full size lion attacking a zebra, or better still recondition a polar bear originally prepared in the 1800’s and build an iceberg for it to stand on alongside another bear at the Roger Williams Park Zoo?

This is what Captain Joe Pagano of Stuff-It Charters has done since high school as a taxidermist along with preparing a full range of fish mounts… shark, bluefin tuna, striped bass, cat fish, largemouth bass and much, much more.

Next week Capt. Pagano will be guest speaker at a Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association Monday, October 26, 7:00 p.m. meeting at the West Valley Inn, West Warwick, RI.  And of course, the topic will be taxidermy. Many of the animals like the panda bear he stuffed came from a zoo where the animal had passed away and now was being preserved for exhibition.  

Capt. Pagano said, “Many anglers who catch trophy fish now prefer to release the fish after they take a photograph and measure it and have a fiberglass replica made of the fish.” Pagano said, "This is usually more expensive as the glass mounts are sculptured and painted to match the fish in the photo.  But the beauty is that the angler has the satisfaction of releasing the fish back into the water.” 

“Taxidermy in the winter and taking people fishing in the summer is all I have ever done.”  Pagano is a noted local charter captain who fishing in the surf near shore for striped bass with his boat often fishing at night.  He practices catch, tag and release with many of his customers. And, in 1991, Captain Pagano caught the second largest fish in the world ever landed by rod and reel. It was a 2,909 pound, 15 1/2-foot long Great White Shark. 

The evening starts with an optional West Valley Inn Dinner from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.   Non-members are welcome and are asked to make a $10 contribution to the RISAA Scholarship fund, no charge for RISAA members.  Visit www.risaa.org (calendar) for details.

First place striped bass earns $10,000

The final winners of the Pabst Blue Ribbon Fishing Tournament received their awards Saturday at a special ceremony held at the Ocean Mist Restaurant, South Kingstown, RI.  This is the tournament’s fourth year with an expanded time frame and weekly, monthly and overall tournament prizes for striped bass, bluefish and summer flounder (fluke).  Visit www.pbrfishing.com for details on tournament winners.

Where’s the bite?

Tautog fishing was outstanding this week. Both shore and boat anglers have been limiting out.  And this weekend (October 18) the limit increased to six fish/angler/day. However the ten fish boat limit is still in place (does not apply to charter or party boats).  Again this week I fished off Newport with great results.  In addition to tautog, the two anglers on board Kevin Fetzer of East Greenwich and Steve Brustein of West Warwick caught five black sea bass, scup and a cod.  Yes, a cod fish while fishing with green crabs for tautog.  In fact a number of cod fish were caught in shore this week.  Nelson Valles of Maridee Bait & Canvas, Narragansett said, “A few customers caught cod in shore this weekend, two anglers were fishing Black Point for tautog and caught cod fish.”  Valles said, “Tautog is being landed off the rocks from shore all along the Avenues.”  “Commercial tautog fishermen are having no trouble catching their ten fish limit.  Tautog fishing is very, very good right now. Recreational fishermen are doing very well too.” said Tom at Snug Harbor Marina in South Kingstown. “A customer fishing Coddington Cove Saturday with two friends caught thirty shorts and nine keepers. And those who fished Conimicut Light would go through a half gallon of crabs to catch three keepers. However the bite from shore at the Wharf Tavern and at the bridges in Warren and Barrington is good.  Anglers are catching keepers, a much improved tautog bite from last week were most were catching shorts.” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside.

Black sea bass are still plentiful. Few anglers are targeting, but rather they are catching them while tautog fishing. Anglers are still catching sea bass at Colt State park when tautog fishing said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle.

Cod fishing has been fair.  Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “We are finding a few cod just about everywhere which is good - just not in the numbers since before the eight days of gale force winds in early October. Mixed in with the cod have been some good size porgies and ocean perch, a few noteworthy fluke including a ten pound fish caught by customer John Magnuszewski from Newington CT, an occasional sea flounder and a handful of blue fish. Both jigs and bait did account for keeper cod this past week.”

Striped bass fishing has slowed.  Nelson Valles of Maridee Bait & Canvas said, “It's hit of miss with striped bass.  If you are fishing from shore you may as well stay put and wait for a school of bait to come close to shore.”  Fall striped bass are generally migrating and are on the move.  “Many school size bass are in Salt Pond and anglers are catching them often.” said Tom of Snug Harbor Marina. Striped bass fishing in the upper Bay has slowed with some fish being caught in the Mr. Hope area.” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle.