Eugene Barry from
Stamford, CT with a fine brace of cod fish he caught last Wednesday, November
25th aboard the Gail Frances.
Hooked on Block Island bass
“You need to find the striped bass
and repeat the pattern going over the same area. Too many anglers set up on a drift and go
forever. Short drift just where the fish
are.” said Capt. John Sheriff. Sheriff
was guest speaker at a fishing Block Island for striped bass seminar held Monday
by the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association at the West Valley Inn.
Captain Sheriff’s Fishing Charters
specializes in taking anglers to the striped bass and shared preferred striped
bass locations, tackle and tactics to catch striped bass around Block Island.
“We fish all around the
Island. The North Rip has not been as
productive the past two years but we jig at the Rip when the bass are
thick. We fish Clayhead, the Old Harbor
area and the fertile fishing grounds on the southeast and south side of the
island on the depth breaks and edges close to shore (often fishing in 15 to 30
feet of water). These are all great Block Island fishing spots in addition to
the Southeast Ledge. We find the heavy structure
just inside the three mile limit to be great.
There’s also the Peanut and Fingers.” Two favorite structure areas closer
to shore on the southeast side of the Island.
Capt. Sheriff uses a number of
different tactics including jigging with wire and squid lures, trolling umbrella
rigs and with tube in worm on a select basis, however, some of his favorite tactics
includes fishing with light tackle using live eels and casting to bass on the
surface often with Deadly Dick lures.
“We use light tackle rods and reels. I like Quantum reels and use 50 to 65 pound
braid line with monofilament leaders when night fishing and fluorocarbon
leaders during the day.” said Capt. Sheriff.
When asked about this year’s new
striped bass regulation of one fish per angler at 28” minimum size. Capt. Sheriff said, “It did not impact my
business this year as it was often difficult to get two bass anyway. The fish were just not there like they have
been in the past. Striped bass are
beautiful fish, we have a great fishery.
We need to protect them. After
that first striped bass I caught in the Hudson River years ago, I was hooked
for good.”
Visit Capt. Sheriff’s website at www.fishingchartersri.com.
Learn how to fish from the pros
The Salt Water Sportsman National
Seminar Series will be held in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Saturday, January 16,
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Klein Memorial Auditorium, 910 Fairfield Avenue,
Bridgeport, CT.
George Poveromo,
host of George Poveromo’ s World of
Saltwater Fishing on the NBC Sports Network, and contributing editor for Salt Water Sportsman magazine, will headline
the program. This year Rhode Island’s very own Capt. Jack Sprengel of East
Coast Charters will join Poveromo on stage as a regional expert captain.
Capt. Sprengel
often targets such offshore species as wahoo, mahi mahi, tuna and sharks of all
types. He is also a light tackle
fishing expert bringing his customers to inshore striped bass in Narragansett
Bay in the spring and off Block Island in the summer.
Poveromo and Sprengel will be
joined by nine other national and local fishing experts who will talk about
such topics as live-baiting for trophy striped bass and how to target summer
flounder to bucktailing for black sea bass and how to find and fish near shore
and offshore surface temperature breaks.
Visit www.nationalseminarseries.com
for a complete list of speakers and topics and to register for the seminar or
call (800) 448-7360.
Where’s the bite
Tautog fishing continues to be good. Capt. Thom “ThomCat” Pelletier of Quaker Lane
Outfitters, North Kingstown said, “Customers are still doing well with tautog
off Newport catching a few cod mixed in too.
I head an angler landed a 12 pound cod earlier in the week.” Phil
Matteson of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown said, “Anglers are doing
well with tautog all along the coast fishing wrecks and reefs close to shore in
30 to 50 feet of water. Anglers with
boats haven’t had to go far off shore for tautog yet.” “Tautog fishing is still
very, very good but the larger fish seem to have moved to deeper water now in
the 50 to 80 feet range. I had customers
limiting out easily this weekend. Areas
that are doing well include the edges of Whale Rock and the Pinnacle, Washing
Ledge as well as Breton Reef.” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina, South
Kingstown. Capt. Frank Blount of the
Frances Fleet said, “The
tog fishing last week his past week was outstanding until late in the week.
Prior to Friday all trips were either limited out or very close to it.” Rough seas late last week seem to have
dirtied the water a bit for tautog fishing.
I fished this weekend off Newport with angler Doug Nisbet of North
Kingstown and did not do nearly as well as past visits, a lot of short fish,
with a very gentle bite.
Squid fishing has remained fairly strong. Capt. Tom Pelletier of
Quaker Lane Outfitters said, “We have been selling an awful lot of squid rigs
as the bite is very good at Newport and Jamestown.”
“Striped bass fishing is good when the seas are calm enough to
fish. During the day shore anglers have
been picking up school bass in the 20 to 30 inch range from the beaches and off
the rocks using Kastmaster lures, sallow diving swimming lures, and surface
poppers. At night guys are picking up
fish in the 20 to 30 pound range using eels.
I still think we are going to have a good run or two of big fish before
it is over.” said Phil Matteson of Breachway Bait & Tackle. “Most of last week we had fish breaking 100
yards off shore at Charlestown Beach. I
saw it twice when walking the dog and then a customer said they saw the same
thing later in the week. There are
garnets diving and herring in the water.
I think the warm water, still 58 to 60 degrees, is holding the fish
here.” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor.
“Cod/black see bass fishing has been good with customers catching
fish in the 20 to 26 inch range close to shore and in the Bay.” said Matteson
of Breachway Bait & Tackle. “Cod fishing at the East Fishing Grounds and
the southwest corner of Cox’s Ledge is good.
Anglers are catching black sea bass too, however, somedays the dog fish
are there which is hampering fishing.” said Conti of Snug Harbor. Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said,
“The local cod and sea
bass fishing was very strong last week. More and more cod are showing up and
the boat has either been at or very close to its black sea bass limit most days
with sizes to 5 pounds. Best cod fish of the week was taken last week was a
nice green fish in the mid to upper teens, most pool winners were in the 10-12
pound range.” Capt. Rich Hittinger filed this report Monday… “Yesterday may
have been my last trip of the year, but it was a good one. I went to East
Ground with Mike Capparelli and George Allen onboard. It was great action on
black sea bass, cod, and one tautog. We could have taken a full limit of sea
bass up to 19” long, but only kept a total of 12 along with 12 keeper cod and
one large tautog. There were many small cod that were released including some
of the reddest color 12” to 18” cod that I have ever seen. The choggies were
very active, but none of those gray guys.”
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