Fishing tournament for visually impaired

 Barry Gootkind of Narragansett with the 11.1 pound summer flounder he caught on the Seven B’s last Friday.

 Brandon Hagopian caught this 43 pound, 47” striped bass this week as fishing intensified in the upper Bay.

 Ken Blanchard and family fished the Providence River with Capt. Jack Sprengel of East Coast Charters and landed this bass on a live pogie last week.

Dawn McWilliams of Ithaca, NY caught her first Narragansett Bay striped bass last week, shown with Capt. Dave Monti.

Fishing tournament for visually impaired

The RI Lions Sight Foundation (RILSF) will be hosting their 9th Annual Fishing Tournament for Visually Impaired Persons (VIPs) on June 26^th aboard the Frances Fleet party boat in Galilee, RI.

The half-day tournament is free to the VIP’s and their guides and includes gifts, breakfast and the half-day of fishing from 8:00 a.m. to noon.  The fishing tournament will be followed by lunch and an awards ceremony at the Hanks’ Down South restaurant.  The three top winners will be eligible to represent Rhode Island at the Lions National VIP Fishing Tournament held on the Outerbanks of North Carolina.

There are over 2,500 visually impaired persons in Rhode Island so organizers are urging readers to please pass along information on this opportunity. For information and forms visit http://www.lions4sight.org/fish.htm or call Ken Barthelemy at 401.529.6173.

Striped bass fishing continues to improve

Live lining or fishing with chunks of Atlantic menhaden, day or night, has been the bait of choice for striped bass.

Angler Ken Blanchard Jr. said, ”We caught four nice stripers with Capt. Jack Sprengel of Warwick on East Coast Characters in the twenty pound range and one nearly thirty pounds fishing with my brothers and nephew last Friday.  We left Greenwich Marina at 5:30 a.m. and went up the Providence River.  We located the bait, snagged Atlantic menhaden and then live lined them.  We had our limit by 8:30 a.m.”

Angler Mike Swain of Coventry said, “We caught striped bass to 27 pounds in the upper Providence River this weekend and did well on Monday.” Patti Ferrara of Ray’s Bait & Tackle, Warwick, said, “Striper fishing is very good.  This weekend customers were catching stripers with chucks of Atlantic menhaden off Prudence Island at Providence Point.”  The East Passage of the Bay has been where all the action has been.  Additionally, fishing in the Mt. Hope Bay has been good.  Angler Travis Barao of East Providence said this weekend, “We left the Mt. Hope Bay area and saw over twenty boats fishing for striped bass at the Bridge.”

One of the largest fish this week was caught by Brandon Hagopian which was a 43 pound, 47” striped bass.

Capt. Rick Bellavance of Priority Too Charters, Pt. Judith said, “We are starting to catch some nice fish at Block Island both at the North Rip and Southwest Ledge area.  There seem to be a lot of small scup in the water so we have been using silver spoons with success.”

Noted local fly fisherman, Ed Lombardo said, “We have been fishing the Barrington River for the last week and a half and there are plenty of striped bass but they are small fish but are a lot of fun on a 6 wt. or 7wtl fly rod. Dark olive and black flies work very well because the number of mummichogs in the River. One bass was a nice 19” fish, big for what we have been getting at the Narrow River, Barrington and other rivers.  My records show that this month, June things should change the larger fish should be entering these River systems.”

Fly fish Aquidneck Island by train

On Saturday, June 4^th, 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. the Fly Fishing Express take anglers to fish on Aquidneck Island. The train will leave from 710 Anthony Road, Portsmouth and head toward Newport stopping at hard to get to places to fish.  The train stops for lunch and then more fly fishing in the afternoon.  The cost is $15.  Register with Kim Sullivan at 401-539-0037 or email her at  Kimberly.sullivan@dem.ri.gov.

National Seminar Series moves to Taunton

This season’s 30th Annual Salt Water Sportsman National Seminar Series in New England will be held in Taunton, Massachusetts.  The Seminar Series brings decades of experience and expertise to eight of the most active and engaged fishing communities in the country and this year the Taunton area will be one of them.

As the nation’s longest-running educational program on recreational marine fishing tactics, the series covers the how-tos and where-tos of catching gamefish. Every seminar is hosted by George Poveromo, host of “World of Saltwater Fishing” on NBC Sports, with the help of local fishing experts and captains.

Each seminar is five hours and covers a variety of tailored topics relevant to the regional fishing environment, including weather conditions, controlled-depth fishing, tools and technology, and the effects of tides and temperature on fish. The series employs a team-teaching concept, where four experts take the stage for each session.

The first seminar is scheduled for January 7 in Fort Myers, Florida and the session in our region is scheduled for March 4 in Tauton, Massachusetts.

Where’s the bite

Striped bass fishing remains strong in the Bay with fish getting larger.  Bass bite is starting on Block Island and fish continue to be landed along the southern coastal shore. See above column.

Fluke fishing was mixed last week with rough seas and turbid water.  As the water clears and warms the bite is expected to improve and move closer to shore.  The Frances Fleet reported a fair fluke bite last week.  Capt. Frank Blount said, “Fishing OK for this time of year considering that water temperatures are still not ideal due to the cool spring weather.” Fish being caught are close to shore along the coastal shore where the water is lower and warmer.  Patti Ferrara of Ray’s Bait said, “Fluke are being caught in the Jamestown Bridge area this weekend.”  I made a test run for fluke off Newport, Jamestown and the Newport Bridge area and did not hook up early this week but did manage to catch and release some nice black sea bass in the process.  Eric Duda reported on the RISAA blogg that he fished the Sakonnet River this weekend for fluke.  Duda said, “ We caught four fluke… a 17.5”, 18” and two 19” fish along with six keeper seabass were released because they are out of season and scup to nearly two pounds.  Most fish were caught in 20 to 30 feet of water.”

Squid fishing last week was slow with dirty water but reports over the weekend were expected to improve and they did as the water cleared and warmed up a bit.  I fished the Frances Fleet for squid with the RI Saltwater Anglers group Saturday night and caught about 12 squid which was about the average on the boat with some angler catching a lot more and some less.

Freshwater fishing improved over the weekend at waterways restocked with trout by the Department of Environmental Management.  Visit www.dem.ri.gov for a list of ponds that have been restocked. Angler Harold Hemberger said, “I fished the Curran Reservoir off Seven Mile Road in Cranston on Saturday. I caught seven largemouth bass - all on top water lures.  I saw several people fishing from shore doing well catching some fairly large trout.”