Anglers teach them the basics

 Kevin Ward of Bristol, CT caught this 52 pound striped bass trolling an umbrella frame on the south side of Block Island on Priority Too Charters out of Pt. Judith.

Dirck Westervelt of North Kingstown caught this summer flounder under the Newport Bridge on an incoming tide Wednesday on No Fluke Fishing Charters.

Anglers teach them the basics

The Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) will hold two youth fishing events this week. 

The 19^th Annual Take-a-Kid Fishing event will take place in Greenwich Bay this Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon. About 150 children from over a dozen youth organizations including the Boys and Girls Clubs, the Providence Recreation Department and group homes will be treated to a morning of fishing. Over 100 volunteers and 50 volunteer vessels will take children fishing followed by a cookout at Brewers Cowesett Marina, the event host marina. 

Also this week RISAA will hold its second Youth Fishing Camp at Rocky Point State Park.  The camp runs Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and is sponsored by RISAA, the RI Department of Environmental Management and U.S. Fish & Wildlife.  Steve Medeiros, president of RISSA said, “Fifty campers will learn fishing basics, fish biology and identification, conservation, and safety.  Participants will also learn how to fish from shore and a boat.  Shore fishing instruction will take place at Rocky Point Beach and boat fishing on volunteer vessels will occur in the waters off Warwick Neck and in Greenwich Bay. This year we added a day of summer flounder (fluke) fishing on the Seven B’s Party Boat out of Pt. Judith.”

There is no fee for participants and the camp is now full and enrollment closed. Camp is scheduled to kick off Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. with a symbolic first cast from the shore of Rocky Point Beach with a group of camp participants; Janet Coit, DEM director; Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian; and Steve Medeiros, RISAA president.

Trout Unlimited seminar

The Narragansett Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU225) will host a seminar titled “Building a community around conservation & fishing” on Wednesday, June 28^th after a brief 6:00 p.m. meeting.  The seminar will be held at the Arcadia Management Area Check Station, Rt. 165, (Ten Rod Road), at Wood River, Exeter, RI.  The meeting will be preceded by a 5:00 p.m. cook-out, the public is invited to attend.

Speaker Jeff Yates, Trout Unlimited’ s national Director of Volunteer Operations , will be the guest speaker. He is an author and guide, whose first book, Fly Fishing Fairfield County: Secrets of Suburban Streams was published in 2011.

For information contact Glenn Place at 1-401-225-7712 or TU225President@gmail.com .

Angler surveys, light tackle and fly fishing seminar

The Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) will hold a light tackle & fly fishing for striped bass seminar with Joe Gugino and a second topic on the benefits of angler surveys and how they help recreational anglers by Michal Bucko of the RI Depart of Environmental Management (DEM).

Gugino is an accomplished kayak fisherman who prefers fly fishing and topwater fishing for striped bass.  Mike Bucko leads Rhode Island’s team of angler surveyors.

The public is invited to attend the seminar with a $10 donation to the RISAA scholarship fund.  Optional dinner starting at 5:30 p.m., at the West Warwick Elks, 60 Clyde Street, West Warwick, RI.  Visit www.risaa.org for details.

Where’s the bite

Freshwater bite slowed this week with anglers catching large and small mouth bass as well as trout but not in the numbers they had been catching the earlier in the month.  Angler Harold Hemberger said, “Have fished both Waterman Lake and Stump Pond in Smithfield in the past two days.  I caught a half dozen bass - all in the one pound range. .nothing great but plenty of fun.  Bait was a natural color rubber worm fished by letting it drop to the bottom and then up and down on the retrieve.”  “Lincoln Woods and Echo Lake, Barrington is still yielding bass although not many large fish have been caught lately.” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle.

Striped bass fishing has been mixed. Capt. Rick Bellavance of the RI Party & Charter Boat Association (RIPCBA) said, “Striped bass fishing at Block Island is very good. All sizes from 25 inch school bass to a few 50 plus pounders were landed by charter boats this past week.  Kevin Ward of Bristol, CT caught a 52 pound striped bass trolling an umbrella rig off Block Island’s south side on my boat (Priority Too Charters).”  Elisa Cahill of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown said, “Capt. Louis DeFusco of Hot Reels boated a fish in the high forty pound range and Monday and we weighed in a fifty pound fish from a commercial fisherman.”    John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside said, “The pogies are still thick in the Providence River but the bass have thinned out.”  Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren said, “Some anglers are switching to night fishing and they are using eels with success.  The Mt. Hope Bay seems to be producing better than the West Passage.”  “We had one of the largest surf casting tournaments take place this weekend and no bass of decent size were caught.  Only bluefish.  This shows how tough fishing from shore was this week.” said Nellie Valles of Maridee Bait & Canvass, Narragansett.

Black sea bass (BSB) bite is on.  “We had a customer catch a sea bass on an umbrella rig.  Overall fishing for them has been very good.” said Many Macedo of Lucky Bait.  Many anglers are limiting out (three fish/person/day) catching black sea bass when fluke fishing.

“Summer flounder (fluke) fishing is getting stronger. Fish are being caught at the windfarm and Nebraska Shoals and the Green Hill area are yielding some nice fish in 45 to 50 feet of water.” said Elisa Cahill of Snug Harbor Marina.  Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait said, “Fluke fishing in the Sakonnet area, under the Mt. Hope Bridge, under and around the Newport Bridge and Ft. Adams was good this past week.”  John Littlefield said, “Some customers have been able to land fluke off Warwick Neck as well as in Greenwich Bay.”  I fished the Jamestown Bridge/Dutch Island area last week and did well when wind and tide were in line and we could establish a good drift. 

The scup bite exploded this week.  “We had 17” scup being caught from the East Wall and the Hazard Avenue, Narragansett areas.” said Nellie Valles of Maridee Bait & Canvas.  John Littlefield said, “Scup was the big story this week with anglers landing them from Colt State Park shore, the Wharf Tavern, Sabin Point.”  Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait said, “We had two customers limit out on scup…. That’s a total of 60 keepers (30 fish/person/day, minimum size is 10”).”

Sea robins are prolific in our Bays and off coastal shores.  Angler John Migliore of Aquidneck Island caught a large sea robin last week.  Migliore said, “What was unusual is that a school of sea robins were feeding on the surface much like a bluefish or striped bass feeding frenzy.”  Many anglers are now cleaning and eating sea robin tails.