The new Goddard Park boat ramp is
fully-accessible and features a new deeper water launch site.
Fishing with children
“This is the most fish I ever
caught.” “Scup are great to catch.” “We’re going to make fish tacos when we get
home.” These were some of the comments made Tuesday by brothers Lennox (seven)
and Solomon Moore (four) as we fished Great Ledge on the north east side of the
Jamestown Bridge. The Brunswick, Maine brothers
were in Rhode Island with their mother Alexis visiting grandparents and could
not wait to try saltwater fishing.
Fishing with children is a lot of
fun. No one catches a fish and is sad, particularly children. But to cultivate
a child’s interest in fishing you have to tone things down and make it easy for
them to catch fish. It does not have to be
a large fish; small fish make children enthusiastic too. If children are not catching fish right away you
can lose their interest.
Here are some tips for taking
children fishing.
First, the trip should be planned
for the children and not the adults taking them. Everyone’s energy on the vessel is geared
toward the children to have them catch fish. This means kids only are fishing
until they are successful. It’s all
about the children.
Where you fish is important,
targeting ground fish that are easy to catch like scup and sea bass is
important. Most children have the reflexes it takes for a quick hook set to
catch scup and sea bass (faster reflexes than most adults I know). Scup tend to be where there is water movement,
structure and bait so anchoring up or drifting on a ledge, near a bridge, jetty
or some other structure where you have caught fish before is a good idea.
You should also gear down. Use light weight rods that children can
handle. I often use the lightest tackle
I have (light weight spinning rods, rated for 8 to 17 pound test line) or small
conventional reels and rods for children that have difficulty handling spinning
reels.
I also keep the fishing rig
simple. Traditional scup (porgy) or sea
bass rigs work well. Two small hooks and
a sinker works fine. The bait is simple too, a small piece of squid. Keep things light, I once had a youngster
eating cheese and crackers and he asked, “Do you think my cheese will work for
bait.” We gave it a try. The decision to
use the cheese kept his interest and it worked.
Demonstrating how the rods and
reels work is very important. I often do
a general introduction at the dock and a second time when we arrive at the
first fishing spot. Then it’s one on one with an adult working with each child
most of the day.
Children do catch on quickly. At the end of the trip Tuesday, seven year old
Lennox was baiting his hook, setting the hook properly, landing fish and taking
the fish off the hook.
Teach children how to be responsible
anglers. Obey fishing laws, practice
catch and release, take only those fish children will eat, and teach them how
to be good stewards of the environment.
Lastly, decide if you are going to
keep fish for consumption at the beginning of the trip so there is no
misunderstanding with the children (some want to bring them home as pets). Encourage
children to eat or at least taste the fish once it is cooked at home. Fish are a fresh, local and nutritious source
of protein. Something about eating what
we catch is part of our DNA as humans. I
think this is an important part of the fishing experience.
Where’s
the bite?
Freshwater fishing
for trout has slowed as the water has warmed and stocked ponds have been fished
out. Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait &
Tackle, Warren said, “Customers are catching bass with shiners and a nice pike was
caught on Blackstone River in Lincoln, RI.” Neil Hayes of Quaker Lane Bait
& Tackle, North Kingstown said, “We weighted in a 6.5 pound largemouth bass
that the customer is going to have mounted.” “Most freshwater fishermen are
using shiners for largemouth bass. One
customer fished the Turner Reservoir (Rumford, RI) and hooked up with some fish
there.” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside.
Striped
bass.
John Littlefield said, “This week we had more schools of pogies (Atlantic
menhaden) presenting themselves in the upper Bay with two keepers, a 30” and
31” fish being taken at Pomham Light House.”
“One customer caught a 30 inch striped bass at Popasquash Point casting
SP Minnows.” said Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren. Mike Cardinal of Misquamicut Bait &
Tackle (formerly Cardinal Bait), Westerly, said “Large bass are being caught on
the Watch Hill reefs with anglers live lining scup and eels as bait. The bite from the breech ways last week was
restricted to school bass.” Neil Hayes
of Quaker Lane said, “We have had a good bite with eels off Jamestown and
Newport and a great bite with large fish at Block Island. Customers are also trolling umbrella rigs and
tube & worm with success.” Angler Eric Appolonia of North Kingstown, RI
said, “Last week before the storm my son Alex and his friend boated two nice
fish in the 30 to 35 pound range.” “The
striped bass bite on the southwest side of Block Island is still very good with
anglers catching fish with umbrella rigs as well as eels. We had some 50 pound fish caught last week.”
said Matt Conti of Sung Harbor Marina, South Kingstown.
Summer
flounder
(fluke) fishing has been good at the Jamestown and Newport Bridges.” said Ken
Ferrara of Ray’s Bait & Tackle, Warwick.
I fished the Newport Bridge area twice this past week and managed a few
nice keeper fluke to 23” and several nice sized black sea bass to 19”. “Fluke fishing has slowed a bit along the
southern coastal shore with a good bite still occurring south of Fishers Island
(New York).” said Mike Cardinal. Fluke
fishing around Block Island at Clay Head and the North Rip area has been good
as well as at the East Fishing Grounds and the South side in 80 feet of water. As usual with fluke fishing, on any given day
you have to fish a few places until you find the fish. Matt Conti of Snug Harbor said, “The bite at
the East Fishing Grounds and in the wind farm area has been good with the bite
slowing a bit at Clay Head. The bite is
still on a bit along the southern coastal shore in about 60 feet of
water.” The fluke bite at Clay Head and
the East Fishing Grounds Monday was very soft when I fished there, plenty of
black sea bass. Perhaps the previous
day’s storm gave them lockjaw.
Black
sea bass
bite has been good at the Newport Bridge with anglers catching them in the Bay,
off the coastal shore and at Block Island when they are fluke fishing.
“Scup fishing
has been very good with anglers catching 10 to 15 nice fish each at Colt State
park and off the bike path bridge.” said John Littlefield. Mike Cardinal said, “The scup bite is very
good off the breech ways.” “With the bad
weather this weekend customers have been doing a lot of scup fishing with a
good bite at the Mt. Hope Bridge.” said Macedo of Lucky Bait. We caught several nice scup fluke fishing
under the Newport Bridge this past weekend. Tuesday I fished the Great Ledge
area off Jamestown with brothers Lennox (seven) and Solomon Moore (four)
and they caught
about twenty fish in two hours.
Bluefish have
been heavy at Block Island with anglers catching them when fishing for striped
bass. Snapper blue fishing in the bays,
coves and harbors improved last week.
Offshore
fishing. “We had two customers come in
with blue fin tuna late Friday. One fish
was about 33” and the second which had already been gutted weighed 104
pounds. So anglers are catching some
nice fish trolling for them, casting to them and even jigging seems to be
working. The bite was south of Tuna Ridge to the Northwest corner of the Dump
as well as the Claw area. Customers are also still catching Mako sharks.” said
Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina.
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