Monday, July 14, 2025

Come clam with me

Capt. Dave’s clams casino plated and ready to eat.

Learn how to quahog this summer at one of three ‘Come Clam with Me’ programs.


 Jeff Sullivan of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren with a hefty striped bass caught off Newport Wednesday on BragaBoutIt Charters with Capt. Chad Braga.

Come Clam with Me

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s Aquatic Resource Education program will hold three more 'Come Clam with Me' events this year.  The events are scheduled for August 12, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Rocky Point, Warwick; August 25, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Gull Cove, Portsmouth; and September 9, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at North Kingstown Town Beach.

Participants learn how to dig for clams, the equipment you need, and the management strategies that support quahogging in Rhode Island.

The program fee is $10/person for registrants 8 years of age and older. For information and registration  call 401-330-0634, email kimberly.sullivan@dem.ri.gov or visit online at Aquatic Resource Education (A.R.E) Program for Children and Adults | Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management

Some quahog history

The word quahog comes for the Narragansett Indian name “poquauhock”.  Indians used quahog shells to make beads that were used as money (called wampum).  A quahog can get quite old, each line on its shell is a growth ring.  You can count the rings to determine the quahog’s age.  Researchers estimate that the largest quahogs (about four inches in length) can be 40 years old.

Where to get them

You can dig for quahogs in many coastal Rhode Island towns.  Parts of the Bay have seasonal, conditional or permanent closures, check the RI Department of Environmental Management Web site for areas you can shellfish, visit Shellfishing | Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. I like to fish spots I know are clean in Warwick, North Kingstown and on salt ponds in Narragansett.

How to dig them

For years, I dug for quahogs with my feet, this is the way may father taught me.  Sort of like doing the twist with your feet underwater and moving backwards until you feel a quahog.  Once you do, you reach down and pull it up with your hand.  Today I use a quahog or clam rake which is available at bait and tackle shops and hardware stores.  In early spring the water is about fifty to sixty degrees so I use waders and rubber gloves with great success (I use this same gear to scallop in the fall and winter).  They protect my feet and enable me to quickly catch what I need for dinner, minimizing the time I am in the cold water.

How to clean and prepare the catch

You can clean quahogs in the salt water by tossing them underwater in a mesh nylon bag.  When I get home I spray them with water to get the remaining mud off and discard any with opened or cracked shells.  I then soak them for an hour or so, drain and refrigerate them before opening so their muscles are cold, relaxed and they are easier to open.

 

Quick quahog dishes

I had the chance to dig some quahogs this last week. Here are two recipes I like to make for my family.  It’s my version of linguini with clam sauce and clams cassino which I traditionally take to my sisters-in-law’s house on Thanksgiving Day but earlier this month had them to celebrate the 4th of July.  Here is the clams casino recipe, for the Frutti de Marie Quahog Pasta complete recipe visit this article on my posting blog at www.noflukefishing.blogspot.com .

Frutti de Mare Quahog Pasta

Ingredients:

½ cup virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic thinly sliced (or 4 teaspoons chopped garlic from jar)

1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley (plus four to five good pinches)

½ cup dry white wine

½ lemon juice

red pepper

3 dozen (scrubbed) littleneck quahogs (1 ½ to 2 inches)

meat of  6 to 8 quahogs cut-up and cleaned (optional)

1 pound linguini pasta

Scrub littleneck quahog shells thoroughly and put them aside.

Cook linguine while making recipe.

Heat extra virgin olive oil in heavy pasta pan over medium heat, cook garlic in oil until golden brown (about one minute).  Add and stir in 1/3 cup chopped parsley and all the little necks, let simmer for two minutes.  Add wine and let simmer for one minute.  Add lemon and the meat of six to eight large quahogs cut up and cleaned (extra quahog meat is optional; if I catch them, I put them in).  Add red pepper to taste.  Cook for eight to ten minutes or until all quahogs are open. Discard quahogs that are not open.  Lower heat and put in one pound of cooked linguini and toss the entire mixture.  Remove from heat and put into large pasta bowl.  The finishing  touch… garnish with four pinches of fresh parsley.

Captain Dave’s clams casino

Clean littlenecks or smallish quahogs, cut meat from shell and leave it in the shell, top with mixture of fresh chopped parsley, flavored breadcrumbs, and Ritz cracker crumbs. Lay a one to one and half inch piece of bacon on top. Bake at 350 degrees for twelve minutes, then broil on lower shelf for one to two minutes to brown bacon (make sure they don’t burn under broiler).  Plate and serve with fresh lemon wedges and hot sauce.

Where’s the bite?

Striped bass, bluefish and false albacore. Jeff Ingber of Ocean State Tackle, Providence, said, “The false albacore bite off Narragansett has been red hot from just about any rock.  The fish are about two to four pounds.  And the striped bass bite has been very good too along the southern coastal shore.” “The striped bass bite at Sugar Reef has been good with a lot of squid in the area but the striped bass bite at Block Island has been hit or miss,” said Ryan Turner of Warch Hill Outfitters, Westerly.    Jeff Sullivan of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren, said, “The striped bass bite was outstanding in front of Newport in the Brenton Reef area Wednesday.  We caught 30 plus pound fish both with surface lure and with live eels.”  “The bigger bass have made their way into the salt ponds and are also abundant on local reefs. Live bait has been the key to hooking the larger fish, while smaller bass can be caught using sand eel imitations and topwater lures. We've seen fewer bluefish locally this week. A few are still being caught from the rocks, but more can be found out around Block Island now.” said Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown. 

Summer flounder (fluke). Ryan Turner of Watch Hill Outfitters, said, “The black sea bass bite at Block Island has been good, however, along the coastal shore in South County anglers are catching few keepers and a lot of short fluke.”  Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle, said, “The bite remains consistent, with mostly smaller fish being caught. They've moved into deeper local waters, around 43-55 feet. Interestingly, a good population has also moved into the salt ponds. These fish can be targeted effectively with a light bucktail and a teaser, worked in channels and deep troughs between sandbars.”  “The black sea bass bite is good in about 80 feet of water off the Sakonnet River with a strong fluke bite on either side of the Jamestown Bridge depending on the tide.  The fish are a nice 20 to 21” eating size,” said Jeff Ingber of Ocean State Tackle. “Anglers caught fluke fishing in 50 feet of water off Newport Wednesday, however, they had to fish through a lot of shorts.  Bucktails were working as well as Hi/Low rigs,” said Jeff Sullivan of Lucky Bait & Tackle.

 

Bluefin tuna.  “The school bluefin tuna bite has been on at the Gully,” said Jeff Ingber of Ocean State Tackle.  Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle said, “Tuna reports have been excellent this week, with most fish in the mid-40-inch range. Trolling with green, zucchini, and purple side trackers has been successful, and some customers are also catching fish on jigs and plugs.

 

Freshwater.  “Both the smallmouth and largemouth bass bite is on.  Anglers hooking up with smallmouth bass using small shads, with frogs and spinner baits working well for largemouth bass,” said Jeff Sullivan of Lucky Bait & Tackle.

Campers get hooked on fishing

RI Saltwater Anglers/Department of Environmental Management Fishing Camp Class of 2025.

Squeteague are hard to find but Colton Venditelli caught this one Thursday at Fishing Camp.

Teddy Schipritt  with a sea robin caught at Fishing Camp off Warwick Country Club.

Campers get hooked on fishing

The Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) once gain ran a successful youth fishing camp last week with funding from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services.  The camp was held at Rocky Point State Park, Warwick for fifty-five children 7 to 12 years old.  Safe Harbor Greenwich Bay Marina donated the use of their slips for RISAA vessels taking kids fishing.

Camper Teddy Schipritt, from Jamestown, RI said, “I haven’t caught fish like this before,” as he and other campers hooked up with fish Thursday on about fifteen RISAA member boats fishing in Narragansett Bay.  Schipritt boated an impressive total of twelve fish including two bluefish, a squeteague, a sea robin and about eight scup.

Camp on Tuesday was cancelled due to 100-degree weather and Wednesday campers spend the day fishing on the Frances Fleet party boat out of Pt. Judith, RI.

Topics covered over the three-day camp typically include fish identification, conservation, use of spinning and conventional gear and tackle, basic marine biology, how and why to use different baits and lures,  boating safety, casting form shore, fly fishing, fly tying and fishing from private boats and party boats. 

The Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association is a non-profit organization, created in 1997 to provide a forum for recreational saltwater anglers; to provide education to members concerning fishing techniques, improved catches, and overall enjoyment of fishing; to foster sportsmanship; to support marine conservation and sound management of fisheries resources; and provide a unified voice to preserve and protect the rights, traditions and the future of recreational fishing.

 

Marine Affairs Director supports no moratorium on striped bass

The Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission (MFAC) met via Zoom at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, July 1, 2025.  .

The interstate striped bass management plan was a discussion item on the agenda along with a stakeholder letter sent by Daniel McKiernan, Director to the Massachusetts Division of Marine Affairs, outlining the state’s position on striped bass moratoriums for the commercial and recreational fishery.

“While warranting careful monitoring and attentive management, the status of the striped bass resource at this time does not merit a commercial harvest moratorium nor a complete harvest moratorium… Although the stock was declared overfished in 2019, the latest coastwide assessment indicates that spawning stock biomass is rebuilding under the measures implemented in 2020, 2023, and 2024,” said Director McKiernan.

“The preponderance of evidence indicates that it is not the level of reproductively mature females in the population that is causing this below average recruitment, but rather environmental conditions in the spawning areas (e.g., warmer, dryer winters).”  McKiernan added, “Spawning stock biomass remains well above the level seen in the 1980s when the stock collapsed and capable of producing strong year-classes should the right environmental conditions present.”

For a copy of Director McKiernan’s letter, and other information regarding the meeting, visit Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission | Mass.gov.

 

Where’s the bite?

Striped bass, bluefish and bonito.  East End Eddie Doherty, author and Cape Cod Canal fishing expert, said, “There was a weeklong lull of striped bass being caught in Buzzards Bay, but boat guys are back to catching above slots in good numbers so hopefully, the fish find out about the bait and ride an east tide into the Canal!  Last weekend began with Paul ‘Sparky’ Yuskaitis chunking mackerel on an early slack tide that produced a healthy 32-inch striper.”  Chad Katch of Sam’s Bait, Middletown, said, “The bass have moved out of our Bays and are now out in front from the mouth of the Sakonnet, to Newport and off our southern coastal shores.  Anglers are hooking up with top water lures in low light conditions and during the day eels, trolling tube & worm and umbrella rigs are working.  We also have a good bonito bite with anglers finding success this week at Lands End, Middletown and at the mouth of the Sakonnet River using epoxy jibs.”  “The salt ponds are producing good numbers of school bass in South County, mostly feeding on sand eels. You can catch these fish on topwater lures, soft plastics, and Alabama rigs that mimic the bait schools. Bigger fish have been happy to take live eels at night,” said Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown.  Jeff Sullivan of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren said, “The striped bass bite at Block Island is lights out at night. Last weekend we caught fish in the 40-pound class using eels.  And, out in front of Newport 30-pound fish were typical with a lot of large blue fish there too.  The bonito bite is still good on epoxy jigs and all types of shiny tin lures.”

Black sea bass, summer flounder (fluke), squeteague and scup.  I fished with RI Saltwater Angler campers Colton Venditelli of Hope and Teddy Schipritt of Jamestown, RI along with RISAA camp counselor Steve Enander of Lincoln, RI on my vessel Thursday.  The two campers managed to catch about two dozen fish including black sea bass, bluefish, sea robins, squeteague, and many large scup drifting with sea bass rigs tipped with native squid on the west side of Warwick Neck. “The fluke bite is in shallow and deep water both with anglers who put their time in catching keeper size fish.”,” said Jeff Sullivan of Lucky Bait & Tackle. “The fluke bite has been good but it has moved out in font in 70 to 90 feet water,” said Chad Katch of Sam’s Bait.  Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle, said, “Most of the fluke are coming from 37-47 feet locally, though some larger ones have been caught in 15-20 feet of water. The Block Island bite continues to be good, but it's similar to the action closer to shore, so many boats are saving gas and staying local.”

Freshwater.  The largemouth bite continues to be very good.  Anglers are having success with top water  baits and frogs as ponds and lakes now have a good amount of vegetation.  Shiners continue to work well for anglers as well.

 

Fish science at its best

 


Ed Lombardo with a 20” trout caught during the Hex Hatch (mayfly hatch) on Wood River Monday.

Mahi-mahi and eight other species are now included in the Block Island Inshore Fishing Tournament.

Fish science at its best

Woods Hole and Sea Grant reach out to Falmouth youth

Last month, nearly 250 seventh graders from Falmouth Public Schools visited Woods Hole for an amazing day of ocean science.

Students enjoyed hands-on science activities at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and NOAA’s Northeast Science Center Woods Hole Lab.

At the Science Center lab, students dissected fish and learned about fish anatomy, toured the Aquarium, learned what fisheries observers do, tried on survival suits, and learned about at-sea safety.

The event was sponsored by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant, and the Science Center.

Fish science rallying for cod

Fish science in this Nation is the best there is. In the case of cod, NOAA Fisheries and its science-based approach to fisheries is rallying to rebuild cod which has been overfished for many years.

To make it clear, humans have overfished cod to near extinction, so science alone cannot bring back cod.  It will take a lot of regulation discipline too.

In 2021 scientists from around the world came together to study cod and documented five distinct fish populations.  An offshore Georges Bank and four inshore populations from New Jersy to the Canada.

Fish biologist and fishers documented the differences.  The five cod stocks look different in that their shape, size and color differ.  And, their genetic composition, spawning behavior and migration patterns are distinct.

Once the stocks were identified, it was now a matter of drilling down and garnering more data to give fish managers the data needed to put in rebuilding plans.

NOAA Fisheries teamed up with members of New England’s recreational for-hire (charter boat) fleet, the New England AquariumPelagic Strategies, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to fill data gaps. The pilot study is called the Recreational Biological Sampling Program, or RecBio.

From November 2023–2024, twelve for-hire captains collected data from 3,000 fish recording length with a photo to verify measurement, kept or released, date/time caught and the precise location.

With support from The Nature Conservancy, Harbor Light Software tailored the existing AnglerCatch fishing app as a portal for captains to enter data using a smartphone or tablet.

NOAA Fisheries, said, “When a fisherman harvests a cod, the participating captain gives it a unique barcode to match the data submitted to the app. The captain freezes the fish’s head at the end of the trip. The science team then extracts the otoliths (ear bones that contain growth rings). Scientists count the rings of the otolith to estimate the age of the fish. This allows them to understand the demographics of cod caught recreationally.”

Congratulations to NOAA and hats off to two local charter captains for taking leadership roles on this research project: Mike Pierdinock, New England Council member, President of the Stellwagen Bank Charter Boat Association and RecBio participant; and Rick Bellavance, chair of the New England Fisheries Management Council, President of the RI Party & Charter Boat Association, RecBio co-founder and participant.

Still time to register for the Block Island Tournament

The expanded Block Island Inshore Fishing Tournament is Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, July 27. You need not attend the awards ceremony to enter and win.  Fish photos are taken up against a tournament ruler and entries are submitted electronically via the GotOne fishing smartphone app.

The Tournament now includes nine species with an expanded fishing area south of the Newport and Jamestown Bridges including the Rhode Island southern coastal beaches to about fifteen miles south of Block Island itself.

Register at BI Inshore Tourney | bi-fishworks (sandypointco.com).

Where’s the bite?

Striped bass, bluefish and bonito. Chad Katch of Sam’s Bait, Middletown, said, “The bass have moved out of our Bays and are now out in front from the mouth of the Sakonnet and off Newport.  Anglers are hooking up with top water lures in low light conditions and during the day eels, trolling tube & worm and umbrella rigs are working.  We also have a good bonito bite at Lands End, Middletown and at the mouth of the Sakonnet River using epoxy jigs.”  East End Eddie Doherty, Cape Cod Canal fishing expert and author, said, “Long distance caster Bob “Bull” MacKinnon hopes for more productive days on the Big Ditch with the realization that there have been schools of silversides at Mass Maritime, bunker near the Sagamore Bridge and mackerel in the east end.  Last week started with Canal Sportsman’s Club member “Adirondack Jim” Cromme successfully chunking into an after-dinner slack tide on a beautiful night. A 40-inch striped bass bit down on his cut mackerel and a nice size bluefish attacked the same bait.”  “The salt ponds are producing good numbers of school bass in South County, mostly feeding on sand eels. You can catch these fish on topwater lures, soft plastics, and Alabama rigs that mimic the bait schools. Bigger fish are taking eels at night,” said Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown.  Jeff Sullivan of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren said, “The striped bass bite at Block Island is lights out at night. Last weekend we caught fish in the 40-pound class using eels.  And, out in front of Newport 30-pound fish were typical with a lot of large blue fish there too.”

Summer flounder (fluke). “The fluke bite is in both shallow and deep water.  Anglers who put their time in are catching keepers,” said Jeff Sullivan of Lucky Bait & Tackle. “The fluke bite has been good but it has moved out in font in 70 to 90 feet water,” said Chad Katch of Sam’s Bait.  Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle, said, “Most of the fluke are coming from 37-47 feet locally, some larger ones have been caught in 15-20 feet of water. The Block Island bite continues to be good.”

Freshwater.  Ed Lombardo, expert fly tyer, fisher, and instructor, said, ”Fished the Wood River for the Hex Hatch Monday night and the hatch was very good. We got several nice Bown trout, which were very aggressive. We started fishing from 6:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. Now that these fish have been seeing these great large mayflies one can still fish for them during daylight. But the Hatch will start at dark.”