Catching this striped bass was no fluke

August 10, 2010

Captain Dave Monti with the striped bass he caught this week while fishing for fluke (summer flounder). The 34” bass hit a whole squid under the Newport Bridge.


I fished in the Newport area for a couple of hours Saturday during the Newport Folk Festival. Fishing under the Newport Bridge can be challenging… bottom hang ups, fast water, boat congestion and more. I was using an eight oz. fluke ball weight with a buck tail and a second green florescent fluke rig above it, both tipped with squid… in fact whole squid. A second single hook rig was out on another rod too.

The rod bent as I got a huge hit… what a fluke and then all of a sudden this fluke was running. A fluke running ? A minute later a dorsal fin surfaced behind the boat as well as my sea anchor that I had dispatched a few minutes earlier to slow the boat. It was a 34” striped bass that hit the top hook. I managed to land the fish along with everything else that was is one big ball… the sea anchor, its line, most of the fishing line from the two rods and all the squid rigs.
This experience was no fluke because striped bass love squid and feed on the bottom, near structure and fast moving water that tumbles bait around. It is common to get bass hits when fishing for fluke, particularly when using whole squid.

This story is good news… bass are in the Bay. There have been other reports this week about bass in the Bay… so even though water is warm and has chased fish to cooler, deeper water, things did seem to pick up this week,The East Bay Anglers will hold their monthly meeting Wednesday, August 11 at the Riverside Sportsman’s Club on Mohawk Drive in East Providence. Will Barbeau of the East Bay Anglers said promotional plans for the East Bay Anglers 2011 EXPO will be reviewed by member Mike Laptew . The annual EXPO fishing show takes place in January. Reservations to attend the August meeting can be obtained by calling 245-8375 or e-mailing wbarb@cox.net.

Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) is holding their Bluefish/Striped Bass Combo Special Tournament for individual anglers from August 13 to August 22. Anglers must enter a bluefish and a striped bass to qualify. Total weight. Boat and Shore Divisions. Pre-registration NOT required for RISAA members. For more information contact Chairman Mark Paparelli at 401-884-6724.

Commercial striped bass quota hearing. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will hold a public hearing to take comments on Striped Bass Draft Addendum II. This is a proposal to increase the coastal commercial striped bass quota. Recreational anglers are urged to attend the meeting and voice their opinion as the decision to increase the quota would likely impact recreational fishing in a negative fashion. The Rhode Island meeting will be held Tuesday, August 17, 6:00 p.m.at the URI Narragansett Bay Campus, Corless Auditorium, 215 South Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI. A Massachusetts meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 16 , 6:00 p.m.at the Holiday Inn in Dedham, MA.

Tautog fall catch limits. The Department of Environmental Management’s (DEM) Marine Fisheries Division proposal to reduce the recreational tautog catch limit this fall from eight fish to three fish per angler per day will likely be recommended to the DEM executive director. Rick Bellavance, president of the Rhode Island Party & Charter Boat Association, said “The proposal to allow the Party/Charter Industry to remain at eight fish from October 15th to November 30th will likely vw recommended as well.” Bellavance’s proposal included a provision for one fish per person at all other times besides October 15th to November 1st, for the remainder of 2010. This would allow the industry to fish tautog in the important fall season, yet limit fishing at other times this year. Tautog regulations will be revisited in late 2010 to address the 2011 season.

Black sea bass catch limits. The RI Marine Fisheries Council also recommended to the DEM director to increase the recreational Black Sea Bass season, which would now run until October 11th, would close until November 1st, and then reopen for the remainder of the year. The bag limit would stay, 25 fish/person at 12.5 inches.

Where’s the bite

Striped bass fishing on Block Island and off southern Rhode Island coastal shores remains good. Jim Rogers reports a good fishing night last Friday around the Point Judith Light fishing in ten feet of water with eels. He hooked up almost every cast. The largest fish caught was a 45 inch bass that had a large lobster in its stomach. Angler Don Smith reports great fishing on Block Island with 30 bass caught Friday night, in the mix twelve bass were over 40 lbs. with a 51 lb fish caught by Peter Vican. Bass taken with light tackle and live eels. I caught a 34” striped bass under the Newport Bridge while fluking last Saturday and a RISAA blogger reports catching a 24” bass on the troll with tube and worm near the BP Buoy off Barrington. So this is good news Bay fishing is improving.

Bluefishing seems to be picking up with many reports of fish surfacing both in the east and west Bay passages in the Quonset Point and Half-Way Rock areas. Bluefish taken on surface lures and on the troll with tube and worm off Bullock’s Point and south to Barrington Beach, another sign that Bay fishing is improving.

Bonito. Tom of Erickson’s Bait & Tackle in Warwick reported taking two Bonito off Narragansett last week. He chased them for a while but they did not like what he was casting. He then trolled at three to four knots with an artificial bass lure and hooked up five times and landed two fish.
Fluke fishing is fair in the Bay and better off f Block Island. Saturday fishing around Jamestown and under the Newport Bride produced fish for anglers but plenty of shorts were taken with some keepers mixed in.

Off-shore fishing is good. Robb Roach of Kettlebottom Outfitters in Jamestown reports a good Yellow Fin Tuna bite at the Fishtails and east on the troll. Robb reports he and his team regrettably lost a 300 lbs Bigeye tuna after a six hour fight.

Fresh water. Craig Mancini of Colonial Bait & Tackle in Cranston reports a good fresh water bite with a customer reporting thirty largemouth bass being caught at JL Curran this past week. Shiners were their choice of bait. The other local area ponds were slow, bass were not biting too well on shiners, but night crawlers seemed to spark their interest.

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing on Narragansett Bay for over 40 years. He holds a captain’s master license and a charter fishing license. Your fishing photos in JPEG from, stories, comments and questions are welcome… there’s more than one way to catch a fish. Visit Captain Dave’s No Fluke website at http://www.noflukefishing.com/ or e-mail him at dmontifish@verizon.net .
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