Bottom fishing is family fishing fun

Capt. Dave Monti with a Newport Bridge area fluke caught last week.  Fishing there has been better the last week or two.

 Mikele St. Germain, daughters Eva and Francesca, husband Pierre and friend Steve Brustein (back row) enjoyed a family afternoon of scup fishing Friday on Narragansett Bay.

 Jude (nine) and Rowan (six) with their father Jimmy Monti of Warwick fished the Hooter Buoy area off Pt. Judith and landed multiple summer flounder (fluke) to 24”.

 Steve McGonagle holds a monster fluke his son Brenden caught in the Gould Island/Newport area last week.  They also caught a 50 inch bluefin tuna last week when fishing offshore.

Summer flounder (fluke) spawning stock biomass (SSB) has been on the decline for six years.

Bottom fishing is family fishing fun

Now is the time to bottom fish in the mid or lower Narragansett Bay area, along the coastal shore, and around Block Island.  The water is too warm in upper Narragansett Bay.  Most of bait and fish have moved or come into the mid and lower bay.  Areas around Aquidneck Island, the Newport, Jamestown and Mt. Hope Bridges as well as off Narragansett, Jamestown, Newport  and along our coastal shores are generally good to fish this time of year.

You can bottom fish when anchored, on the drift or from shore.  Bottom fishing for black sea bass, scup and summer flounder (fluke) can be fun for the entire family.  This type of fishing is not stressful in any way and is great for all including casual fishermen and children.  The best part is the down time between bites which serves as a great opportunity for family and friends to talk and socialize.

Anglers often anchor or drift on Great Ledge about a third to a mile northeast of the Jamestown Bridge.  Water flow there is good and you are up on a ledge in about 15 to 25 feet of water with 45 to 60 feet of water on one side and lower water on the Jamestown side of the ledge.  This is a “go to” place to catch scup and black sea bass when children are on board.  The best strategy for children and fishing is to hook them up with fish quickly within minutes to keep their interest.

Anywhere there is structure and water movement is good for bottom fishing.  This includes places in the around Block Island and the coast as well as the mid bay area in such places as Providence Point, Prudence Island, Colt State Park, Independence Park, Warwick Light, Ohio Ledge, etc.

Drifting under and around the bridges is outstanding for summer flounder and black sea bass in particular.  Favorite spots near the Newport Bridge include south of Rose Island were the water is 20 to 30 feet near the green harbor can, the water then drops off to 60 to 90 feet.  The rocky bottom on the south side of Rose Island close to shore has yielded may scup and black sea bass in the summer.  The  water  flow around Rose Island and in and out of Newport Harbor is very good.

Fishing for summer flounder just north and south of the Newport Bridge is good too.  Because the water flow is good, depending on the tide and wind I will focus either on the north or south side of the bridge.  Both the east and west sides are good.  The idea is to stay close to the bridge at the start or end of the drift.  Strikes often occur on depth breaks and where the current is strongest near the bridge.

Black sea bass are fun to catch and a great eating fish.  You usually catch them when fishing for summer flounder (fluke) or where there is underwater structure… rocks, wrecks, piers and jetties will attract black sea bass.  The larger males are generally found in deeper water.

Gear, baits and hook set for bottom fish

Usually bottom fishing rigs for scup and black sea bass are simple and have two hooks and a sinker. Fluke rigs generally have some time of plastic squid, spinner plate or other covering around or above the hook.  I often buy off-the-shelf rigs at bait & tackle shops that sell for about three to five dollars. 

The idea is to keep the piece of bail small (often squid) for scup and black sea bass as both species are bait stealers so you want them to bite the hook and bait (not just pull the bait off the hook) and then set the hook quickly.

When targeting summer flounder with a fluke rig, I believe in larger bait arrangements using strips of squid, silver side fish, with some other type of attractant to hold the squid and silverside on like strips of summer flounder belly, bluefish, sea robin or scup strips depending what you are catching that day. 

There is no quick hook set when fishing for summer flounder as they eat their way up the hook so if you set the hook quickly you may miss the hook up. I let the fish eat the bait for a second or two and then gently raise the rod an inch or two.  If I feel the weight of a fish I firmly but gently continue to raise the rod to set the hook and start reeling the fish in.

I generally use light tackle, spinning or conventional reels are fine with light to medium weight rods with 15 to 20 pound test braid.  The idea of most bottom fishing is put on just enough weight to hold bottom.

Summer flounder spawning stock down

This season some recreational anglers felt summer flounder (fluke) fishing was good, others felt it was way off.  The truth is that the summer flounder spawning stock biomass (SSB) is down and has been down for six years.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) announced on August 15^th that they modified specifications for summer flounder reducing catch limits in 2017 for both recreational and commercial fisheries by about 30%. 

The 2016 assessment update indicates that summer flounder has been on a downward trend.  The summer flounder spawning stock biomass has been on a downward trend for the last six years.  Fish managers have taken action with 30 percent reductions proposed for 2017, both recreational harvest limits and commercial quotas. How this will play out with Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts fishing regulations for 2017 remains to be seen, but no doubt more conservative regulations for 2017 are on the way.

Previously implemented specifications for scup, black sea bass and bluefish were reviewed but essentially kept the same pending fishery changes and any new scientific information.

The Commission’s actions are final and apply to Rhode Island state waters but how they are implemented is to be determined. The Council will forward its federal waters recommendations regarding summer flounder specifications to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final approval.

The summer flounder recreational harvest limit was 5.42 (millions of pounds) in 2016, it will be 3.77 in 2017 (a 30% reduction) and 4.42 millions of pounds in 2018.  From a commercial quota perspective catch limits are going from 8.12 millions of pounds in 2016 to 5.66 in 2017 to 6.63 in 2018.

This decrease in catch and landings limits responds to the findings of the 2016 stock assessment update, which indicates summer flounder has been experiencing overfishing since 2008. In 2015, fishing mortality exceeded its threshold (the level beyond which overfishing is occurring) by 26%. The 2015 estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) is at 58% of the biomass target, and only 16% above the threshold.

The ASMFC said in a press release, “If the summer flounder stock were to fall below the threshold, it would be considered overfished, requiring the development of a rebuilding plan to reduce fishing mortality and rebuild stock biomass. These results appear to be driven largely by below-average recruitment, an underestimation of the fishing mortality level in the last years of the assessment, and declining biomass indices.”

Where’s the bite

Bottom fishing for summer flounder (fluke), black sea bass and scup.  Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “Fluke fishing had its ups and downs last week, however, some anglers continue to limit out with one fisherman boating fifteen keeper sized fluke.  All customers caught their share of black sea bass averaging in the four pound range with more and more scup in the two pound range being caught.” Jimmy Monti and his two boys Jude (nine) and Rowan (six) boated fluke to 24” while fishing the Hooter Buoy off Pt. Judith this Saturday.  Angler Steve and son Brenden McGonagle fished the Newport area for summer flounder (fluke) last week. Steve said, “We started by Rose island, made our way over to the Newport Harbor area, across the water to the Conanicut mooring field area and then under the bridge and up to Gould Island point.  The tide was incoming so the drift was uphill.  Brenden's rod doubled over with line pulling fast off the drag and said, ’Darn, I am tight with a bluefish’.  As the fish neared the boat Brenden saw the leader, then some color from the rig and said ‘it’s a...it looks like it’s a...Dad get the gaff QUICKLY, GET THE GAFF!!!  And we gaffed Flukezilla.  It was easily the biggest fluke either of us had ever seen in 15 years of fishing Rhode Island waters.”  I fished the same Newport areas Saturday and did well with fluke and black sea bass with two anglers on board.  John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside said, “Customers are catching a fair about of fluke off Brenton Reef in 60 to 80 feet of water but it is slow going with one customer catching seventeen fish to get keepers.  Scup fishing is good all the way up the East Passage to Providence.”  Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina said, “Fluke fishing is spotty at the windmills and East Grounds which is an indication the fish are moving out with a better bite east of Pt. Judith, at the mouth of the Bay, and off Newport as an indication of this too.”

Striped bass. Saturday in five foot seas angler Eric Appolonia of North Kingstown said, “We caught three nice keeper fish at the Southwest Ledge trolling a spoon and released two.” Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina said, “The bass bite on Block Island is better at night with eels than during the day.”

Offshore.  Matt Conti of Snug Harbor said, “There are still bluefin tuna at the Dump along with white marlin and occasional Wahoo.  The last trip a customer made they did on see any mahi.  The bluefin bite has also been good at the Butterfish Hole (south of Montauk, NY).”  Offshore fisherman Steve McGonagle said, “(Last Tuesday) my son Brenden spotted a school of BFT cruising just below the surface. It was clear that they were not on bait, which we knew right away gave us a shot at coming tight.  He pulled back the throttles and positioned the boat ahead of the pushing fish.  The first two bluefin pulled the lines out of my hands as I was setting in and we were tight to two 50 inch fish.  Brenden fought one fish and his friend Tyler fought the other as I maneuvered the boat, managed the cockpit and tried to decide if we could gaff or harpoon either fish.  The fights went well but we lost the smaller fish at the boat and darted the larger fish, dragging her through the tuna door.”

Cod fishing is still good on the southeast corner of Cox’s Ledge. We have anglers using salted clams (which we have) as well as jigs and are doing well.” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina.