Light tackle tactics that catch fish

 Capt. Mike Roy shared tips Monday on how to catch fall striped bass using light tackle.

Cameron Sears (age 12) of Seekonk, MA caught black sea bass and fluke off Pt. Judith Saturday while fishing with Jack Leyden of North Kingstown.

Light tackle tactics that catch fish 

I looked across the room Monday night and in the audience I spotted Peter Vican.  Peter is a well respected fisherman in Rhode Island and is the state striped bass record holder (77.4 pounds).  He was listening intently as Capt. Mike Roy from Connecticut shared his technique for fishing a reef for striped bass. 

Capt. Roy had the full attention of Peter Vican as well as 200 other fishermen who came to listen to him at a RI Saltwater Anglers Association meeting at The Villa Restaurant, West Warwick. Capt. Roy shared his knowledge of fish and the new, exciting and effective techniques he has developed to land fall run fish (striped bass, false albacore and bonito) on light tackle.

Roy is a former school teacher that trailers his 21 foot Steiger Craft boat.  Capt Roy said, “I like to trailer the boat because it gives me great flexibility.  We can fish Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York waters depending on conditions.  It allows me to fish March to December.”

Here are some light tackle tips Capt. Roy shared.

• Along the Connecticut shore, eels work best at night and live bunker (Atlantic menhaden) works during the day.  Roy said, “I know eels work during the day at Block Island but not along the Connecticut shore.  Perhaps the reason is that there is not much bunker out at Block Island and the fish are not use to feeding on them.”
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• His standard rig uses 50 pound braid line with a seven foot 50 pound monofilament leader tied directly to the braid so he can cast and reel more effectively than when a swivel is used.  His seven foot rod is custom made by him and last year he started to use Shimano reels exclusively. He using J hooks rather can circle hooks and pays attention to the hook set so fish are not hooked in the gut.
• Capt. Roy said, “I enjoy a strong hook set.  I wait until I feel a thump, lower the rod tip and they set the hook hard.  I will generally set it two more times to make sure the barb in the hook penetrates the fish.”
• Believes in using no weight with eels (as he often fishes in low water, 15 feet) but does weigh them down with slip shot (small pieces of lead) when ne needs some weight to get them down.  He is a firm believer in maintaining contact with the bait to know when you get a hit and to prevent the eel from burying itself in structure below.
• When fishing a surface blitz of false albacore, bonito or striped bass he positions his boat up wind and up current casting into the edge of the blitz as he believes in the ‘iceberg’ effect.  Roy said, “The fish you see on top are only the tip of the iceberg, likely the school is a lot larger under the surface, often times you can see it on your fish finder.”

For additional information visit Capt. Mike Roy’s website at www.reelcastcharters.com .

Where’s the bite?

Freshwater fishing has improved as the weather was not as warm this week.  Chris Catucci of the Tackle Box, Warwick said, “Gorton’s Pond, Warwick, has been giving up some four to five pound largemouth bass but you have to work for them.”  John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle Riverside, said, “Stump Pond has been producing a mix of largemouth bass, pickerel and perch for customers. There bait of choice has been shiners.  We sold a lot of shiners this week. “Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle said, “Bass fishermen have been landing fish shiners as well as with Yamsmoto Senkos.”

Scup/black sea bass fishing remains strong throughout Narragansett and Mt. Hope Bays with fish being caught around structure particularly where there is moving water.  Chris Catucci of the Tackle Box said, “Customers have been catching a lot of scup at Conimicut Point and Rocky Point.”  John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle  said,  “Scup, Tommy cod and some northern king fish are being caught around Lavin’s Marina on Bullock’s Point Cover, Barrington.”  Angler Ken Blanchard reports on the RISAA blog, “Fished from 9:45 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Saturday), lots of short scup and sea bass at the rock piles near the Quonnie Breachway. Fished the corner of the Breachway with rubber shad. Caught one schoolie bass about 14 inches and then got cut off by a bluefish. Started out cloudy and warm with an outgoing tide. Water is in the mid-70's, clear and weed free (pretty much).” Angler Jack Leyden of North Kingstown said, “Went out at 2:00 p.m. Saturday about one mile southeast of Pt. Judith in 64 feet of water and caught large black sea bass and small summer flounder on every drift.”

Striped bass fishing remains spotty a Block Island during the day with a much better night bite.  Anglers fishing the north rip and the southwest ledge in daylight have not done well. “The evening bite is pretty good at Block Island.” said Littlefield of Archie’s Bait. “Customer Al and Kevin Bettencourt (and Kevin’s son) continue to do well at the southwest ledge at sunset.  This weekend they caught their three fish and returned to the dock at about 10:30 p.m.  They caught a total of 17 fish with 30 ells with black sea bass taking many of the eels.”  Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle, Providence said, “The striped bass bait of choice has been eels with fish taking pencil popper lures as well.”  Fly fishing expert Ed Lombardo, who has been fishing the Narrow River said, “Shad and small striped bass are vey abundant.  Lots of fun on a 7 or 8 wt. rod.  Both the incoming and outgoing tide worked well as the fish have been very aggressive on either tide.  Small all white or all hot pint streamers work well.”  Capt. Frank Blount of the Francis Fleet reports a great night time striped bass bite.  Capt. Blount said, “This week turned out to be extraordinary for striped bass night fishing. Not only was the boat easily limited out all three nights, but piles of good size blue fish mixed in too. Some better size bass mixing were in the 15 to 25 pound range.”

Fluke fishing.  Although somewhat of a slowdown in some areas Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters, Westerly said, “The fluke bite along the southern coastal shore has moved out to deeper water outside the Watch Hill Reef in about 60 to 80 feet of water. Although further out these fish are larger. The outside of the North Rip of Block Iland is producing fluke too as well as the wind farm area.”  I fished the lower west passage off Jamestown and Dutch Island and managed four keepers Friday and two on Sunday.  It has been a slow pick with some nice fish of size caught but not the steady pick we have witnessed the past two years fishing off Brenton Reef and Seal Ledge area, Newport.  Fishing off Block Island in the wind farm area continues to yield fish but not at the volume it had been early this year.  Angler Mike Swain of Coventry said, “We fished the wind farm area Sunday and hooked up with some nice fish, it’s arguably the best fluke fishing off Rhode Island, however, it was hardly worth the ride to fish there as we did not catch a volume of fish.”

The bluefish bite off Sabin Point and Barrington Beach has been very good.  Chris Catucci of the Tackle Box said, “Customers are catching some bluefish of size using poggy (Atlantic menhaden) chunks as bait.  We also have a lot on anglers catching skipjack bluefish in coves and ponds and inlets.  John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait said, “Bluefish are being caught in the Rivers.  In Pawtucket we have pogies three feet thick and some bluefish have worked their way up the river to feed on them.”  Reports of blue fish running at Block Island an along the southern coastal shore from Charlestown to Pt. Judith with some striped bass mixed in.

“Bonito have been running hot from the West Wall at the Harbor of Refuge to Watch Hill with the West Wall and Weekapaug areas being the hot spots.”,  said Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters.

Tautog fishing has started to pick up as anglers are targeting them early than usual due to a soft fluke season in shore.  Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle said, “Tautog are hitting Asian crafts with a fair bite off Jamestown and Newport.”  Sophia Garzoli weighted in a 5.7 pound tautog at Ocean State Tackle that was caught with Asian crabs off the West Wall of the Harbor of Refuge.