Fishing after storms

Newport Blues:  Angler Steve Brustein of West Warwick with one of four bluefish caught when a school surfaced in front of 1^st Beach, Newport. The fish were bled and iced in minutes ready for the smoker.

 Fishing after storms

The storm is over.  The seas are settling down.  Ever wonder what impact storms have on fishing?  

A storm like the one we had this past week can change fishing a lot.  Some species may leave the area totally.  Yet others species just won’t bite.  They may not bite because the water is dirty with sand and mud that either irritates the gills of fish so they stop moving around and feeding or they simply cannot see your bait in murky, cloudy water. 

But there is hope. Storms also create opportunities with reefs, clam and mussel beds that get torn up with broken shells providing a feeding ground for many of the fish we target.  Additionally, a good storm this time of year often provides a cleansing and a wakeup call to anglers suggesting that it is time to target fall species like tautog, migrating striped bass, surface feeding bluefish and false albacore.

“The water is like dirt.” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown.  “A stormy week like we just had can convince a species that it is time to move.  Like summer flounder.  Last week, right up until Sunday, we had a commercial rod & reel fisherman bring in 20 pounds of fluke.  So they were still here.  But very possibly with a storm like this, with water this dirty we won’t find them again.  We might get a few stragglers as the fluke move out to deeper water.  At the lower part of the Bay for example or it may come back for a while off shore.  We will have to wait and see.” 

There have been an abundance of school size striped bass in covers and ponds.  Wickford Cove and other ponds and coves around the state are holding Atlantic menhaden and a lot of smaller bait that the school bass are feeding on.  Matt Conti said, “Salt Pond is loaded with school bass.  This is a place and species you can target when the weather is bad out in front or offshore.”

At press time the water has started to clear so hopefully by the weekend anglers will be able to fish for species such as black sea bass, striped bass, tautog and cod fishing which has been experiencing a fairly  good bite close to shore. 

Neil Hayes of Quaker Lane Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown, said, “Customers have been catching cod fish just south of the windmill area.”  So the hope is that fall cod fishing will develop like last year… a good bite at the East Fishing Grounds and around Block Island and waters close to shore, like the waters off Newport that produced good cod fishing last year.

Another good thing about storms is that they create new fish habitats with a new food supply of insects, shrimp, shell fish and small fish that arrive with the water. These flooded areas and water adjacent to them can become good fishing areas as the water starts to recede.   Fishing is good at inlets and outflow too because water levels are high due to rain, abnormally high tides and heavy surf. Once water rushes out of rivers, bays, and inlets, bait that may have sought refuge up inlets gets tossed around as they leave for open water where larger fish are waiting.

Good fishing as the weather clears.

Pabst Blue Ribbon Catch & Release Tournament selects final winners

The Pabst Blue Ribbon catch and release striped bass, bluefish and summer flounder (fluke) tournament ended August 20^th.  To be eligible for the season ending cash prizes, a minimum of three fish had to be caught and released.  The length of the longest three fish in each specie category makes up an angler’s total entry.

Last week after all winning candidates passed a polygraph test the results of the competition became final. 

Tournament winners: Striped bass category winners were Russell Zivkovich, 150”, $5,000 cash prize; John Hanecak, 149.5”, $1,500; and Keith Darrow, 147.5”, $500.  Summer flounder (fluke) winners were Gary Stephens, 87”, $5,000 cash prize; John Davis, 83”, $1,500; and Howard Ward, 74”, $500.  The bluefish winners were Russell Zivkovich, 110.25”, $5,000 cash prize; Al Tremblay, 108.50, $1,500; and Gary Stephens, 108.25”, $500.

Visit www.pbrfishing.com for details on the September 25 celebration event and for a listing of Junior Division winners.

Where’s the bite

Summer flounder and black sea bass.  Last week we bottom fished a portion of four separate trips.  The areas we covered included the West and East side of Jamestown and all along the Aquidneck Island’s southern coast from Elbow Ledge at the Sakonnet River to the Brenton Reef Area. We also fished the areas around the Newport Bridge.  The result yielded a number of nice sized black sea bass to 21” but only seven keeper summer flounder. So I am convinced that this storm is very likely to chase any remaining summer flounder up and out of the area and away from our coastal shores to deeper water for the rest of the season. Angler Mike Swain of Coventry said, “I checked my logs from last year and this time last year the fluke were gone.  So I think they are gone for good this year.”  Neil Hayes of Quaker Lane Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown said, “Fluke fishing had been great before the storm at Block Island in the wind farm area with tons of nice black sea bass being caught too.”  Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “Fluke fishing was picky most of the week with big fish to 10 pounds being caught but the overall numbers were not good.” 

Bonito and false albacore.  The bonito bite is expected to be soft as they seem to be moving out of the area.  Neil Hayes of Quaker Lane said, “Earlier last week the bonito bite was good along the coastal shore.  They were mixed in with schools of bluefish so anglers were getting cut-off quite a bit.”  However, the false albacore are in.  Matt Conti of Snug Harbor said, “Toward the end of the week the false albacore were here pretty strong.  Generally when they arrive, the Bonito leave the area.  But they were blitzing pretty good last week before the storm along the southern coast shore.”

Bluefish were on the surface from Elbow Ledge all along the Aquidneck Island southern coast to Brenton Reef.  They were rather spotty, you had to look for them but they surfaced from time to time.  Angler Kevin Fetzer of East Greenwich said, “We spotted schools of bluefish Sunday off of first beach and we casted into the fray when they surface. We landed four for a friend who likes to smoke them.  No false albacore on bonito were mixed in with them.”

Striped bass fishing remained very strong last week.  Angler Eric Appolonia said, “We fished with eels on the Southwest Ledge at Block Island just before and after high tide and did very well last week.”  Matt Conti of Sung Harbor said, “The commercial season opens again this week so I am sure we will have a lot of fishermen targeting striped bass as soon as the weather clears.”  Fishing for striped bass can be hit or miss as the fall migration starts.  Schools of fish move in and out so someday the fishing can be good and other days it is not good. 

“Yellow fin tuna fishing on our first trip of the season was successful last week as anglers caught fish in the 50 to 70 pound range drifting chuck bait during the day. The trips will be run into October.” said Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet.

Freshwater fishing for trout has not been good.  Anglers are waiting or the restocking of ponds and waterways with trout for the fall and winter season.  However, largemouth bass fishing has been consistently good.  Neil Hayes of Quaker Lane said, “The largemouth bass bite has been good with anglers using shiners and worms as well as spinner baits with success.  Worden Pond and Indian Lake have been yielding fish consistently for customers.”  Kim Petti of Fin & Feather Outfitters, North Kingstown said, “Fishing in our spring fed ponds had been good all season.  With no rain the ponds did not heat up.  The Wood River water level remains high but everyone is waiting for DEM to restock with trout.”

Quahog Week kicks-off

Speakers at the Quahog Week kick-off were DEM Agriculture chief Ken Ayars; First Gentleman Andy Moffit; Governor Gina Raimondo; Karsten Hart of Newport Restaurant Group; Sarah Schumann, author of RI's Shellfish Heritage; Mike McGiveney of the RI Shellfishermen's Association; and US Senator Jack Reed.

Pam Tameo, West Bay Anglers fundraising chair, with one of the Lobster Raffle prizes.  The fishing club raised over $12,000 this winter for the Impossible Dream and their ‘Take a kid fishing’ Foundation.

Quahogs and quahogers honored

Ah, the cherished Rhode Island quahog.  It was recognized this week along with the shellfishermen and women that harvest them when Governor Gina Raimondo declared March 21-27, 2016 Quahog Week in Rhode Island.  The Governor joined state and food-industry leaders at a special celebration at Save the Bay Tuesday to mark the quahog industry’s importance to the state’s history, culture and economy and to encourage its year-round use.

Over 27 million quahogs were harvested form Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island coastal waters last year. Throughout Quahog Week sixteen restaurants across the state will offer special menu selections that will feature the native Rhode Island clam. Visit www.seafoodri.com  for details on Quahog Week, a list of participating restaurants and information about the RI Seafood brand.

West Bay Anglers donate $12,000 to non-profits

The West Bay Anglers, a fishing club located in Warwick, RI contributed $6,000 to Impossible Dream Saturday and $6,000 to their ‘Take a Kid Fishing’ Foundation.  The Foundation funds will be used to take over 300 children fishing on six separate fishing trips this summer on the Seven B’s party boat out of Galilee, RI.  

Pam Tameo, lobster raffle chairperson and past president of the West Bay anglers said, “Our supporters were great this year allowing us to raise over $12,000.  And I have to thank the Warwick Firefighter’s Hall as they were outstanding setting up the hall and preparing food for each of the fourteen Saturday Lobster Raffle events we held there this year.”

Each week the West Bay Anglers would raffle off tables and tables of food, consumer electronics, fishing gear and a host of other items.  Each Saturday event would last over two hours.  Traditionally, they were held at the FOP Lodge, however, due to Apponaug construction and difficult access, the venue was moved to the Firefighter’s Hall in Warwick this year.

Tameo said, “On all six fishing trips we will give priority to the children of military families and then focus on other children in need.  We already have a waiting list for trips this summer.”

For information about the fishing trips and raffles contact Pam Tameo at wbapamtam@cox.net.

Kayak fishing is hot

Kayak fishing is the fastest growing sector in the industry and fishermen in Rhode Island are no exception.  In fact, a new organization called Ocean State Kayak Fishing (OSKF) formed last year and has really taken off.  OSKF was started with a handful of fishing buddies to communicate and plan fishing trips. The group now serves as a place for people to find new fishing partners, post photos and ask questions.

OSKF has a YouTube page with videos of fishing trips, reviews and helpful do it yourself videos. The goal of the organization is to be a one stop shop for all kayak fishing information and does not have a membership fee. 

OSKF has a season long striped bass tournament for the largest striped bass.  For information visit their website at www.oceanstatekayakfishing.com .

Hats off to charter fishing industry

Hats off to Capt. Rick Bellavance, president of the Rhode Island Party & Charter Boat Association and some of his fellow association members (I am happy to be one of them) that pioneered the electronic recording of fishing catch and effort on charter boats as part of a pilot project they ran for two years.  Last year Capt. Bellavance and his colleagues worked with software developers to perfect the application making it work to satisfy NOAA’s criteria for mandatory Vessel Trip Reporting (VTR) that charter boat and commercial fishing vessels with federal fishing licenses must complete on each fishing trip.

The software has been approved for use by NOAA’s Greater Atlantic Region by the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistical Program (ACCSP) as a mobile electronic vessel trip reporting (eVTR) application for the purpose of eVTR submission to the Greater Atlantic Region.

This development is big in that it will provide federal and state fish managers with a reliable and robust electronic data source to calculate fishing activing for commercial fishing vessels and party & charter boats participating.  The manual VTRs required federal license holders to fill out a multi-part carbon paper form and file it via snail mail on ever trip taken.

Capt. Bellavance said "Designed by fishermen and utilizing the latest technology, eTrips/Mobile dramatically reduces our reporting burden while providing more accurate and timely industry data to the states and NOAA. The eTrips/Mobile application will increase data accuracy and make data available immediately to fisheries managers, improving their ability to respond to changes in the fishery in a more timely way."

The software is designed to work in both commercial and charter/headboat fisheries, and is free for anyone who wishes to use it in jurisdictions that have adopted electronic trip reporting through the Standard Atlantic Fisheries Information System (SAFIS). The app can be downloaded from the Apple, Android, and Microsoft app stores. Training videos are available on the ACCSP website. 

Visit www.accsp.org for information on the eTrips/mobile application or contact Capt. Rick Bellavance at makosrule@verizon.net.

Pabst Tournament now catch & release

Pabst Blue Ribbon announced that its 5^th annual Northeast Fishing Tournament will be a catch and release event in an effort to make the tournament more sustainable. The 2016 Tournament will start on Sunday, June 12 and run through Saturday, August 20, 2016.  Registered anglers will compete in three divisions: Striped Bass, Bluefish and Fluke. Participants are eligible to catch their fish in the salt waters of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long Island.

Rob Reilly of Pabst Blue Ribbon said; "The Pabst Brewing Company is excited to announce the change in format to a 100% catch and release tournament. This change makes the PBR Northeast Fishing Tournament one of the largest catch and release tournaments in America.”

To be eligible for the season ending cash prize, a minimum of three fish must be caught, released, and submitted to the tournament office.  The combined length of the longest three fish submitted will make up the angler’s total entry. At the end of the tournament, an overall grand prize of $5,000 will be awarded in each of the three divisions along with a second place prize of $1,500 and a third place prize of $500.  There is also a chance to win a weekly prize of $300, awarded to the angler with the longest fish submitted that week.

Registrations are open at http://www.pbrfishing.com with a registration fee of $35 per adult angler, $20 for Juniors (under the age of 15) and $20 for seniors (over the age of 65.) All participants receive a limited edition PBR ruler to use for submissions, a t-shirt, hat, koozie and keychain.

March 30 Trout Unlimited meeting

The Narragansett Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU225) will meet Wednesday, March 30^th, 6:30 p.m. at the Coventry/West Greenwich Elks Lodge, 42 Nooseneck Hill Road (Rte. 3, Exit 6 off of Rte. 95), West Greenwich.

Bob Mallard, owner of Kennebec River Outfitters, Maine will be the guest speaker.  Mallard is the author of 25 Best Towns to Fly Fish for Trout, a member of the Winston Pro Staff and will focus his presentation on catching Maine Brook Trout, and the lakes and ponds in which they live. Contact Chapter president, Ron Marafioti, at (401) 463-6162, with questions. 

Where’s the bite

The striped bass bite for holdover striped bass is better than usual this year in saltwater sanctuaries and rivers like Narrow River.  Brandon Hagopian who has been targeting holdover striped bass and has the following suggestions when targeting them, “With the sun heating the sediment on the bottom many aquatic invertebrates are emerging getting ready to spawn. Focus on dramatic depth changes such as ledges going from deep to shallow, current breaks into coves and also spots that get the most sun light, where the water will be warmer than surrounding areas. With many of these fish now ‘spring active’ , if you’re looking for numbers use small baits such as four inch paddle tails and zoom flukes or three inch stick baits on ¼ to ½ lead head casting into the shallow sections. If your main focus is big fish then fish the deep sides of the drops where the current is moving and where they will sit and wait to abuse prey such as gizzard shad, herring, etc. Use bigger baits (for larger fish) such as a 5-7 inch fin-s fish on a ½ once to 1 once jig head or swimming plugs.”

Cod fishing is still very good and is expected to remain strong into the spring season as in Rhode Island cod fishing has been fairly good all winter. Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “Saturday we were back at the dock by 1:00 p.m. with a full boat limit of beautiful fat green market cod with sizes into the low teens. Other trips were good too with plenty short cod. The bite has generally been a bait bite although a few fish were taken on jigs and there has been a tremendous amount of bait being marked on local grounds.”

Catch and release… and then mount your fish?

 Steve Brustein caught this cod (about to be filleted) while tautog fishing off Newport.

 Kevin Fetzer of East Greenwich with a black sea bass caught with a green crab while tautog fishing

 Mike Radziszewski’s 57 pound, eight ounce striped bass that took first place in the Pabst Blue Ribbon Fishing Tournament.  

Capt. Joe Pagano of Stuff-It Charters will speak about taxidermy at a RISAA meeting Monday, October 26 at the West Valley Inn, West Warwick, RI.

Catch and release… and then mount your fish?

How would you like to stuff a 10’ 2” Alaskan Kodiak brown bear, a full size lion attacking a zebra, or better still recondition a polar bear originally prepared in the 1800’s and build an iceberg for it to stand on alongside another bear at the Roger Williams Park Zoo?

This is what Captain Joe Pagano of Stuff-It Charters has done since high school as a taxidermist along with preparing a full range of fish mounts… shark, bluefin tuna, striped bass, cat fish, largemouth bass and much, much more.

Next week Capt. Pagano will be guest speaker at a Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association Monday, October 26, 7:00 p.m. meeting at the West Valley Inn, West Warwick, RI.  And of course, the topic will be taxidermy. Many of the animals like the panda bear he stuffed came from a zoo where the animal had passed away and now was being preserved for exhibition.  

Capt. Pagano said, “Many anglers who catch trophy fish now prefer to release the fish after they take a photograph and measure it and have a fiberglass replica made of the fish.” Pagano said, "This is usually more expensive as the glass mounts are sculptured and painted to match the fish in the photo.  But the beauty is that the angler has the satisfaction of releasing the fish back into the water.” 

“Taxidermy in the winter and taking people fishing in the summer is all I have ever done.”  Pagano is a noted local charter captain who fishing in the surf near shore for striped bass with his boat often fishing at night.  He practices catch, tag and release with many of his customers. And, in 1991, Captain Pagano caught the second largest fish in the world ever landed by rod and reel. It was a 2,909 pound, 15 1/2-foot long Great White Shark. 

The evening starts with an optional West Valley Inn Dinner from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.   Non-members are welcome and are asked to make a $10 contribution to the RISAA Scholarship fund, no charge for RISAA members.  Visit www.risaa.org (calendar) for details.

First place striped bass earns $10,000

The final winners of the Pabst Blue Ribbon Fishing Tournament received their awards Saturday at a special ceremony held at the Ocean Mist Restaurant, South Kingstown, RI.  This is the tournament’s fourth year with an expanded time frame and weekly, monthly and overall tournament prizes for striped bass, bluefish and summer flounder (fluke).  Visit www.pbrfishing.com for details on tournament winners.

Where’s the bite?

Tautog fishing was outstanding this week. Both shore and boat anglers have been limiting out.  And this weekend (October 18) the limit increased to six fish/angler/day. However the ten fish boat limit is still in place (does not apply to charter or party boats).  Again this week I fished off Newport with great results.  In addition to tautog, the two anglers on board Kevin Fetzer of East Greenwich and Steve Brustein of West Warwick caught five black sea bass, scup and a cod.  Yes, a cod fish while fishing with green crabs for tautog.  In fact a number of cod fish were caught in shore this week.  Nelson Valles of Maridee Bait & Canvas, Narragansett said, “A few customers caught cod in shore this weekend, two anglers were fishing Black Point for tautog and caught cod fish.”  Valles said, “Tautog is being landed off the rocks from shore all along the Avenues.”  “Commercial tautog fishermen are having no trouble catching their ten fish limit.  Tautog fishing is very, very good right now. Recreational fishermen are doing very well too.” said Tom at Snug Harbor Marina in South Kingstown. “A customer fishing Coddington Cove Saturday with two friends caught thirty shorts and nine keepers. And those who fished Conimicut Light would go through a half gallon of crabs to catch three keepers. However the bite from shore at the Wharf Tavern and at the bridges in Warren and Barrington is good.  Anglers are catching keepers, a much improved tautog bite from last week were most were catching shorts.” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside.

Black sea bass are still plentiful. Few anglers are targeting, but rather they are catching them while tautog fishing. Anglers are still catching sea bass at Colt State park when tautog fishing said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle.

Cod fishing has been fair.  Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “We are finding a few cod just about everywhere which is good - just not in the numbers since before the eight days of gale force winds in early October. Mixed in with the cod have been some good size porgies and ocean perch, a few noteworthy fluke including a ten pound fish caught by customer John Magnuszewski from Newington CT, an occasional sea flounder and a handful of blue fish. Both jigs and bait did account for keeper cod this past week.”

Striped bass fishing has slowed.  Nelson Valles of Maridee Bait & Canvas said, “It's hit of miss with striped bass.  If you are fishing from shore you may as well stay put and wait for a school of bait to come close to shore.”  Fall striped bass are generally migrating and are on the move.  “Many school size bass are in Salt Pond and anglers are catching them often.” said Tom of Snug Harbor Marina. Striped bass fishing in the upper Bay has slowed with some fish being caught in the Mr. Hope area.” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle.

Tug of war season on with tautog

 

First tautog: Josh McElwee of Boston, MA caught this 19 ½” tautog, his first ever, using a single hook rig with egg sinker on top.  He used green crabs and was at General Rock, North Kingstown.

 

Big striped bass:  Russ Weymouth of Charlton, MA caught this 48 lbs., 49” striped bass while drifting eels in the morning on the southwest side of Block Island.  The fall run/migration of striped bass has started.

Tournament winners:

  on the beach in front of the Ocean Mist in South Kingstown, RI are winners of the Pabst Blue Ribbon Tournament that attended the awards ceremony Saturday.

Sharking experience:  Ken Montigny (Fairhaven, MA), John Starakas (Wakefield, RI) and Jeff Montigny (Fall River, MA) landed this 500 pound mako shark when fishing at the Mudhole (15 miles east of Block Island) last past Friday.



Tug of war season on with tautog

 

The fall tug of war season with tautog is on.  Tautog (or blackfish) is a great eating fish with a white dense meat.  Their bulldog like fight (similar to grouper) is very exciting and much like a tug of war between you and the tautog.  Once a tautog is hooked it will try to bulldog its way back down into rock or structure.  So when the fish bites, it becomes the angler’s job not to let it bury itself in the structure. 

 

From shore or boat

Tautog can be fished from shore or boat.  The common thread is structure.  From shore it is a matter of trial and error to find a sweet spot or hole that holds big fish.  You want to be near, next to or over structure. 

 From a boat locate the structure you want to fish (on sonar if you have it).   Estimate wind and current and then anchor up current so that as the anchor line pays out the vessel is over structure or slightly before it.  Tie off the anchor line and fish.  Tautog is very territorial so it is important to fish all sides of the boat, even cast a bit covering as much area as you can from different positions in the boat.  If still no bites pay out a little more anchor line to reposition the boat, repeat the process until you are totally off the structure and if still no bites it is time to move to another spot.

Rigs and Bait

Tautog rigs should be kept simple.  My favorite rig is homemade. I use one tautog hook connected to a swivel with a two or three once egg sinker on top sliding on a small three to four inch piece of monofilament line.  Another swivel above the egg sinker connects the monofilament and the braid line (30 lbs.) coming from the rod/reel. Since I have started using this rig bottom hook ups have been cut in half. Braid line does not stretch, so this is my preference, whereas monofilament line may stretch allowing the tautog to reach structure.

 I use green crabs and Asian crabs (when available).  When using green crabs, break off claws and legs and cut the crab in half.  Hook the crab though one leg socket and out another.  This exposes most of the crab and makes it easy for the tautog to put its mouth on the bait.

Standard premade tautog rigs usually have two hooks and a loop below to tie on a bank sinker.  I usually cut the upper hook off. Captain John Rainone of L’il Toot Charters said, “One hook saves rigs and fish… waiting for another fish to jump on makes no sense… I tie rigs with a lighter sinker line so it breaks and hook/fish is retrieved.” The idea is to have less on the rig to get tied up in structure.

 Pabst Blue Ribbon tournament winners

The 2012 second annual Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) striped bass and fluke tournament concluded this past Sunday, September 22 with an awards ceremony at the Ocean Mist in South Kingstown, RI.  The tournament is one of the largest bass and fluke tournaments in the Northeast. 

This year the $10,000 first place striped bass boat division prize went to Jeff Thibodeau of Wallingford, CT with a 60 lbs. 11 oz. fish.  Robert Ferraro of Narragansett, RI took second place ($5,000) with a 58 lbs. 8 oz. striper; and third place ($3,000) went to Joseph Bartnicki of Hackettstown, NJ for a 54 lbs 9 oz. fish.

Shore division striped bass fist place winner was Michael Coppola of New York, NY; John Hanecak of Rock Hill, CT second place; and Thomas McGuire of Narragansett, RI was third place shore division winner with a 34 lbs. 7 oz. striper.

The first place summer flounder (fluke) prize ($5,000) went to Samuel Dibner of Woodbury, CT for an 11 lbs. fluke; second place ($3,000) went to Joseph Giuliano, Niantic, CT; and third place fluke price ($2,000) went to Matt McDermott of Plainview, NY.

 Junior winners include Andrew McGarry, Block Island, RI (bass winner) and Fin Howat, Southport, CT (fluke winner).

The PBR tournament ran from June 1^st to September 15^th and took place in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Visit www.pbrfishing.com for photos.

Where’s the bite

Tautog. John Wunner of John’s Bait and Tackle, North Kingstown said, “Tautog fishing is just starting to pick up with anglers now catching keepers.” Angler Dave Fewster said, “I tried for an hour last Sunday and got a bunch of shorts, one keeper tog…it will get better every day with lower temps and shorter days.” I fished with Joshua McElwee Saturday and he caught his first tautog (and keeper sized fish over 16”) at General Rock, North Kingstown, RI.  Mike Cardinal of Cardinal Bait & Tackle, Westerly said, “Anglers are catching tautog at Watch Hill reef and Ragged Ledge.  Most are using green crabs.”

 

Striped bass.  Russ Weymouth fished the southwest side of Block Island Thursday and said, “Drifting slightly north from the Peanut, (we) caught the biggest fish on my boat One Iota… a  49" striped bass at 48 pounds (using eels).  We continued to repeat the drift and caught as many keeper stripers as we had eels…” John Wunner of John’s Bait said, “I had three customers leave Allen’s Harbor, North Kingstown at 6:00 p.m. Friday night for Block Island and returned at 1:00 a.m. Saturday.  They left with 40 eels and could have caught as many bass, all were in 30 to 40 pound range.”  Mike Cardinal of Cardinal Bait, Westerly, said, “Fishing improved Tuesday night with anglers catching keeper bass mixed in with a lot of school size bass fishing from shore at Misquamicut and Charlestown beaches.” No reports of a strong bass or blue fish bite starting yet in Narragansett Bay.

 

Shore fishing picked up but is still slow as anglers are having difficulty hooking up with fish consistently.  Dave Pickering, noted local shore angler authority and author said, “Today (Saturday) I went down and checked out places that had been producing earlier in the week.  I found no bait, no birds diving, no fish and no fishermen. I fished a lot of white water and rocky drop-offs today but could not even find a schoolie or a bluefish…”  Visit Dave’s striper blog at www.ristripedbass.blogspot.com.

 

Offshore. John Starakas of Wakefield, RI, said, “(I) took two friends, Jeff Montigny of Fall River, and Ken Montigny of Fairhaven, MA on their first shark fishing trip Friday.  Fished the Mudhole (about 15 miles east of Block Island) all day, no luck trolling for tuna, after chumming for sharks for almost four hours… (we) landed a large mako,  8’ 10” fork length which makes it approximately 500 lbs.”  Jeff was on the rod and fought the fish, Ken wired the fish and John ran the boat and harpooned the shark.

Fresh water fishing.  Dave Pickering fished for carp at night this weekend in the Blackstone River. Dave said, “I noticed a fish grubbing at night right in front of me in about a foot of water.  From experience I know that carp will come in very close to feed under cover of darkness.  So, I put out a flip cast of about 10-15 feet with both outfits.  That did it as the alarm went off about 10 minutes later.  A good fight ensued in total darkness and soon I flipped on my headlight to see a big mirror carp at my feet. Yes, they do hit at night.”  Visit www.ricarpfishing.blogspot.com.