Fluke fishing is
good: Cote Laflamme of Smithfield
with some of the fluke (summer flounder) he and a friend caught while fishing
aboard a Frances Fleet party boat. Cote caught eight keepers and then later in
week landed an eight pound fluke of the center wall of the Harbor of Refuge,
Narragansett.
Favorite ways to
catch striped bass
We have a lot of bait in the Bay… Atlantic Menhaden,
silversides and last week many coves and rivers in the Bay experienced a worm
hatch. This all translated into a great
week of striped bass (and blue fish) fishing. See “Where’s the bite” feature below for details.
With all this bait and action why is it that some days, you
just cannot get a bite… you scour waters trolling lures and tube & worm,
cast in the shallows and around structure with soft plastics, hard plastics and
surface poppers. You hit all your
favorites spots, where you have caught fish and where others have caught fish…
and still… no bass.
Do not lose faith.
It’s a matter of persistence, mixing it up, paying attention to water
movement (tide and current) and yes trying to match what the striped bass are
eating (or would like to eat). Here are
my top ten ways to catch striped bass… I used five of them this week to mimic
the bait in the water… casting swimming lures and plastics to mimic silversides
and worms; using live and chucked Atlantic Menhaden; and trolling with tube and
worm) to catch nine striped bass.
Ten favorite ways to catch striped bass
10.
Trolling with umbrella rigs. Like
to use this technique trolling in deeper parts of Narragansett Bay, off Newport
or Block Island with a variety of squid, shad, worm or eel umbrella rigs. Hook two fish at the same time and you will
experience a great fight.
9. Casting soft plastics, various bait types
and weights to fish different depths.
Many anglers love this technique and use it successfully in the spring. Make sure the plastic baits are scented if
they are not add some scent. Who wants to eat plastic?
8. Buck tail jigs with pork rind squid strips. Have had success with this method to get
under schools of blue fish and to the striped bass on the bottom.
7. Live eels. Used by shore and boat anglers, some fishing
guides use this as their primary method to catch killer stripers. Hook the eel through the mouth and out one eye. Going between the eyes usually kills the
bait. I use circle hooks because bass
(small and keeper size) tend to swallow the bait whole and often get hooked
low. Circle hooks generally slide out of
the fish and hook it on the corner of their mouth on the way out allowing you
to release the fish you are not keeping… and release them alive and well.
6. Live menhaden. Snag the live bait with a weighted treble
hook or net them. Hook the bait through
the bridge of the nose, find a pod of fish and put the live menhaden into the
pod of bait and let it swim. Used when menhaden are running strong,
particularly up the Providence River in early spring.
5. Chunking fresh or frozen menhaden. You can anchor (and chum); drift fish or fish
the moving bait pods with chunks. Some
anglers use a weight slide to get the bait down to the striped bass.
4. Surface plugs. Have caught hundreds of school bass in the
spring using surface plugs of all types.
3. Swimming lures. Great way to catch fish in coves, on rivers,
etc. My favorite is a grey Yozuri
Crystal Minnow.
2. Parachute
squid jigs. Often used in ocean
water (or where there are squid).
Anglers successfully use this method off Newport, Narragansett and Block
Island.
1. Trolling
with tube and worm. I have had great
success in the Bay using lead line weighted with two or three ounces of lead
between the line and a five foot fluorocarbon leader. I find that bubblegum or red colored tubes
work best (the tube hook is tipped with clam worm). The idea of added weight is to get the line
down to where the fish are. Tube and worm trolling has been a successful technique
for the Southwest side of Block Island using 300 ft. of wire line out in 35 to
45 feet of water, amber colored tubes seem to work best there.
Where’s the bite
Striped bass.
Steve McKenna, noted shore angler and author said, “Striped bass fishing this
month is outstanding… the best ever. In
April I landed one bass in twelve trips… so far in May I have landed 162
striped bass with some keepers mixed in. I have also heard and confirmed a 25 pound
fish was caught last week from shore and rumors of a 50 pounder being caught
too. This is quite early to be catching
fish this size from the beach.” John Littlefield
of Archie’s Bait, East Providence said. “Striped bass fishing for customers
have been very good, many have been using clam tongues and clam worms. Customers Albert and Kevin Bettencourt of East
Providence fished the Rumstick Point area and landed three bass in the 13 to 17
pound range.” Mary Dangelo of Maridee Bait and Canvas, Narragansett said, “There
was a striped bass blitz in Wickford Cove last Thursday and customers are
reporting good fishing off the shore at George’s Restaurant in Galilee for both
striped bass and blues.” Captain Andy Dangelo
of the charter boat Maridee II caught his limit of striped bass when fishing
off Block Island and then took his party fluke fishing. This week we had a lot of bait in the
Bay. Angler Joe Daniels of Warwick said,
“(I was) snagging
pogies … near the hurricane barrier and then live-lining for stripers.” Joe
caught bass to 32” and 12 pounds using this method last week. In addition to
plentiful Atlantic Menhaden (pogies) in the Bay, a worm hatch occurred in coves
and rivers this past week as noted above. Captain BJ Silvia of Flippin Out
Charters said, “Fishing for bass and blues off the Southern end of Prudence Island
was outstanding Saturday… all the striped bass and blues you wanted.” Merrill True, Sr. a RI Saltwater Angler
Association (RISAA) blogger said Sunday, “We snagged some Menhaden and left them on the
snagging hook to swim. My son Jamie had a striper on in about ten min. In a few
min. a 33 in striper was in the boat.”
Blue fish. Blue fish have infiltrated the Bay and are being
caught from the Hurricane Barrier in Providence to Jamestown, Newport and Narragansett. John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait said, “Sabin
Point has been hot for blue fish.”
Fluke (summer flounder) fishing
has been great too with some anglers reaching their limit (18” minimum size,
seven fish/person/day) which was not the case for the past three to four years. Cote Laflamme of Smithfield, RI said he caught
an eight pound fluke just off the center wall of the Harbor of Refuge,
Narragansett. He also caught eight nice
keeper fluke when fishing with the Frances Fleet (Galilee party boat) . His favorite rig is a three way swivel with a
teaser tipped with native squid and fluke belly. RISAA blogger John S. said Sunday, “… I put four keeper fluke in the box to 4.5 lbs along with about
eight shorts, two sea robins and a skate. Most were caught just west of Green
Hill Beach in 40+ feet of water.”
