Favorite places to catch spring striped bass

Jim Lundy caught this East Passage striped bass using a flutter spoon last week.

East End Eddie Doherty with a spring Cape Cod Canal striped bass.  Photo by Jeff Nickerson.

 

Grant Stark with the 46” striped bass he caught on Cape Cod last week.  Photo courtesy of ‘My Fishing Cape Cod’.

Favorite places to catch spring striped bass

The striped bass are here on their annual migration north.  Before relating where to catch them and how it is important to note that they are in tough shape as a species. 

Striped bass continue to be overfished and subject to overfishing so great care should be taken to catch and release fish safely to reduce fish mortality. 

Using one single hook rather than multiple treble hooks on lures helps.  Keep the fight short and try to keep the fish in the water when dehooking and releasing. Inline circle hooks are the law when using bait and no use of gaffs. 

Take your time when releasing the fish once the hook is out holding it by its tail (caudal) fin moving it forward and backward so water flows over their gills to revive them.  The fish will let you know it is ready to be released when it wags its tail fin in your hand, at that point just let it go.

The striped bass limit is one fish/person/day between 28” to less than 31”.

Some favorite spots and methods

Coves, ponds, rivers and along the ocean shore. Salt Pond and Narrow River, Narragansett; Green River, North Kingstown; and the Warren River are good spots. My favorite cove is Greenwich Cove in the spring (because I lived there, and it is the first place I ever caught a striped bass).  

I have caught bass from shore and boat at the end, middle and mouth of the Cove at Chepiwanoxet Point, Warwick; to the East Greenwich Town Dock and Scallop Town Park on the east side; to the Godard Park boat ramp all the way up to the State Beach.  My favorite baits are hard and soft plastic lures (both surface and swimming).                    

The East Passage of Narragansett Bay including the space between Popasquash Point, Bristol and Bear Point Prudence Island.  I have caught many large striped bass in this area (large for the Bay is 20 to 40 pounds), particularly trolling with tube and worm or fishing the channel pads and edges with menhaden (live or chunked) and large spoons that mimic herring and Atlantic menhaden. The channel pads from Bristol to Barrington are also great places to fish as they hold bait and stripers as the shipping channel acts as a bait conduit pushing bait up and down the East Passage of the Bay. Can fish this area from shore at Barrington Beach and Colt State Park fishing pier, Bristol. 

The West Wall of the Harbor of Refuge in Jerusalem area, South Kingstown; the Charlestown Breachway and any other jetty along the coastal shore.  These areas provide shore anglers (and boat anglers) with one of the best first Rhode Island striped bass opportunities as the bass make their run past the Connecticut coastline to Rhode Island.  Lures of all types are the baits of choice. 

Providence River in the cities of Providence, East Providence, Barrington, Cranston and Warwick.  The area from shore up the Seekonk River and at India Point Park and the Hurricane Barrier in Providence to Conimicut Point has been a very fruitful fishing area in early spring.  The most popular method in recent years has been live lining or fishing with cut up chunks of Atlantic menhaden.  

The hot areas to fish include the Hurricane Barrier down to Save the Bay on Fields Point in Providence.  Anglers have caught thousands of bass in this area. When the menhaden spawning runs are strong striped bass chase them up the Providence River to the Seekonk River all the way up to downtown Pawtucket.  Bass over 50” have been caught in this area.  Anglers can catch from shore in Pawtucket, Providence, East Providence, Barrington, Warwick and Cranston. 

Cape Cod Canal is now yielding fish for shore anglers.  Surfcasters are catching a variety of fish sizes.  “The middle of last week started with North Attleborough resident Justin “Shooter” Dorsey landing an above slot 33-inch striped bass on a rising east tide toward the west end with an Al Gags white Whip-It Eel. Another school followed with fish up to 40-inches caught mid canal by “Slap Shot Scottie” Ewell of Montague while casting a light-colored SP Minnow into the east tide,” said East End Eddie Doherty, Canel fishing expert and author. “Lures that seem to be working well this spring include white Joe Baggs Swarters, 5-ounce Bill Hurley Canal Killers, Albie Super Snax and 4-ounce Al Gags jigs.”

 

Where’s the bite?

Striped bass.  Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren, said, “The stiped bass bite has been very good in Mt. Hope and Narragansett Bays.  Anglers should know that Rhode Island and Massachusetts now have two different ways of measuring striped bass.”  In Massachusetts anglers must squeeze the tail (caudal) fin to take the measure from the closed mouth of the fish.  Visit Massachusetts - Striped Bass | eRegulations for an illustration on how to measure striped bass in Massachusetts. In Rhode Island measure from the mouth to the longest point of the tail fin, there is no squeezing allowed. Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle, Providence, said, “Customers are having difficulty catching slot size fish in the upper Providence and Seekonk Rivers.  Larger fish over 31” are being caught, earlier this month a 53” fish was caught. Baits working include live or chucked Atlantic menhaden with worms working best in the Seekonk River as all that mud up the Seekonk River holds a lot of worms.”  Angler Kevin Travares said “We fished Mount Hope Bay, the Sakonnet launch to Bristol to Roger Williams, etc. Chased terns and gulls on breaking schools of bass. Sometimes w/out birds, could spot them breaking top water.  Needed to move with the schools. 40-50’ of water/drop offs in channel worked.  Most fish were around slot, had some under 20” (nice to see) and a couple over 30 inches.”  Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown, said, “We've seen some impressive sizes, with reports of fish up to 47 inches caught in the Charlestown Breachway this week. Both tides have been productive, and they are actively feeding on a variety of bait, including silversides, needlefish, shad, eels, and squid.”

Tautog.  Anglers have filed fewer reports on tautog as not as many are fishing for them as they are now targeting scup, striped bass and other species that have arrived,” said Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle. 

Summer flounder and scup are being caught throughout the region.  Manny Macera of Lucky Bait & Tackle said, “The scup are in with small fluke being caught too.” Angler Matthew Haczynski reported Saturday finding keeper fluke in the Block Island area with he and two others filling a cooler full of fluke.”  Angler Garey Vandemoortele, said, “We limited out on fluke in the Westport area last week when chartering on Three Sister Charters.  Clams and clam worms worked best.” 

Freshwater. For complete regulations, a list of trout stocked ponds, and a copy of the RI Freshwater Fishing Regulations and Guide visit Fish & Wildlife | Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and in Massachusetts visit Freshwater Fishing | Mass.gov.

Favorite ways to catch striped bass

 Bass plentiful in Bay:  Angler Joe Daniels of Warwick with a 12 pound stripper he caught last week at the Hurricane Barrier live lining Atlantic Menhaden.

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.”