Block Island striped bass experts

Angler Rick Sustello with two of the sixteen fluke he and fishing partner Lary Norin took in front of the Sakonnet River this past Saturday. The duo also caught black sea bass to 20”.
Peter Vican of East Greenwich with his Rhode Island State record 77.4 pound striped bass. Peter caught the bass using eels as bait while fishing with Don Smith off Block Island.
Block Island striped bass experts who recently spoke at a RI Saltwater Anglers seminar are from left to right Donald Smith, Michael Lanni and Peter Vican.

Block Island striped bass experts

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet, listen to and ask questions to, arguably, three of the best Block Island striped bass anglers in Rhode Island. I attended the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association monthly seminar held at the West Valley Inn, West Warwick, RI.

Block Island striped bass fishermen Michael Lanni, Donald Smith and Peter Vican (RI striped bass record holder at 77.4 pounds) presented their thoughts and experiences about fishing for striped bass around Block Island. One of Michael’s largest bass was 64 pounds and Don Smith caught a 52.40 pound bass just a couple of weeks ago. So all fishermen are quite accomplished and target fish in the fifty pound range when fishing. Here is what they had to say about fishing for striped bass around Block Island.

· All three anglers now fish exclusively at night at their favorite Block Island spots… all drift eels in relatively deep water, 55’ compared to much lower Narragansett Bay waters and coastal shore fishing. Peter said, “We target fat lazy bottom feeders, around structure... ledge, contours, humps, etc... big bass feed at night around structure.” Mike said, “Big fish hug the bottom in fast current… so you have to get your bait in the bottom 5% of the water column.”

· Where specifically do they fish? Structure on the Southwest Ledge, southeast side, close to shore, the fishbowl on the south side, and one of Peter’s record fish was caught on the west side of the Island, south of New Harbor close to shore.

· Baits. They almost exclusively use eels; however, they use hickory shad when available and sometimes Atlantic Menhaden. Mike sometimes would troll off Newport, Jamestown and Narragansett with a menhaden hooked thought the lips in a figure eight pattern over favorite structure.

· Setting the hook. Mike likes to free spool and to take the pressure off the fish he drops the line when he gets a bite and counts 1,000, 2,000 and then engages the spool and sets the hook. Peter and Don usually do not have to set the hook as they generally use circle hooks.

· Line/leader. Mike likes to use 30 lb monofilament line while Don and Peter use braid line and fluorocarbon leaders or wire leaders (at night) as the fish cannot see a black wire leader at night.

· Closing advice from all three anglers was “Do not be intimidated by night fishing”, go with someone, plan your trip and fish on a moon lit evening and ask help from other anglers if needed. Don Smith continued, “Pete and I are out there a lot. Look for the boat that is brightly lit, that will be us… do not hesitate to stop if we can help.”

Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council meeting

The Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 9. Agenda items will include advisory panel reports from the IAC, summer flounder and herring ad hoc committees as well as a brief overview of the Oyster Substrate Enhancement project in Ninigret Pond, a continued discussion on Atlantic Herring as well as pm the fluke exemption certificate program. The meeting will take place at the URI Narragansett Bay Campus, Coreless Auditorium, South Ferry Road, and Narragansett. Anglers and interested parties are urged to attend and voice their opinions on the issues.

31^st Annual Snug Harbor Marina Shark Tournament this Saturday and Sunday

Snug Harbor Marina will hold its 31^st Annual Shark Tournament this Saturday, July 7 and Sunday, July 8. At press time over half of the allowed 75 boats had registered. A Captain’s meeting is scheduled for Friday, July 6, 6:00 p.m. at Snug Harbor Marina. Visit their website at www.snugharbormarina.com for a tournament application. Tournament funds will be donated to the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association and the Recreational Fishing Alliance.

Where’s the bite

At press time fishing was very good in the Bay and ocean.

Striped bass being caught on chunks and live menhaden north of Conimicut light. Last week, Merrill True reported on the RISAA blog, “Left Bold Point at eight am. We had Menhaden on the surface near the hurricane barrier in the hundreds. Snagged some for bait and started chunking. The Stripers and Blues had them bunched up in a tight ball. There weren’t many stripers or blues after them but I got lucky and had a 32 inch bass take my chunk bait.” Angler Mike Swain of Coventry said, “We continue to catch bass in the Bay using menhaden chunks fishing outgoing tides at night in and around Prudence and Patience Islands.” Fishing on Block Island for bass is good day and night with fewer bluefish mixed in. Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina in South Kingstown said, “Anglers are taking nice striped bass at the North Rip with diamond jigs with eels being the dominate bait on the Southwest Ledge.” John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle said anglers Kevin and Albert Bettencourt landed six nice keeper bass to 23 pounds this past Sunday off Providence Point and Bear Point, Prudence Island using menhaden chunks.

Fluke (summer flounder) fishing is good when wind and tide are in line for anglers to establish a good drift. Angler Ron Nalbandian said, “Three of us started around 9:30 a.m. off the pink house in 73 feet of water. Squid with mummy chums on rubber glow squids, power drifting with 4-5 oz. of weight. 6 keepers up to 22”. The 22” coughed up a whole squid half its size when brought on board.” Anglers Rick Sustello and Lary Norin had a great fluke trip Saturday in front of the Sakonnet River that yielded them sixteen nice keepers and black sea bass to 20”. Their largest fluke was 25 inches. Rick said, “Lary Norin and I left our Point Judith marina at about 7:30 a.m. … Within 15 minutes we started to hit some fish… We then went through an hour of continuous action taking many fluke and BSB until the drift slowed…We were fishing in 60 to 75' most all of the day. Deeper water yielded the bigger fish.” John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle said customers are catching fluke under the Newport Bridge in water about 100 feet deep.

Scup fishing is good in mid and lower Bay with fish as large as 20 inches. John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, East Providence, said fish to 18” are being taken a Colt State Park with so many anglers fishing it is hard to get a fishing spot to fish on the dock.

Offshore fishing for sharks continues to be good with bluefin tuna fishing not as good as it was last week, said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina.

Striped bass fishing outstanding around Block Island

Rick Sustello or North Kingstown, RI with the Bonito he caught Sunday off Scarborough Beach, Narragansett, RI.

Jim Malachowski of Cranston, RI (left) and Keith White (right) of Johnson, RI with the striped bass they caught this weekend. Captain Dave Monti fished with them on Keith White’s boat, the trio drifted eels at the North Rip off Block Island.

Striped bass fishing outstanding around Block Island
Striped bass fishing is outstanding. Big fish have been caught all summer long. Peter Vican of East Greenwich, RI caught a state record striped bass that weighted 77.40 pounds on June 19, 2011 off Block Island. This was one pound shy of the national record. The national record was then shattered on August 8, 2011 when North Bradford, CT resident Greg Myerson landed an 81.88 pound striped bass off the Connecticut shore (in both cases anglers were drifting eels). All summer long recreational anglers have been catching big fish in and around Block Island making it one of the hottest striped bass fishing spots in the Northeast. Striped bass often surfaced at the North Rip and fish at the Southwest Ledge have been consistently large.
How large is large?
I spoke with Captain Neil Vitullo of “Played for It Charters” from Warren, RI. I saw Neil with some monster striped bass at the State boat ramp dock in Galilee, RI when returning from a fishing trip this weekend. I called Neil the next day as he was “drifting eels” with his charter on the southwest side of Block Island, he said, “Fishing around Block Island has been outstanding. Out largest fish this week was 46 pounds and the largest fish today (so far) is 43 pounds”.
Al Conti of Sung Harbor Marina said, “Striped Bass fishing has been the best I have seen it in a while. Recreational anglers have been catching big fish all summer and today the commercial season started and I must have gotten twenty fish all over 40 pounds.”
Where do these big fish hang out and how do you catch them?
Big bass often live deep. Pods of bait will bring striped bass up to feed on the surface, to the shallow water or to the surf near coastal beaches. But seldom can you catch a monster striper on the surface. When fishing offshore or in Narragansett Bay, the largest bass are deep, close to the bottom and near structure (humps, holes, rocks, etc.). Not necessarily in deep water but deep in the water column because they wait to see what falls their way from fish feeding frenzies above. Striped bass also stage on the bottom near structure because it gives them cover so they can strike out at prey with little warning. The trick is getting your bait down low to elicit a strike.
How low are the striped bass?
From what I have experienced, read and heard the larger fish are very low in the water column. Often times when you take fish up quickly from the bottom off Block Island they will still have mud on their bellies from laying low on the bottom.
The largest fish I have caught (or witnessed being caught) all had one thing in common, they were on the bottom and the bait was presented to them low in the water column. Ken Landry of Ray’s Bait & Tackle (Warwick) has often said when trolling if you are not checking and picking weeds off your bait or losing gear every now and then due to bottom tie-ups you are likely not getting your bait down low enough in the water column.
So how do you get your bait low enough?
This year the bait of choice for the big striped bass has been eels. Eels allow anglers to get their bait low in the water column, one to three feet from the bottom by just lowering the eel and then once it touches bottom reeling up a couple of turns. Anglers spot bass on their fish finder usually at their favorite spots that usually hold bass such as the North Rip or Southwest Ledge off Block Island. Often anglers use two or four ounces of weight to get the eels down low quickly to avoid and prevent blue fish from stealing their bait as they generally feed higher in the water column.
Another popular way to catch big bass is trolling with tube and worm. Lead core line is generally used in low water 10 to 25 feet and wire line for deeper water. When trolling offshore with tube and worm with 65 lb test wire line and letting out 300 feet of line you are down thirty to thirty-five feet depending on your bait’s weight, leader length, current, boat speed, etc. But sometimes 30 to 35 feet is not enough. If you are in fifty-five feet of water and want to get down to forty-five to fifty feet, you just cannot get there with 300 feet of wire. So fishing in water low enough so you to get low in the water column is important.
Striper decline
Many anglers and striped bass advocates have expressed concern that striped bass are on the decline. Historically big fish (and fewer smaller fish) show up when a fishery is about to crash. State, regional and federal fish mangers are in the process of gathering new data to determine if striped bass are in decline and if they are regulations may be put in place to protect large egg bearing fish. We will have to wait and see what happens.
Where’s the bite
Striped bass fishing has been outstanding around Block Island. Fish in the 30 and 40 pound range have been common. Bait of choice continues to be eels. Fish are being caught on jigs (underneath feeding birds) as well as with tube and worm. Striped bass fishing in the Narragansett Bay is still spotty.
Fluke fishing remains strong. Al Conti of Sung Harbor Marina said, “Often times when you get a big storm this time of year the fluke go away.” They start to migrate off shore. But that has not been the case. The southern coastal shoreline from Watch Hill to Galilee has been holding fluke after the storm. “Eric Taylor of Charlestown caught some great fish this weekend off Charlestown Beach”, said Conti.
Tuna fishing was slow after the storm so far. Reports of several anglers giving the Mud Hole a try with no luck.
Green Bonito. Rick Sustello from the RISAA blog said, “As we headed up the coast (from Pt. Judith to Narrow River), I immediately saw birds working in small groups. I figured they were blues, so we could have some great fun on light spinning gear. I got us up wind of the birds and drifted into them. I put on a 2 oz. Crippled Herring and started casting into the birds jigging with fast retrievals. On the second cast I hooked up with what I thought was a nice blue. After a great fight with several runs, it jumped about 20 ft. from the boat; Green Bonito! … In about an hour and a half, we landed two bonito, five 25” stripers and some blues.”
Bluefish off southern coastal shores, Newport and Block Island have been plentiful and large. When fishing with Keith White of Johnston, RI this weekend we caught two large blue fish in the 11 to 12 pound range. Some of the largest bluefish I have seen in a while.