Catching that elusive striped bass

 Mike Swain with one of the many striped bass he has caught in the Conimicut Light area using live and chunks of Atlantic menhaden (pogies).

Rich Hittinger of Warwick with a 7.8 pound summer flounder (fluke) he caught off Block Island last Thursday when fishing on his vessel ‘Skipjack’.

Catching that elusive striped bass

You’ve tried to catch a keeper sized striped bass (28” or larger), but just have not hooked up with one yet.  It can be very frustrating because you can try and try with no luck. 

However, June is the time to try to catch one in Narragansett and Mt Hope Bays as Atlantic menhaden (pogies), a form of herring, are up in our covers and rivers spawning and the striped bass have followed them into the upper Bay on their northern migration.

I have two bits of advice that have helped me over the years to catch striped bass.  First, you can’t catch fish where there are no fish so you have to put yourself in places where the fish are feeding.  And second, you need to be ready with a number of strategies.  Some days they are biting on live or chunks of Atlantic menhaden, other days trolling umbrella rigs or tube and work, and yet some times of year they like eels.

To put yourself where the fish are read fishing reports/blogs and talk to friends and bait & tackle shop owners to develop a fishing plan.  Select five or six places you will go to find the fish based on the research you have done.  Now that you have your fishing plan, be ready with a number of fishing strategies to land that striped bass. 

Remember what works one day, may not work the next depending on what fish are feeding on, the weather, tides, temperature, etc. Here are some of my favorite striped bass fishing strategies.

Favorite ways to catch striped bass

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.

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 school of fish and put the live menhaden into the school of bait and let it swim. Used when menhaden are running strong, particularly up the Providence River in early spring.

Chunking fresh or frozen menhaden.  You can anchor (and chum); drift fish or fish the moving bait schools with chunks.  Some anglers use a weighted slide to get the bait down to the striped bass.

Surface plugs, swimming lures and soft plastics.  Have caught hundreds of school bass in the spring using surface plugs and swimming lures of all types.  Great way to catch fish in coves, on rivers, etc.  My favorite is a grey Yozuri Crystal Minnow.  Many anglers love soft plastics use them successfully in the spring.  Make sure the plastic baits are scented if they are not add some menhaden scent. Who wants to eat plastic?

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 monofilament leader.  I find that bubblegum or red colored tubes work best in spring (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.

Buck tail jigs with pork rind strips.  Have had success with this method to get under schools of blue fish and to the striped bass on the bottom.

Let me know if you catch that keeper and send along a photo to dmontifish@verizon.net.

DEM to hold fly fishing workshops

The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) will hold three day fly fishing workshops on Monday, June 12, 19 and 26, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Coventry Public Library, 1672 Flat River Road, Coventry and on Wednesday, June 14, 21 and 28, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Greenville Public Library, 573 Putnam Pike, Greenville.  Instruction and equipment needed will be covered with all gear provided.  However, participants are welcome to bring their own gear.  Adults and children 10 and older are invited to attend.  Space is limited.  To register contact Scott Travers at scott.travers@dem.gov. (Classes also stared at Glocester Manton Public Library on June 6).

DEM is also holding an introduction to freshwater fly fishing workshop on Saturday, June 17 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Addieville East Farm, Mapleville, RI.  Adults, families and children ten and older may attend. Participants will learn about equipment needed for the sport, fly-tying and casting and best areas to fish in RI.  Lunch will be provided. Fee is $15 per person.  To register contact Kimberly Sullivan at Kimberly.Sullivan@dem.ri.gov .

Where’s the bite

Striped bass.  I haven’t heard of fifty pound fish being caught in the Bay in a long time but this week they were. Capt. Randy Bagwell of River Rebel Charters weighted in a 50 pound striped bass caught in Mt. Hope Bay.  Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren, said “Randy came in with his customer to weigh and clean the fish; they were greeting customers at the door asking if anyone wanted some bass fillets.”  Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle, Providence said, “A customer sent me a picture of a 53 pound fish caught in the Bay and we have some very nice bass in the 30 pound range being caught in the Providence and Seekonk rivers.  There are big bluefish mixed in with the bass.”  Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters,, Westerly said, “Bass are on the reefs eating squid and the worm hatches in South County Ponds (like Ninigret Pound) are still going strong on warm days. We also have a lot of Atlantic menhaden and bass in the Pawcatuck River.”  Peter Jenkins of the Saltwater Edge, Middletown, said Monday, “Today there was great fishing for bass on Sugar Reef.  The squid were everywhere.  Bass were caught on every drift using Slug Go lures and files.”

Summer flounder (fluke fishing).  I fished the Newport Bridge area with a slow bite and a lot of shorts this week.  Anglers fishing the southern coastal shore experienced mixed fishing.  Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters said, “Fluke fishing at Fisher’s Island to Misquamicut Beach has been good.  Customer Mike Lacz landed a 27” fluke off Misquamicut this week.”  Fish for fluke in the Bay is spotty.  Anglers are catching fish but not in large numbers.  Angler Rich Hittinger said the bite was good a Block island catching fluke to 7.8 pounds last Thursday. Capt. Frank Blount, of the Frances Fleet said, “A lot of quality fish and a lot of limit catches. On Saturday's trip Capt. Rich found a hungry pile of nice size sea bass to four pounds limiting the boat out.”

Scup. “We had a customer catch a 17” scup off the Stone Bridge this week with some nice fish being off of Colt State Park, Bristol.” said Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait.  “The big news of the week is that scup are in… anglers are catching them off Tiverton and Greenwich Bay.” said Henault of Ocean State.

Sea robins. More anglers are keeping them to eat.  Cut of their tails and fillet them.  They have a delicious white meet.  In Europe sea robins are a major ingredient in bouillabaisse.  I have cleaned them for many charter customers and all have said they loved the way they tasted.

Black sea bass bite is on.  The season opened May 25^th and fish are being caught with anglers limiting out when fluke fishing.

Freshwater fishing continues to remain strong. “Not many anglers are targeting trout but those that are continue to catch them.  And, we have a lot of anglers catching  good numbers of largemouth bass.  They may not be as large as last year but the bite is stronger.” said Henault.

Giant tautog caught this week

Huge tautog:  Scott Kiefer of Exeter, RI with the sixteen (16) pound tautog (two above photos) he caught off Hope Island in Narragansett Bay.

Trophy bass:  Robby Araujo of Attleboro, MA with a trophy sized 51 pound striped bass he caught this week drifting eels on the southwest side of Block Island with Capt. Tracy Terrien and his father.

Squeteague still biting.  Carole Prisco (above) of Warwick (with daughter Amanda and husband Charlie) caught four squeteague; the largest was 26” (below) using large pieces of squid between Hope and Gould Islands.

First striped bass.  Benjamin Amadio of Coventry, RI catches his first striped bass while fishing with Joe Pagano of Stuff-it Charters.

Giant tautog caught this week

It was a chilly fall morning requiring jackets.  The sun rose Sunday and things started to warm up at Hope Island off the northern tip of Jamestown in the West Passage of Narragansett Bay.  Anglers Scott Kiefer of Exeter, RI and his fishing partner Angelo Manni anchored and sent their chum pot down. 

“We started to land fish right away.  The tide was ripping.  Conditions were right.” said Scott Kiefer. Then Scott got a huge hit on the green crab he was using for bait. “This fish didn’t go down heading for structure like most tautog.  It ran, very much like a striped bass.  It went behind the boat. Under the boat and when I finally brought it up Angelo looked it in the eye and it ran again.” said Kiefer.  It took Scott with Angelo’s help on the net about six minutes to land the tautog.

The fish was sixteen (16) pounds, and about 30” long.  This is a huge tautog. A ten pound fish is considered a prize and a fish of a lifetime for many.  The Rhode Island record for tautog is 21 pounds, 4 ounces, established in 1954.  Ken Landry of Ray’s Bait & Tackle, Warwick weighed the fish in and said, “I have never seen a tautog this big up close… they caught some nice six and seven pound fish too but I couldn’t take my eyes off this big one.”

Tautog tips from the experts

Feel the bite… tap, tap and then get ready for a tug of war.  Captain George Cioe said, “I believe with the first tap the tautog is positioning the bait for consumption.”  Once the fish is hooked, keep the rod up and pressure on so the fish is not able to run for cover. Captain Rich Hittinger, RISAA vice president and a long time angler out of Point Judith said, “If you get two bites with no hook-up your bait is gone. Reel in and re-bait.”

Where to fish for tautog.  From shore, look for rocky coastline like Beavertail Point on Jamestown, locations off Newport, the rocky shore line off Point Judith and off jetties along the southern coastal shore.  Docks, piers, bridges are good structure too.  From a boat, I have had good luck at Conimicut Light, Plum Point light house next to the Jamestown Bridge, the jetty at Coddington Cove in Portsmouth, off Hope Island, around Brenton Reef and Seal Ledge in Newport, Whale Rock, Ohio Ledge in the East Passage, General Rock in North Kingstown and any other places there is structure, debris, rock clusters, wrecks, etc.  Another key factor is water movement, so a couple of hours before or after high or low tide is good. 

Chumming for tautog will enhance your catch dramatically.  Kevin Bettencourt from the East Bay Anglers said, “Chumming is a critical part of tautog fishing. If you want to land numerous tautog you must establish an effective chum line. This can be accomplished with grass shrimp or crushed Asian/green crabs. Don't be afraid to feed them! If you don't, they won't stick around long!”  Captain Robb Roach of Kettlebottom Outfitters from Jamestown said chumming is very important… “I chum with crushed mussels or crushed periwinkles.”

 Where’s the bite

Striped bass.  Capt. Charlie Donilon of Snappa Charters said, “Striped bass fishing the past few days has been the best ever at Block Island.   We caught 80 bass in one trip this week.”Dave Sweet and Craig Picard fished off Pt. Judith Sunday. Dave said, “Using a small silver spoon, my first fish was a 16 lb. bluefish on light tackle, what a workout!  We each managed a couple of nice stripers, from about 23" to largest at about 36"… looks like the fall run is on.” Capt. Al Anderson of the charter boat Prowler reports similar results with striped bass and blues off the center wall and in front of Scarborough Beach.  Both boats tagged and released their bass.  John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, East Providence said, “It has been hit or miss at Block Island for my customers, no bites at night and then the next day the bass bite was on.” Capt. Tracy Terrien said, “Drifted eels for six bass 35- 51 pounds on the southwest side. Broke off on three and when bringing the fish up there was numerous monsters swimming with them…”  Ken Landry of Ray’s Bait & Tackle, Warwick, said, “School bass with keepers mixed in are being caught with storm shad baits early morning and at sunset in Apponaug Cove.”  Angler Ron Nalbandian said, “Birds all over the place (in front of Charlestown Breachway). (Landed) 14 Stripers 20”- 34” all on metal and 6” shads.”

Tautog.  The big news this week is the sixteen pound tautog caught by angler Scott Kiefer of Exeter, RI.  Ken Landry of Ray’s Bait & Tackle, Warwick, weighed the fish in and said, “They fished Hope Island for about an hour and half and the action was great with big fish and then things slowed down with a lot of shorts being caught.”  John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait said, “The tautog bite is good at Conimicut Light, Rocky Point, and the bridges in Barrington and Warren but with a ratio of about one keeper (16” or larger) to eight smaller undersized fish.  Saturday I fished Seal Ledge off Newport and managed three keepers with six shorts and a lot of small black sea bass. Other boats were fishing south of Brenton Reef and others off Castle Hill Light. 

 

Cod fishing continues to improve with fish to twenty pounds being taken on the Frances Fleet this week. Roger Simpson of the Frances Fleet said, “We are seeing tremendous amounts of herring, squid and even some sand eels on the ground so there should be more fish showing in the weeks to come.”

Offshore.  Angler Eric Weybrant said, “(Friday) The drift was North to South (at the Mudhole) and we were 1/2 mile or so South of the deep spot when we had our first taker which turned about to be a 177 lb Mako.”

 

DEM to hold fly fishing programs

The DEM Fish & Wildlife Division’s Aquatic Resource Education program will hold three fly fishing workshops.  The programs are produced in conjunction with instructors from Trout Unlimited, Rhody Fly-Tyers, United Fly-Tyers, and with many more organizations and volunteers.  Families with children over 10 years of age are encouraged to attend.  Programs range for beginner to advanced angler. 

“Introduction to Saltwater Fly-Fishing”, Saturday, October 5 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Kettle Pond Visitors Center in Charlestown.  Fly-fishing instructors will teach participants fly-tying, casting techniques, and knot-tying. All materials and equipment are included with the $35 per-person registration fee. Participants should pack a lunch and bring a pair of waders.

“Fly-Fishing Express,” a fly-fishing safari around Aquidneck Island on the Old Colony Train Saturday, October 19 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The train will stop at several remote public access fishing areas around the island. Fly-fishing instructors will offer advice on the best flies and fly- fishing tactics. The program is designed for advanced beginner, intermediate and advanced fly-fishing anglers, and is perfect for those who have already participated in the “Introduction to Saltwater Fly-Fishing” workshop and would like to hone their fly-fishing skills while fishing.  Pack a lunch and your chest waders.  All other equipment, including flies, is provided with the $35 per-person registration fee.

“Fall Fly-Tying 2013”, held on six Thursdays beginning November 7 to December 19, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the North Kingstown Community Center. Professional fly-tyers will teach beginning and intermediate fly-tying techniques for both freshwater and saltwater fishing. All material and equipment is included. Cost of the program is $5 for each class or $25 for all six sessions. Pre-registration is recommended, although walk-ins are accepted.

For additional information and for registration materials, contact Kimberly Sullivan in DEM’s Aquatic Resource Education program at 539-0037 or via e-mail at kimberly.sullivan@dem.ri.gov.

NOAA releases new summer flounder and striped bass assessments

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, released its 57th Stock Assessment Review Committee report on summer flounder (Paralichthys dentata) and striped bass (Morone saxatilis).  The good news is that both stocks were found to be in good condition. Neither is experiencing overfishing or is overfished.  Summaries of the two stock assessments findings can be found at nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/crd/crd1314/.

 An important aspect of any assessment is the determination of current stock status. The status of the stock relates to both the rate of removal of fish from the population – the exploitation rate – and the current stock size. The exploitation rate is the proportion of the stock alive at the beginning of the year that is caught during the year. When that proportion exceeds the amount specified in an overfishing definition, overfishing is occurring. So a stock can be either experiencing overfishing or overfished or both.