Mike thinks like a fish

 Mike Swain with one of the many striped bass he has caught in the Conimicut Light area this year.

 Fish in the box: Paul Bertelli took brother-in-law Jim Pontarelli and nephew Will (both of Narragansett) fishing this weekend and hooked them up with these summer flounder off Matunuck.

Matthew Garstka of Central Falls weighed in this 13.44 pound fluke caught off Block Island at Quaker Lane Bait & Tackle. 

Mike thinks like a fish

What time do you fish?  Where are you fishing this this week? Are you leaving the dock at 5:00 a.m. or 6:00 a.m.?  These are the questions Mike Swain of Coventry hears often as angler acquaintances try to figure out what he is doing right to catch such large striped bass, summer flounder and other species. 

Mike works at Electric Boat, Quonset Point, but fishing is his passion.  It is in his genes.  His Dad fished commercially and recreationally for years and he learned a lot from him.

To catch fish consistently in Narragansett Bay and along coastal shores, you have to learn from your experiences, the patterns fish have followed over the years and start to think like a fish.  Mike Swain has done this.

To think like a fish you have to consider a lot of variables including the forage fish stripers eat.  What brings the type of food striped bass eat (and the striped bass) to a particular spot includes variables such as the spawning season of forage fish, water temperature and depth, current and tide and time of day.  Mike combines these factors with his historical fishing experiences to think like a fish.  He shows up waiting for the striped bass with the type of bait or food they are eating.

Mike then puts in the time to catch fish. “We fished all day for two fish.” said Mike as we talked about striped bass fishing in the upper Bay a couple of weeks ago.  The fish caught were in the high twenty pound range, which for some are lifetime trophy fish and/or their personal best. 

Mike and his fishing partner Jay Anctil (also of Coventry) have caught dozens of striped bass many in the 15, 20 and 30 pound range this season with one of his largest being caught last week topping 36 pounds. These are large fish for the Bay and he has caught fish like this year after year. 

Two years ago I had the privilege of fishing with Mike.  We fished on his boat his way… with the freshest bait possible,  moving from place to place fishing where the bass have appeared in the past… trying to think like a fish and being patient waiting for them to bite.

Atlantic menhaden, either live lining them or fishing with cut-up chunks, is his bait of choice this time of year for striped bass.  This Saturday Mike called me while on the water, “Hey Dave I am fishing just north of you (in the East passage) and can’t revive a fish.  He came to the boat and we chatted.  He and his fishing partner Jay had caught two fish in the 25 to 30 pound range.

Mike has a nose for bass, a nose for fish in general.  Once the bass fishing slows in the upper Bay he moves to the mid and lower Bay fishing favorite spots around Prudence Island, Hope Island and Jamestown.  He then puts his summer flounder (fluke) game face on and finds them wherever they are including Warwick, North Kingstown, Jamestown, Newport, Narragansett and more.  

“You just have to put the time in.” said Mike.  And yes, think like a fish to find and catch striped bass and other fish consistently.

Where’s the bite

Striped bass fishing remained good in the Bay but anglers have to first find the fish and work to catch them.  On Block Island the bass bite dramatically improved last week.  Capt. Rick Bellavance of Priority Too Charters, Pt. Judith said, “We are starting to catch some nice fish at Block Island both at the North Rip and Southwest Ledge area.  There seem to be a lot of small scup in the water so we have been using silver spoons with success.”  With high winds anglers have not been able to get out the past couple of days but shore anglers are doing well.  Christian Silvia of Watch Hill Outfitters, Westerly said, “There is a good bass bite all along the southern coastal shore.  Anglers are catching fish in the 30” range at the mouth of the Pawcatuck River and at Napatree Point.  Fishing up the River has slowed.” Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren said, “Anglers had a slow day or two but the bass bite overall has been tremendous with anglers catching fish all along the coast in the East passage from shore and from boats.  This week we weighed in a 32 pound fish caught off Colt State Park.” Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle, Providence said, “Molly Romanco was fishing with boyfriend Cody Trostel and caught a 30 pound striped bass using live pogies and anglers in the Pawtucket Division Street and Parent’s Marina area are catching large bass too.” Bass fishing expert Mike Swain of Coventry said, “We caught striped bass to 27 pounds in the upper Providence River last week and this weekend we landed multiple fish in the mid thirty pound range, our largest was 45” (about 36 pounds) in the East Passage.  We were spotting some very large fish. It was a great week for striped bass fishing in the Bay and River.”   John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle Riverside said, “Things slowed in the upper Rivers this week with a lot of activity moving further south to Nayatt Point, Rocky Point and Colt State Park.  One customer caught a 36 inch fish from Sabin Point.  It was a short fish, but it was very fat, it must have had 15 pogies in its belly.”

Summer flounder (fluke).  Jim Pontarelli of Narragansett (and his son Will) fished with brother-in-law Paul Bertelli for fluke off Matunuck this weekend.  Jim said, “We got several around 20 inches but had many just under the limit. A lot of throw backs.”  Mike Bestwick of Quaker Lane Bait & Tackle said “Customer Matt Garstka of Central Falls weighed in a 13.4 pound, 29.5” fluke Saturday that he caught while fishing off Block Island.”  Bruce Lawing reports on the RISAA blog a good fluke bite on the west side of Block Island.  Mike said, “We fished four hours and had a 50/50 short to keeper ratio with our largest fish just over four pounds.”  Angler Rick Sustello and his wife fished off the southern coastal shore in a couple of favorite spots from 40 to 60 feet of water.  Rick said, “We returned with eight keeper fluke with five of them between 22 and 24 inches and two slab scup about 15”.   “Capt. B.J. Silvia of Flippin’ Out Charters is reporting a good fluke bite around Jamestown and Newport.” said Dave Henault of Ocean State. Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “Quite a few big fish this past week. Biggest fish of the week was an 11 pound fish caught last Thursday along with other fish in the 6-8 pound range. There seems to be respectable amounts of fluke just about everywhere but the amount of bait around is staggering and the fluke seem well fed which can lead to them being wary about taking an angler's offerings. It is more of a finesse fishery lately.”

Freshwater fishing is still very good.  Trout are being caught in ponds restocked by the State of RI (visit www.dem.ri.gov for a complete list).  A variety of other species are also being caught by anglers.  Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle said, “Freshwater bass fishing is excellent and are being landed on heavy medium shiners.  Stump Pond and Turner Reservoir have been good. Trout fishing has been good at Olney Pond in Lincoln Woods.”

Bay and ocean exploding with activity

 Angler Brian Dick caught this 16 pound striped bass at Brenton Reef Tuesday while fishing On the Rock’s Charters.

 Michael Strashnick of Warwick with two nice fluke he caught off Warwick Light last weekend.

 Anthony Marfeo Jr. and his dad have been catching big largemouth bass.  This fish was caught on medium heavy minnows early this week.

 Peter Vican of East Greenwich with the 52.45 pound striped bass caught Saturday off Block Island.  This is his 33^rd fish over 50 pounds; he holds the RI State record with a 77.4 pound fish caught in 2011.

 Sean Stanford of Jamestown with the 9.25 pound fluke he caught this week on the Seven B’s party boat using a fluke belly and a sand eel as bait.

 Lary Norin (back row, far right) was part of the team that boated this 290 pound thresher shark last week aboard Hot Reels Charters with Captains Louis DeFusco and Jack Sprengel. 

Mike Swain with a 40” and a 43” striped bass caught in the East Passage of Narragansett Bay Tuesday.

Bay and ocean exploding with activity

A month ago fishing news was dribbling in but this week the faucet was wide open as fishing (catching) reports accelerated with anglers offshore, in the upper and lower bay, along the coastal shore, at Block Island and in freshwater with a strong largemouth bass bite.

Here is a thumbnail of what’s going on:

Tuesday Mike Swain of Coventry and his fishing partner boated a 40” and a 43” striped bass early morning using pogies in the east passage.

Capt. Louis DeFusco of Hot Reels and Capt. Jack Sprengel of East Coast charters landed a 290 pound thresher shark with Larry Norin, Rick Sustello and four other anglers on board.

RI state striped bass record holder (77.4 pounds) Peter Vican of East Greenwich landed is 33^rd striped bass over 50 pounds… a  52.45 pound fish he caught off the south side of Block Island at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday using a live eel.

Tuesday, Brian Dick from Connecticut was fishing with Capt. Rene LeTourneau of On the Rock’s Charters and boated a 16 pound striped bass off Brenton Reef, Newport using a needlefish lure.

Michael Strashnick of Warwick boated several keeper fluke right off Warwick Light this weekend.

Fluke fishing out in front of southern coastal beaches has improved daily with 3 to 4 pound fish being caught and 7 and 8 pound fish being weighed in too said Phil Matteson of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown. 

Fishing regulations receiving pressure

During the past several months there have been a number of key proposed policy changes that if approved could greatly impact our fisheries. Some say the proposed changes will weaken regulations having a long term negative impact on fisheries, while others say the policy changes will have a positive impact on fishing immediately providing much needed relief for commercial fishermen and fishing communities in New England.  Here are some highlights.

Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization bill

Last month, in a highly partisan vote, the U.S. House passed a bill that would weaken the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.  Matt Mullin, from the Environmental Defense Fund said, “The bill, as passed by the House would undercut proven environmental law including the Endangered Species Act and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act; weaken rebuilding and quota provisions; restrict data from the public; and limit options for fishermen.”

It is important for recreational and commercial fishermen to weigh in on the Reauthorization bill; particularly if/when a Senate version of the bill starts to go thought the legislative process in the U.S. Senate.

NOAA National Standard 1 changes would weaken Magnuson-Stevens

On June 30 the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) closed its comment period on policies that would weaken key parts of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and provide regional managers with more flexibility. 

NOAA’s proposal would revise the act’s National Standard 1 guidelines making them more flexible in response to fishermen who have claimed fishing laws are too rigid. 

A statement from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Conservation Law Authority and three other conservation groups said, “The proposed new rules promote strategies that would increase the risk of overfishing and would allow managers to leave populations at low levels rather than rebuild them quickly and to forgo management of fish stocks in need of conservation.”   

The statement related the proposal would allow managers to delay lowering catch limits in response to scientific information, increasing the risk of overfishing; obscure information about overfishing (by averaging several years of data); raise quotas by carrying over uncaught fish from the previous year without determining whether the population is healthy; and continue using deficient plans for rebuilding overfished stocks to healthy levels, instead of revising the plans to restore populations more quickly. The statement said, “The proposal would allow managers to keep using rebuilding plans that did not meet their goals and to extend timelines for rebuilding overfished stocks for years or even decades beyond what would be allowed currently.

At press time, the public comment period closed on these policy changes and the fishing community is waiting to see if NOAA will enact all or some to these proposed National Standard 1 guideline changes.

ASMFC summer meeting

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) 2015 Summer Meeting is scheduled for August 4-6, 2015 in Alexandria, Virginia.  The ASMFC makes coastal fishing regulations for many of the species we fish in Rhode Island including striped bass, summer flounder, black sea bass, tautog and a host of others.

The preliminary agenda includes important Management Board meetings for tautog, striped bass and Atlantic menhaden that will impact the 2016 Fishing Management Plans for these species.

The tautog board will review and discuss a Draft Public Information Document for Amendment 1 to the tautog Interstate Fishery Management Plan.  The most recent tautog assessment will likely bring more conservation tautog relations for recreational and commercial fishermen in RI. 

Key issues on striped bass include a review of the Technical Committee’s Report on the likelihood of achieving fishing mortality targets with the regulations that were finally implemented (one fish at 28” minimum size for recreational fishermen and a 25% commercial quota reduction), and progress on management level projections using the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Fleet reference points. The Board will also review and possibly approve the 2015 FMP State Compliance Reports. 

Important Atlantic menhaden discussions will focus on an update from the Atlantic menhaden working group on the progress of ecosystem-based management goals and objectives.  This was a key component/concession with the vote taken by the Commission at their last meeting when they increased quota by 10%.

Rhode Island ASMFC representatives usually hold an input meeting for fishermen on agenda items prior to the ASMFC meeting.  Watch for this meeting notice. An updated agenda and materials will be available on July 23, 2015 at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2015-summer-meeting.

Where’s the bite

“Freshwater trout fishing has slowed down substantially.” said John Wunner of John’s Bait & Tackle, North Kingstown.  However largemouth bass fishing is hot.  Dave Henault of Ocean Sate Tackle, Providence said, “Customers Anthony Marfeo (junior and senior) have been catching good sized largemouth bass every day, four times a week, using medium heavy shiners. They are fishing multiple lakes and ponds north and west of Providence.”

Striped bass. Angler John Rivera of Portsmouth (when visiting Fin & Feather Outfitters, North Kingstown) said, “I fished all night Saturday starting at the Narrows, then Black Point, Narragansett, followed by the Cliff Walk in Newport.  The fish were not interested in the flies I had.  Looked like they might have been eating shrimp.  Switched to spinning gear and ended up at the Cape Cod Canal landing four fish in the ten to fifteen pound range.  In general fishing in the lower Bay from Portsmouth to Newport Harbor has been good at night.  I often fish on my kayak and heard that last week kayakers landed a 40 and a 50 pound fish at the Newport Bridge, one on a live pogie and a second on a squid.” Phil Matteson of Breachway Bait & Tackle said, “Fish in the 15 to 34 inch are being caught in the salt ponds with anglers catching them with plugs and small Slug Gos.”  The bass bite on Block Island is improving.  Ken Landry of Ray’s Bait & Tackle said, “It is a messed spring with the bass bite on and then off on any given day.  Some schools of menhaden have bass feeding on them and others don’t.  Some guys are fishing at night on Block Island for one bite and that’s it.  From shore anglers are doing OK. We have a couple of customers that landed 32” fish at Beavertail this week.  The old timers say when we have a cold winter the fishing season will last longer, but what they forgot to tell us is that it will start slower too.”

Fluke/black sea bass fishing had been good at Warwick Light and south of Patience Island.  Some guys are landing them in 10’ of water and others in 70’ of water.” said Ken Landry.  I fished the Warwick Light area Sunday with angler Steve Brustein and we caught short flounder, we moved to north of the Jamestown Bridge and landed multiple sea bass to 21”.  Anglers are happy about the sea bass opening July 2 as they have been catching them while fluking.  As of July 2, anglers are allowed to take one sea bass/person/day. The limit increases in September to seven fish/person/day. Frank Mello of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren said, “Customers are landing summer flounder in the Rocky Point and Conimicut areas.” Both the Seven B’s and the Frances Fleet party boats had a good fluke fishing week. Capt. Russ Benn of the Seven B’s said “Several fish in the eight to ten pound range were caught this week including a 9.25 pound fish caught by Sean Stanford.”

The scup bite continues to get stronger with anglers landing them just about anywhere in the Bay.  “Customers are catching big scup at Colt State Park and at the bridges (in Barrington and Warren)." said Frank Mello of Lucky Bait.

Atlantic bonito.  Yes bonito!  Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle said, “Bob Turcotte landed a small bonito Saturday about ¼ mile off the beach at Little Compton.  It was the only bonito caught on a crippled herring.  The bass, blues and the bonito were feeding on sand eels."