Favorite ways to catch and release striped bass

 Carlos De Hoyas of Pawtucket landed this 33” bass at Gano Street, Providence using a worm.

 Bass on chunks:  Mike Swain of Coventry has been landing striped bass in the Bay (both East and West Passages) using Atlantic Menhaden chunks or live lining them.

 Capt. Monti with a striped bass landed using a circle hook and chucked Atlantic Menhaden (pogy).

 Monster bluefish 35” and 13 pounds caught by Joseph Daniels of Warwick north of Conimicut Point.

Circle hooks are designed to hook fish on lip and not the gut. Photo by Mike Swain.

Favorite ways to catch and release striped bass

We have a good amount of bait in the water… Atlantic Menhaden (pogies), squid, silversides and worms from worm hatches. This translates into great striped bass fishing. The action is hot but sometimes catching bass can be difficult, you need to mix it up with different baits and fish where the fish are feeding.

Here are ten ways to catch striped bass, and to help sustain and enhance this great fishery of ours, they are followed by catch and release tips.

Ten ways to catch striped bass

10.          Trolling with umbrella rigs.  Many 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. 

9.            Casting soft plastics, various bait types and weights to fish different depths.  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.  Many have had success with this method to get under schools of blue fish to the striped bass below.

7.            Live eels.  Used by shore and boat anglers, particularly for larger trophy sized bass.  Hook the eel through the mouth and out one eye.  Going between the eyes usually kills the bait. 

6.            Live menhaden.  Snag the live bait with a weighted treble hook or net them.  Hook the bait through the bridge of the nose, put the fish back in the school of menhaden and let it swim.

5.            Chunking fresh or frozen menhaden.  Anchor (and chum); drift fish or fish the moving bait schools with chunks.  Some anglers use weight slides to get the bait down to where the fish are.

4.            Surface plugs.  Many school bass in the spring are caught using surface plugs of all types. 

3.            Swimming lures.  My favorite is a grey and silver Yo-zuri 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.  Anglers use lead and wire line or weight there tube to get it down to the bottom where the big bass are.  Lead and wire line is designed to sink in water column. Bubblegum or red colored tubes seem to work best in the Bay and amber colored ones off coastal shores, all tipped with clam worm.  

How to enhance your catch and release efforts

Many anglers are releasing all striped bass they catch to help sustain and enhance the fishery.  According from a NOAA report, 92% of recreational striped bass are being released. Anglers who keep their catch often catch several undersized fish until they catch their limit of two legal sized fish over 28”.   So it is important to plan your catch and release efforts to insure the fish you are not taking have the best chance of surviving. 

One way to enhance survival is to use circle hooks.  Circle hooks have been used by commercial fisherman for years.  When long-line fishermen using circle hooks would return to check their hooks… the fish would still be alive (hooked in the jaw or mouth and not in the stomach). 

Here’s how circle hooks work…after the bait and hook are swallowed by the fish and it starts to run, the hook is pulled out of the stomach and slides toward the point of resistance on the fish’s jaw or lip and embeds itself in the lip, usually the corner of the fish’s mouth. 

Circle hooks successfully hook bass in the mouth 95% of the time.  The trick is not to jerk the rod to set the hook because you could pull the bait and hook right out of the fish’s mouth.   Let the fish run, as it does, it will pull the hook out of its stomach and hook itself on the lip.  Once this happens the fish is hooked so all you have to do is start fighting the fish and reeling it in.  To release striped bass, consider these techniques (many from RI DEM).

1.       Use circle hooks, they successfully hook bass in the mouth (not the gut) 95% of the time.

2.       Land fish quickly to minimize stress.

3.       Avoid putting fish on deck and letting it flop around, keep it in the water as much as possible.

4.       Wet your hand before handling the fish, dry hands remove the fish’s protective slime layer and leave it open to infection

5.       Handle fish carefully.  Do not put fingers into gill cavities or eye sockets.

6.       Gently remove the hook to minimize damage.

7.       Use lures with single hook, barbless hooks (I snap them off), or circle hooks (as noted above).

8.       Return fish to water quickly. Place fish gently in water in upright horizontal position.  Move it back and forth in the water to force water across its gills.  Once revived allow fish to swim away.

Freshwater fly-fishing workshop

The DEM’s Division of Fish and Wildlife will hold an introduction to freshwater fly-fishing program this month. Hosted by the Division's Aquatic Resource Education (ARE) program, the workshop will be held in Mapleville on Saturday, May 31 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The workshop this year has been reduced to $25.00/person. Held annually at the scenic Addieville East Game Farm, this six-hour workshop teaches the basics of fly fishing. All equipment and materials are provided. Space is limited, to register contact Kimberly Sullivan at 539-0019 or kimberly.sullivan@dem.ri.gov.

Where’s the bite

Striped bass fishing is good.  Small school size striped bass and keepers (over 28”) are being caught from the rivers in Providence to Newport and along the coastal shores.  Carlos De Hoyas of Pawtucket landed several keeper bass to 33” at Gano Street in Providence. Carlos said, “I was using sea worms with an outgoing tide around 7:30 p.m. last week. A lot of pogies in the River… some guys are catching fish at night by live lining under the new Pawtucket bridge at (I-95) Exit 28. Some of them are big.” Mike Swain of Coventry and I fished with circle hooks and fresh Atlantic Menhaden chucks Saturday and landed striped bass to 35” and 16 pounds in the East Passage.  Anglers are also having luck trolling tube & worm and using small umbrella rigs.  However, bass along the southern coastal shore and at Block Island is just starting to pick up.  Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown said, “The big fish are still up the rivers, there are plenty of small school bass around but few big fish at Block Island.”

Summer flounder (fluke) are in so whenever you get tired of fishing for bass, don’t hesitate to give fluke fishing a try.  Minimum size is 18” with a limit of eight fish/angler/day.  Roger Simpson of the Frances Fleet said Sunday’s, “Full day fluke trip was the best day of the week. Capt. Richie crushed the fish, lots of limits, over 150 keepers. 50 fish over 4 lbs, pool fish just under or at ten pounds.”  Angler Ed Bison reports, “Fished the southern Bay yesterday (Saturday).  Fluke are in caught three nice keepers to 24" landed a total of 8 in a little over an hour on the incoming.”  John Stavrakas of North Kingstown said, “With wind against tide we worked hard for a couple of shorts at Nebraska Shoal and Green Hill. We ran to Block Island and fished south of New Harbor for some consistent action. We put three keepers in the box and caught a couple dozen shorts (mostly 17 inches).  Noted local angler Don Smith said Sunday he and

  Peter Vican “Fished just outside the East Wall (Harbor of Refuge) and my first fluke was 19½”  with two more at 19" each. We had only one short hooked for the trip. Monday we decided to try the same area and we did really well. Kept nine fluke for that day. The smallest keeper was 191/2" and Peter caught a 27" fluke that weighed in at 8.88 lbs. We were fishing in 45' of water, using squid strips and Peruvian Silversides. The water temp was 52.”  Four reports from Montauk confirm they are killing the fluke there with many anglers reaching their limit. “Fluke fishing on the south and southwest sides of Block Island is starting to pick up.  It is better there than along the coast right now.” said Matt Conti.

Bluefish. “Anglers targeting bass at the southwest side of Block Island are catching good sized bluefish.” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina.  Angler Joseph Daniels of Warwick said, “… hitting the stripers on pogies, but there are some really BIG blues mixed in,  3 blues to 1 striper… caught a one 35 inches, 13 lbs - he growled at me.”  Chris Catucci of Warwick said, “Saturday fishing near Rocky Point I landed one gator blue around 10 pounds, followed by over a dozen schoolies. All of these fish came on a Zara Spook top water bait. The stripers seem to only be feeding when there was an absence of wind and overcast conditions.”

Tautog fishing remains strong but spotty.  Anglers are on them or not (as is always the case with tautog).  The fish being caught are good size, many in the eight pound range. Minimum size is 16”, 3 fish/angler/day with 10 fish boat limit, spring tautog season ends May 31.

Squid fishing remains strong around Newport with anglers seeing clouds of bait when fishing for bass. 

Fresh water fishing remains strong for both trout and largemouth bass.  Many anglers are still catching trout stocked in ponds by DEM including the Golden Trout that played a larger role in DEM’s hatchery program this year.  Visit www.dem.ri.gov for stocked ponds and Golden Trout program information.

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.

Ten Favorite Ways to Catch Striped Bass (4/28/09)

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 or three fish at the same time and you are in for a very memorable ride.

9. Casting plastic shad swim baits. Many anglers love this technique and use it most often with success in the spring.

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

7. Live eels. Used by shore or boat anglers, some fishing guides use this as their primary method to catch killer stripers. Hook the eel through the mouth and out an eye. Going between the eyes usually kills the bait.

6. Live menhaden. Snag the live bait with a weighted treble hook. Hook the bait through the bridge of the nose, find the pod of fish again and put the live menhaden back into the pod of bait and let it swim. Used when menhaden are running strong, particularly up the Providence River in early spring.

5. Chucking fresh or frozen menhaden. Can anchor or fish moving bait pods with chunks. Can chum with chucks and pieces too. Some anglers use a weight slider 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 friend Jim swears by Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows.

2. Parachute squid jigs. Often used in ocean water (where there are squid). Anglers successfully use this method off Newport and Block Island.

1. Trolling with tube and worm. I have had great success using lead line on the Bay with red tubes. Hugely successful on the Southwest ledge off Block Island with 300 ft. of wire line out in 40 to 50 feet of water and using amber tubes.
There are other ways to catch striped bass. So e-mail me your favorite method(s) and we will share it with others.

New Proposed Fishing Regulations
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) has proposed amendments to Marine Fisheries Regulations (both recreational and commercial) for several salt water species at a public hearing on Wednesday, April 22 at the URI Bay Campus. For a complete list of proposed regulation changes visit DEM’s Fish & Wildlife Web site at www.dem.ri.gov./progrmas/bnatres/fishwild/ .

At the meeting, DEM related a change in recreational summer flounder regulations necessary to properly manage the fishery. With input from fishermen and the industry, DEM’s Fish and Wildlife Division developed six different summer flounder recreational fishing regulation change options. Option four was the most popular option at the meeting. The proposed regulation increased the size to 21” (from 20”), reduced the per person per day bag limit from seven to six, and reduced the recreational fishing season for summer flounder from year round to June 13 through December 31.

Richard Hittinger, board member of the Rhode Island Salt Water Anglers Association and a recreational representative to the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council said regulations are a balance between the season, size and bag limits. “Each of the options presented had pluses and minuses, but option four seemed to make the most sense”.

Acting Marine & Wildlife director Mark Gibson related that DEM director, W. Michael Sullivan, will review the proposed change options, public comments and will develop recommendations. The Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council will then vote on recommended changes.
My guess is that the approved changes will not be in effect before the summer flounder start to bite. But keep your eyes and ears open because regulations will likely change as the season progresses.

Where’s the bite
Striped bass. A lot of bait fish around the mouth of the Barrington River and at Rumstick Point, however no stripers. Ken Ferrara from Ray’s Bait & Tackle related customers caught fish using frozen herring chucks at Mill Cove near Conimicut Point. Angler Mike Shepard from Newport reports no striped bass around this weekend. Craig Mancini from Continental Bait & Tackle in Cranston said school stripers are being reported in and around the mouth of Narrow River. Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle (Coventry/Providence/Bristol) reported Bob Oberg continues to catch stripers (31 this week) trolling in this kayak with tube and worm on the Thames River in CT. I fished Green River, Greenwich Bay and Greenwich Cove with no luck this past weekend. The water is warming up, bait is more visible so conditions are right for striped bass to start appearing soon.

Tautog action slow this past week in the Bay and off Newport. Gary Leatherberry of Erickson’s Bait & Tackle in Warwick related that when the apple blossoms appear the tautog appear too, so tautog should be here soon.
Fluke. No fluke bite reported. See proposed DEM regulation changes above.
Fresh water bite still good. Anglers still catching fish at a variety of ponds, again not their limit but some nice fish. A lot of largemouth bass were taken this weekend at Meshanicut Lake reports Craig Mancini of Continental Bait & Tackle.

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing on Narragansett Bay for over 40 years. He holds a captain’s master license. Your fishing photos with captions, stories, comments and questions are welcome… there’s more than one way to catch a fish so e-mail Captain Dave at ­­­dmontifish@verizon.net .

Photo Caption A
Eric Appolonia of North Kingstown and I caught monster striped bass this fall using wire line and amber colored tube and worm on Block Island’s Southwest ledge. The largest fish that day was 46” and 40 lbs.

Photo Caption B
Angler Jim Malachowski of Cranston displays a 36” striped bass caught last spring using live menhaden on the Providence River.