Barao of East Providence appointed to Marine Fisheries Council

 Travis Barao of East Providence, RI has been appointed to the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council.

 Steve Gillissie with a Block Island striped bass caught last week using an umbrella rig.

Louie Alarie, Bob Ferioli and Mel Blake had no trouble catching black sea bass to 22” under and just south of the Newport Bridge last week aboard No Fluke Charters.

Barao of East Providence appointed to Marine Fisheries Council

Travis E. Barao of East Providence, RI has been appointed to the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council (RIMFC).  He is one of three recreational representatives on the Council and replaces Richard Hittinger who reached his two term limit. Three commercial fishing representatives and two scientists also serve on the Council.

The RIMFC makes commercial and recreational fishing regulation recommendations to Janet Coit, executive director of the RI Department of Environmental Management (DEM).  The RIMFC solicits input from fishermen and community input on proposed fishing regulations and then makes recommendations to the DEM director.

Barao also serves on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Black Sea Bass, Fluke and Scup advisory panel which provides regional regulation recommendations for these and other species. He is a Life Member of the RI Saltwater Anglers Association where he has served on their board for three years.

Barao was confirmed by the RI Senate on June 16 with a term that expires on April 1, 2020.

United Fly Tyers open to new members

If you are interested in fly fishing and want to learn how to tie your own flys or improve you skills in this area, The United Fly Tyers of Rhode Island may be the club for you. Meetings are more like workshops where members share their knowledge on how to tie flys that target both fresh and salt water species. 

The United Fly Tyers of Rhode Island (www.uftri.org) meets at the Knight of Columbus, 475 Sandy Lane, Warwick, R.I. 02889, the first Wednesday of each month, September through May. Call Jeff Perry at 741.0598 or Cindi Chrostek at 871.2332 for more information.

Trout Unlimited July meeting

The Narragansett Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU225) will host its next meeting on Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. at the Deer Check Station, Rte. 165 (Ten Rod Road), Exeter, RI.  This will be the third of four streamside meetings for this summer.

The primary focus of the meeting will be ‘A Night with RIDEM Conservation Officer Michael DiPietro’.  Officer DiPietro will review important issues from DEM’s perspective with a question and answer period where members can relate how the feel about key issues.  Networking will start at 5:00 p.m., food will be available at 5:30 p.m. and a short meeting will start around 6:00 p.m. followed by the discussion. 

One additional benefit of the summer streamside format is that the sun is still shining when the meeting is adjourned, and anglers have time to fish before the sun goes down. Contact chapter president, Ron Marafioti at (401) 463-6162 with questions.

Where’s the bite

Fresh water fishing has slowed with the heat and warming water.  “Low water levels at the Wood River  reduced fishing activity on the River.” said Kim Petti of Fin & Feather Outfitters, North Kingstown. “Bass fishing for customers has been slow.  When they have been able to catch them they have been down in deeper cooler water as the water is warming up quite a bit.” said Sam Busenbark of Bucko Bait & Tackle, Fall River.

Striped bass fishing remained very strong at Block Island last week with reports of 50 plus pound fish being caught at the southwest ledge.  Capt. Rob Roach of Kettlebottom Outfitters said, “Bunker in Providence River are becoming scattered and hard to locate and game fish are moving out of the Bay and onto South Shore and Bay reefs.  Many inlets are still producing a lot of school to small keeper-sized fish as are the associated salt ponds.  Eels at Block Island are showing good results with many 40 lb+ fish caught lately.” Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “Last week’s Wednesday Night's bass trip had a full boat limit of bass to 35 pounds by 9:30 p.m. and anglers practiced catch and release fishing thereafter and the boat was still tied up at the dock by midnight… at least a half dozen other bass around 30 pounds that night and many others in the 20's.”  I fished Block Island last week with Josh and Ron Barnes and friends where they caught bass to 46 pounds.  Umbrella rigs and eels seem to be the bait of choice with other methods working too.  Capt. Rick Bellavance of Priority Too charters said, “Striped bass fishing this week switched more to a night time bite on Block Island where anglers are using eels.  Parachute jigs are working well in the day too.”

Bluefish.  Kim Petti of Fin & Feather Outfitters, North Kingstown said, “I was in Jamestown this weekend and small bluefish (and stripers) were being caught by fly fishermen.  Others are doing well in the Quonochontaug area with a decent bluefish bite off Prudence Island in the Bay as well.”  Angler Steve Hamilton and his son Devin caught a 28” bluefish while fluke fishing in the West Passage off the URI Bay Campus in Narragansett.  This fish took a small fluke rig tipped with squid and a silverside.” Sam Busenbark of Bucko Bait & Tackle, said, “The bass have moved out of the Sakonnet River due to the heat but some nice bluefish have moved in.”

Summer flounder (fluke).   Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “A big body of fish set up along the south side of Block Island and there were numerous angler limits and many fishers who boxed several nice fluke apiece on trips this week. Whole squid, buck tails and regular bait rigs all worked this past week. Best advice is to be prepared for two or three of these fishing strategies and adjust accordingly as the tide/wind conditions dictate.” Sam Busenbark of Bucko Bait & Tackle said, “We had some nice keepers taken at Elbow Ledge last week but fluke fishing activity has been slow.”  “Fluke fishing south of the Block Island is hot… some days it looks like there are 100 boats there.”, said Rick Bellavance of Priority Too charters. I bottom fished three times this week off Jamestown and Newport and had trouble hooking up with summer flounder as they do not seem to be in the area yet, hope is that they arrive this week or next.

Black sea bass and scup fishing is very strong just about everywhere.  Nelson Valles of Maridee Canvas & Bait, Narragansett said, “Scup and black sea bass fishing is very strong from shore off just about every dock, jetty and even from the beaches with a good bluefish bite from shore too.” “Scup fishing has been fantastic with fish being caught from shore at the Stone Bridge, Tiverton all the way up to Fall River from shore as well as in the Gooseberry and Horseneck areas.” said Sam Busenbark of Bucko’s Bait & Tackle.

Tuna fishing offshore locally has been slow.  Tuna fisherman Mike Schreffler said, “There have been no bluefin in close.  Guys are catching them at the Canyons, a 120 mile run, but we are waiting for them to get a bit closer at least to the Fish Tales which is about 70 miles offshore.  So things have been slow off Rhode Island and Cape Cod with some fish being caught up north.  We have heard that some are catching mahi mahi in the Shipping Lanes which is about 50 miles offshore.”

Controversial regulation options take center stage

 Conservative black sea bass regulation options and a controversial commercial striped bass season start date brought about a sixty fishermen out to DEM’s Public Hearing Tuesday night.

Capt. Eric Thomas of Teezer 77 Guide Service will be one of three panelists on “How to catch spring striped bass” Monday, February 29, 7:00 p.m. at the West Valley Inn.

Controversial regulation options take center stage

Recreational anglers and commercial fishermen met Tuesday night with the Department of Environmental Management’s Marine Fisheries Division at a public hearing to express their thoughts on regulation options for the 2016 fishing season.

A 23% black sea bass (BSB) reduction mandated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the start date of the commercial striped bass season were two meeting highlights that created spirited discussion.

Seven different recreational black sea bass options were discussed but the one option that won the favor or both private anglers and party and charter boat captains was an option suggested by ASMFC Rhode Island representatives after initial conversations with fish mangers in Connecticut and New York.  The option, that would be the same for RI, CT and NY state receiving good support, was a 14” minimum size BSB, with three fish/person/day between July 22 to August 31 and five fish/person/day between  September 1 to December 31.

Recreational anglers liked the idea as it spread out the number of fish throughout the season, charter and party boats liked the enhanced catch limit compared to other options on the table (although last year’s fall/winter limit was seven fish). Also, having a consistent regulation between the three states would even the playing field for party and charger boats in the tristate area.  The hope is the CT and NY will agree to the tristate agreement.

Another meeting highlight was the start date of the commercial striped bass season.  Bay commercial fishermen wanted an earlier start to the season as striped bass first migrate into the Bay in May (following Atlantic menhaden that spawn in Rivers in the upper part of the Bay). 

Bay fishermen wanted a May 15 season start date to capitalize on early spring stripers.  However, those commercial fishing who fish in the lower part of the Bay, off coastal shores and around Block Island wanted a later season start of June 8.  Striped bass are more prevalent in these waters starting in mid-June and July. 

Michael McGivney, president of the RI Shellfisherman’s Associations, said, “Many shellfishermen are commercial striped bass fishermen in the Bay.  A later season start creates hardship for them as the fish quickly leave the upper Bay early in the season.  As a member of the Rhode Island Seafood Marketing Committee fish dealers and fish retailers have said they would like to even out the supply of fish (striped bass) over a longer period of time to create market consistency.”

There are many more lower Bay and ocean striped bass commercial fishermen than upper Bay commercial fishermen (certainly at the meeting) so fish managers had and will have a difficult time determining which way to go the issue.  Commercial striped bass fishermen fish against a fixed quote.  When it is reached fishing shuts down. It would be great to reach a compromise date, but quite frankly as many attending the meeting Tuesday said, “This argument has been going on for years.”

All fishing regulations options with comments from the public hearing will go before the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council (RIMFC) on March 7 for their review and recommendation.  The RIMFC recommendations will all public hearing input is then presented to and reviewed by Janet Coit, DEM director, for decisions on final 2016 fishing season regulations.

How to land spring striped bass

If you like to fish for spring striped bass don’t miss the “Fishing for Spring Striped Bass” seminar at the RI Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) meeting Monday, February 29, 7:00 p.m. at the West Valley Inn, West Warwick. Striped bass experts Capt. Randy Bagwell of River Rebel Charters, Capt. Eric Thomas of Teezer 77 Guide Service and local striper surfcasting expert Dennis Zambrotta will conduct a panel discuss on how to land these spring prizes from shore or boat.

Everyone is welcome to attend.  Non-members are requested to make a $10 donation to the RISAA Marine Fisheries College Scholarship Fund and RISAA members attend free. Optional dinner served by the West Valley Inn from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Visit www.risaa.org for additional information.

Fly casting clinic April 23^rd

The Rhode Island School of Fly Fishing (www.RISchoolofFlyFishing.com) will be conducting a half-day fly casting clinic on April 23rd in Colt State Park, Bristol, Rhode Island. Check-in/registration will start at 8:00 a.m. with the classes running from 9:00 a.m. until noon.

The instructors will be Capt. John Lemont, Capt. Bob Hines and Capt. Jim Barr. John and Jim are Certified Fly Casting Instructors as qualified by the International Federation of Fly Fishers/ Livingston, Montana.

The class will be limited to fifteen (15) students so that we have a good instructor to student ratio guaranteeing considerable individual attention. The classes will consist of two tracks, one for beginners and the other for intermediate/advanced casters. Students are encouraged to bring their own equipment however rods will be available for students who do not have their own. 

The tuition for the class is $50 per student. For further information and registration please contact Capt. Jim Barr at the Rhode Island School of Fly Fishing, 401-465-8751, or email: JamesBarrRI@gmail.com.

Grover Fugate to address Trout Unlimited on Ocean SAMP program

The Narragansett Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU225) will hold its February 2016 monthly membership meeting on Wednesday, 24 February 2016, 6:30 p.m., at the Coventry/West Greenwich Elks Lodge, 42 Nooseneck Hill Road (Rte. 3, Exit 6 off of Rte. 95), West Greenwich, R.I.

Grover Fugate, a TU225 member and executive director of the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) will present on Rhode Island’s Ocean Special Area Management Plan (Ocean SAMP).  The program is Rhode Island’s ocean spatial plan for how to both develop and implement a program that gives Rhode Islanders a significant role in determining how the state’s offshore waters should be developed.

The SAMP program as fully as possible tries to understand how the ocean waters off of Rhode Island are already being used by people and wildlife, develop regulations to minimize conflict between the varied uses, determine where offshore renewable energy should be sited and managed, and gain public approval and buy-in for the process and its future goals.  The Ocean SAMP helped guide the siting of Rhode Island’s first offshore wind farm in state waters off Block Island and will direct the future siting of utility-scale wind farms in Rhode Island Sound.  This plan is evolving into the leading national model for how to both develop and implement such a plan.

Contact chapter president, Ron Marafioti, at (401) 463-6162, with any questions.