With water temperatures soon reaching their warmest levels of the year, all-out bonito and false albacore blitzes are just around the corner. The first few shore-caught bonito of the season were landed in Rhode Island waters this week. Bluefish, from snappers to whoppers, are plentiful throughout the region, making striped bass fishing difficult because of stolen bait and severed leaders. Fluking and black sea bass fishing are holding up well and deeper water has been the ticket. Nothing is hotter in the local saltwater scene than porgy fishing, however. They are large and in charge, and readily available on a rock pile near you.
Rhode Island
Despite the so-called “summer doldrums,” Steve McKenna of Quaker Lane Tackle has been experiencing fairly consistent striper action from shore at night in the Jamestown area. He’s been hitting the suds about two nights a week, mostly using a fast-sinking Sebile Magic Swimmer paired with a Red Gill teaser, and hasn’t been skunked since early June. These fish aren’t trophies mind you, but there have been plenty of keeper bass in the mix. He’s noticed a lot of baitfish in the surf line too, such as sand eels, silversides, snapper blues, and even tinker mackerel.
Live eels after dark continue to account for nice stripers according to Robin at Quonny Bait and Tackle. Two of her customers, Ryan Laplant and Zach Barberich, went breachway hopping in South County on Tuesday night and scored some keeper-sized bass on the outgoing tide. Ron at Breachway Bait and Tackle has been catching nice fish using eels as well, but he’s been focusing on the reef just off Charlestown Breachway during morning tides. With overcast skies and a slight heave on Tuesday, his crew landed bass up to 30 pounds and bluefish up to 10 pounds. They went back on Wednesday morning with calm seas and sunny skies and did horrible.
In the fluke and sea bass department, things are holding up rather well overall. Arden at Saltwater Edge said that in the Newport area, 40 to 70 feet of water off Second Beach is where you want to be; just look for the boats. He noted that fluke have been pretty spread out, yet feeding aggressively. Along the south shore, Ron at Breachway Bait gave me a Wednesday morning report from 57 feet of water straight off of Charlestown Breachway. Using Thom Cat fluke rigs and ¼-ounce bucktail droppers, both tipped with squid strips, anglers landed 14 keeper fluke out of a total of 50 flatfish, with the largest around 5 pounds. As for black sea bass, Robin at Quonny Bait and Tackle told me that customer Fred Tomkiewicz did great this week off of Five Cottages in 47 feet of water, using mummies on a 6-ounce fluke ball and sand eel fly. Another customer, Craig Kazemksa, scooped some nice sea bass up to 22 inches to the left of Charlestown Breachway on Thom Cat White Lightning rigs tipped with jumbo mummies and squid strips in 45 feet of water.
Arguably the hottest saltwater action has been the porgy bite. Mike at Watch Hill Outfitters reported monster porgies being caught around the lobster pots at Napatree Point, as well as Watch Hill and Sugar Reef. If there was ever a bait of choice for porgies, it seems to be clam necks. Mike noted that they are cheaper than sandworms and you can freeze them after each outing.
Block Island
The big news around Block Island is the arrival of bonito. John at Twin Maples received word of the first shore-caught ‘bone’ on Tuesday morning from Charlestown Beach, just left of the Coast Guard Channel. John stressed that this is just the beginning and to get your Deadly Dicks or fly gear ready for some good days ahead. For fluke and black sea bass, John said head to the southwest section of the Island, in 45 feet of water between the bell and the whistle buoy. Striper fishing has been tougher as of late according to John, mostly because of the heavy presence of bluefish. He said many eel fisherman are converting to diamond jigs with tubes to get below the blues in the waters around Southwest Ledge.
Connecticut
Downpours kept many folks off the water for a few days this past week, but, overall, fishing has been good in Long Island Sound lately. Invading bluefish have made stripers difficult to come by during the day, but those targeting the night shift with live bait are still netting impressive catches. The largest reported bass I heard about this past week came from an inshore reef off Madison. Cappy at Captain Morgan Bait and Tackle said Ron Hughes weighed-in a 63.5-pound cow that ate an eel during slack tide. Other proven tactics like diamond jigging, three-waying bucktails, and trolling umbrella rigs are producing stripers and blues in deeper water. Matt at Hillyers had a customer bring in a 36-pound linesider that fell to a trolled umbrella rig in the Race on Wednesday morning. As for Western Sound bass, Nick at Fisherman’s World said deepwater chunking with fresh bunker produced a 40-inch striper for Tony Mollica in 70 feet of water off Sheffield Island, while a live eel accounted for a 29-pound bass for Mike Tardella inside the Islands one night this week.
Some very large bluefish are roaming the Sound at the moment, stealing bait and tackle at a furious rate. Matt had a customer report a monster blue around 18 pounds that fell for a Kastmaster off Waterford this week. With many big choppers around, we could have a good showdown during next weekend’s WICC bluefish tournament with its $25,000 payday. There also has been pretty good topwater action early and late with birds and fish working butterfish schools in many areas, such as Bartlett and Hatchett Reefs – try topwater plugs like pencil poppers and spooks during low-light conditions.
Matt at Hillyers also spoke about the above average fluking in the Sound this year so far. He thinks that dropping the minimum length down to 18.5 inches has helped because it keeps anglers happy and keeps them fishing, which in turn has led them to even larger fluke. Matt has seen a good amount of 5- to 8-pounders come into his shop lately, many of which are being taken from deeper water. He also spoke with an angler that fished on a headboat Wednesday morning and bagged a 10.5-pound fluke. Phil at River’s End agreed with the deep water approach, stating that 80 to 120 feet of water from Black Point to Hatchett has been treating several of their customers well. Phil suggested going big with your offering, such as a double fluke rig and a whole squid, and fresher the better.
Best Bets for the Weekend
The bonito bite seems about ready to bust wide open in Rhode Island and Connecticut waters. From shore, you should have a good chance near the entrance of New Harbor on Block Island. For boaters, try Block’s North Rip or the reefs around Watch Hill or eastern Long Island Sound. Light-tackle spinning rods with lures like Deadly Dicks will work magic on “hardtails.” However, if the conditions permit, the fly rod and sparse silverside or sand eel patterns are just as effective, if not more so.