Striper Fishing Hitting Spring Peak
It’s hard to believe that it’s mid-June already, but after hearing all the positive saltwater reports this week it must be true. Fishing for striped bass is very good right now across the board. With a new moon phase ushering in, expect some more large cows to be caught over the next week. Hordes of bluefish have made their way into the area as well, putting up hard fights and ruining tackle at the same time. Fluke are cooperating in Connecticut and Rhode Island waters with occasional doormats mixed in, although the ratio of keepers to shorts leaves room for improvement. Porgies are setting up on reefs in healthier numbers and another tasty fish, black sea bass, opens for business this Friday. With a beautiful weather forecast in store and great saltwater angling opportunities, spending time on the water this Father’s Day weekend would be a smart idea!
Rhode Island Fishing Report
Striped bass dropping out of Narragansett Bay into the Newport area dominated saltwater headlines this past week. Menhaden roaming the Bay is the main reason for the good action there. Boat anglers are not having much difficulty obtaining fresh bait for live-lining and chunking. Those methods are working for Captain Silvia of Can’t Imagine Sport Fishing Charters, who has been scoring a lot of bass in the 15- to 20-pound range from Conimicut Light to Newport. Chris at Saltwater Edge also spoke of the bunker bite in the Bay and good artificial lure action “out front” of Newport. During the day, there has been topwater action with bass up to 27 pounds eating pencil poppers, and after dark anglers are catching with Northbar bottle darters and bucktail jigs.
Stripers aren’t the only thing biting in the Narragansett Bay/Newport either. OTW contributor Dave Pickering reported a mass invasion of small bluefish that are dining on bay anchovies and sandeels. He’s been saving his soft-plastic baits, instead feeding the feisty blues 3/4-ounce bucktails that are holding up well. Captain Silvia also mentioned big schools of 4- to 8-pound bluefish in the Sakonnet River, with some over the 10-pound mark mixed in.
Stripers and blues are also spread along the South Shore. Ron at Breachway Bait and Tackle said this is the most bluefish he’s ever seen this early, which are hammering eels and soft-plastics intended for bass. Ron said your best shot at stripers is on the reefs in front of Green Hill, Charlestown Breachway, the Cottages, and Nebraska Shoals. Drifting live eels with an egg sinker is Ron’s go-to method at these spots. Mike at Watch Hill Outfitters believes many of the bass that were feeding heavily on squid on the local reefs have moved to cooler waters around Block Island. That being said, there are still plenty of fish to be had, including right under the lighthouse where shore anglers are hitting stripers up to 36-inches on swimmers and Storm shads.
In addition, the 9th annual spring Surf Fishing Club Challenge happened in Rhode Island waters this past weekend. Teams entered their three largest striped bass and three largest bluefish to determine the winner. Top honors went to Newport County Salt Water Fishing Club with a 118.5-pound total, Connecticut Surfcasters Association took second place and RISAA finished third. More importantly, over $2K in proceeds from the tournament will be donated to help fight Multiple Sclerosis.
Fluke catches continue to improve with plenty of quality fish amongst the shorts. Ron at Breachway Bait and Tackle said either side of the Charlestown Breachway in about 35-feet of water has been hot. The double bucktail rig is working best for him with a 2 or 3-ounce jig on bottom depending on the tide stage and a 3/8-ounce bucktail above it as a dropper, both tipped with a squid/spearing combo. Ron’s also using a “dead stick” next to him that is rigged with a Thom Cat Glow Baby in lime green.
Elisa of Snug Harbor Marina reminded me about this Saturday’s 7th annual Green Hill “Fluke ‘til ya Puke” tournament. You can register or learn more about it here: HYPERLINK “http://biggamefishingri.com/FlukeTillYaPuke.php”http://biggamefishingri.com/FlukeTillYaPuke.php. Roger from the Frances Fleet reports some very good fluking last weekend. Friday’s trip “hi hook” was Eugene Barry from Connecticut who had five keepers to 6-pounds, while Dan from New York had four keepers including the pool winning 8.6-pounder for bragging rights. Saturday’s run featured at least 20 fish over 4 pounds, with 3 of them weighing more than 9 pounds. High/low Spro bucktails have been the ticket. Black sea bass season opens on the 15th and Roger is optimistic for a good start, as Friday and Saturday’s fluke trips featured many catch and release sea bass to an estimated 5 pounds.
In freshwater, Dave at River and Riptide told me the Wood River is in great shape with trout loaded top to bottom. There is a cornucopia of insects that are bringing trout to the surface, including yellow sallies, light cahill spinners, mahogany dun spinners, and a few sporadic giant “hex” flies. The best time to see trout rising on top has been early evenings to past dark.
Block Island Fishing Report
Block Island waters are chockfull of bluefish, but there are also very nice bass to be had if you can get through the teeth. Chris at Block Island Fishworks said the blues are gorging on sandeels and aren’t hard to spot – just look for the birds. He’s been avoiding them by working the edges of the melee and getting down quick with Slug-Gos on heavier jig heads. One of Chris’ clients landed a 34-pound striper using this tactic on Wednesday morning near Block’s Southwest Corner. Other big bass have been falling to boaters in the area, including a 41-pounder by Peter Vican, a 42-pounder by Tim Hannah and a 44-pounder by one of Captain Bill Brown’s clients. He also noted that surf fishing around the Island is pretty solid with reports of bass up to 36-pounds tipping the scale lately, as well as smaller bass in the low 30-inch class eating sandeel flies along the western shoreline.
Connecticut Fishing Report
Striped bass fishing continues to impress throughout Long Island Sound. Perhaps the best catch this past week came from surfcaster Brian Sievel, who landed a 47-inch striper early Tuesday morning in the eastern Sound in low water on an eel. It weighed 40.15 pounds on an official scale nearly 6 hours after capture.
Cheyenne at The Fish Connection told me that the boat crowd continues to hammer away on bass and blues on the various reefs in the eastern Sound, including the Race, Sluiceway, Plum Gut, Bartlett, and Hatchett. Methods like three-waying bucktails or live eels, as well as diamond jigging or trolling wire, are all accounting for fish at these areas. Matt at Hillyers recommended starting to focus between sundown and sunup if you want to cut down on bluefish damage. If not, be prepared to deal with them, which can get old quick if you’re live-lining precious bait.
Cappy at Captain Morgan Bait and Tackle said the central Sound reefs like Southwest outer, Kimberly, Faulkner’s, the Beacon are all holding decent striped bass that can be caught the same ways as the eastern Sound reefs, three-waying eels and bucktails being probably the most effective. He also added that there are a lot more 4 to 6-pound bluefish around this week. But perhaps the biggest thing I took away from our conversation was that he’s receiving great reports of blue crab numbers, including some 8-inchers, so get those long-handled nets out.
Stripers and blues are still feasting on bunker in the western Sound. Otis from Rudy’s Tackle Barn said there are a lot of menhaden in the local harbors, so anglers are live-lining, chunking or trolling big bunker imitations to take advantage. He noted that customer Brad Cox is one of them, who caught a 42-pounder on Saturday while trolling a bunker spoon mid-Sound off the Greenwich area. Nick at Fisherman’s World told me that Ben Chen landed a 40-pound 14-ounce cow in 65-feet of water outside Green’s Ledge on a bunker chunk.
Fluking has had its moments in Connecticut waters lately, especially around Niantic Bay, Black Point or Millstone, but many fluke anglers are still shooting over to New York or Rhode Island waters for better results. Andrew at Fishin’ Factory III said that while it’s slowed down a bit, Isabella Beach behind Fisher’s Island remains one of the more consistent fluking spots for his customers. Customer Dave Russo just took over 1st place in their season-long fluke tourney with a 9.38-pounder from Isabella this week.
Cheyenne from The Fish Connection rattled off some productive ledges between the Thames River and Fisher’s Island to try for flat fish, including Sarah’s Ledge, Vixen’s Ledge and Seaflower Reef. One of his customers, George Bouley, weighed in an 11.5-pound fluke this past week. Matt at Hillyers said Niantic Bay has a lot of fluke, but usually you need to put a bunch of time in to come across a good window of catching. He shared that customer Andrew Parmelee hit a 9.3-pounder off Millstone in 40 feet of water and Steve Kram just got one behind Fisher’s at 9.5 pounds.
Porgies are setting up shop on local reefs and structure in better numbers now. Cheyenne at The Fish Connection reported that anglers under the Gold Star Bridge in the Thames River are plucking out 13- and 14-inch porgies on high/low rigs tipped with bits of sandworm, squid or clam. Andrew at Fishin’ Factory III has several customers coming in daily for sandworms and running over to Watch Hill to get their limit of porgies. Another tasty fish that you can try for this weekend is black sea bass, which opens Friday. The Sound doesn’t have an excellent sea bass fishery, but you can catch them behind Fisher’s Island or even better all around Block Island.
In freshwater, Pat at Candlewood Bait and Tackle said both largemouth and smallmouth bass are all now in post-spawn mode in Candlewood Lake. They are hitting top-water baits, like Zoom Flukes and spinnerbaits ripped over weed beds. For suspended trout, Pat suggested slow trolling or drifting live alewives at Candlewood or Squantz.
Best Bets for the Weekend
It looks like a gorgeous weekend on tap weather-wise. If you’re a dad and reading this, hopefully a light bulb just went off to spend a beautiful Father’s Day on the water with family. Striped bass fishing is hot right now and should be high on the priority list as the highly-touted June new moon approaching. If you can find fresh bunker in Narragansett Bay or western Long Island Sound, live-lining or chunking would be hard to beat! Another great option would be to three-way live eels over structure, or cast them along rocky coastlines after dark if you’re stuck on the shore like me.
For fluke anglers, try 30 to 40 feet of water along the South Shore this weekend or behind Fisher’s Island. The double Spro bucktail method tipped with spearing/squid has been working well! Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!