Summer is in full swing and so is the summer fishing in our local waters. While the long dog days may slow down the bite a bit, they certainly don’t shut it down as anglers are still scoring great catches across the CT and RI coasts.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

The story is more of the same out on Block Island. Sol at Twin Maples reported that there are still plenty of quality bass around the island providing both boat and shore-bound fisherman with great action over the last few days. Stripers can be found in most of their usual hotspots around the island but Sol noted that anglers’ drifting eels near the inner can at Black Rock have had the most success. Surf fishermen continue to find keeper-sized bass on the island’s west side near Charleston Beach. Slug-gos, similar soft plastics and needlefish plugs have been the artificial offerings of choice as those bass are feasting on sand eels. Fluke and black sea bass fisherman continue to hammer both species on the island’s west side, although more shorts than keepers appears to be the trend. Some larger fluke were taken on the island’s northeast side in deeper water this past week, so getting away from the crowds may provide you with a better shot at a doormat. Snapper bluefish have invaded New Harbor and are providing anglers of all ages with a fun angling opportunity during the dog days.

At the Saltwater Edge in Middletown, Scott told me that not much has changed since I spoke with him last week except that the bluefish have made their way to local waters in full force. These toothy critters range in size from tiny snappers to tackle busting gator blues and can be found nearly anywhere that some bait is present. Narragansett bay still has a supply of both juvenile and adult bunker and around these schools is where the largest concentration of bluefish can be found. Customers reported that stripers remained plentiful in the area, bass can be found tailing the bunker schools and are also heavy on the local reefs. Nighttime is the right time if your looking to score more bass than blues. The offshore bite remains hot by the canyons and off of Block Island. In nearly all the reports Scott has heard offshore anglers have been able to mark large tuna with most of them being able to hook up and land a few. Scott reported that most of the fluke reports from this past week have been positive, with most angler’s venturing out to Block Island for the best action. Blackfish season opens today in Rhode Island waters and while not too many people target this tasty species in the summer months, the ones that do usually have good success fishing shallow rock piles in 8-12 feet of water.

Steve McKenna at Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle in North Kingstown, was happy to report that things have really started to heat up locally over the past week. Steve has made multiple nighttime surf trips this week and was able to score a half dozen or so quality bass each night. Steve experienced the most success throwing artificial plugs in the Jamestown area while his customers fishing the Charlestown and Westerly beaches have reported similar catches the past few nights. Silversides and sand eels are especially prevalent along the R.I. coast so small plugs and flies that “match the hatch” have been the ticket for the surf crowd. For the boat guys Steve mentioned that a customer went out Wednesday morning with a load of fresh bunker and had non-stop action of bass to 30 lbs, drifting the reefs along the Watch Hill area. Steve reported that the local fluke fishing has finally started to slow with many of the fish that have been caught being sub-legal. Steve was happy to note that the scup fishing has really taken off with keepers up to and surpassing the 15 inch mark being commonplace.

Connecticut Fishing Report

At Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle in Waterford, Matt was happy to reiterate that he believes this fluke season to be the best one in the past five years. Over the past few seasons many of Matt’s customers had a very hard time finding keeper fish. Many of these customer’s couldn’t justify the time and money they were spending without taking anything home for the table, leading to a real drop in fishing effort. While short fluke are still very common, Matt reported that most anglers were able to manage a limit of keepers this past week. Keeper fluke have been found in the local deeper waters off of Black Point, the south side of Fisher’s Island and along the Rhode Island beaches. A large concentration of bluefish have moved into eastern Long Island Sound and can be found on nearly all the local reefs and rips. Anglers targeting stripers have had continued success drifting eels and bucktails after dark at Bartlett’s Reef, Plum Gut and at The Race. While some anglers have found success with linesiders during the daytime hours, most report that it is getting tough to get their offerings down through the bluefish. Snapper bluefish have finally found their way into the Niantic River. Snappers, along with an abundance of blue crabs, have provided river anglers with quality angling opportunities that should last well into the fall.

The crew of the Mijoy of Waterford was happy to report that while the weather was cooler, the fishing was hot. Especially on Sunday with both trips finding plenty of blues and some nice stripers mixed in. Sunday afternoon was particularly exciting with keeper-sized fluke and seabass hitting along with the blues.

Q at River’s End in Old Saybrook reported that the striper fishing has picked back up on the local reefs after a few slower days toward the end of last week. While no reports of true “cow” bass have come in many anglers have reported having trips of a dozen or so fish with many in the 20-30 pound class. Those anglers who got an early start and loaded up on live bunker had the most success, drifting those bunker on Long Sand Shoal, Bartlett’s Reef and out by Plum Island. Q reported that the scup fishing has not been stellar but it continues to improve everyday, and noted that the number of “trophy” scup seems to be on the rise. If a goal of yours is to land a 15+ inch scup that goal seems easily obtainable this season. Blue crabbing also continues to be excellent in the river with the number of keepers starting to far exceed the number of shorts.

Out west at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk, Rich also noted an above average number of large scup that have taken up residence around Goose Island. Multiple scup from 2.5-3 pounds were weighed in at the shop this week and many anglers are starting to ditch their fluke rigs in favor of scup rigs. The bass bite in the western sound has been inconsistent mainly due to the inconsistency of the bunker schools. Anglers that have been lucky enough to locate fresh bunker have scored good catches of bass in the 30 pound class. Snapper bluefish have moved into the Norwalk River and many anglers have turned their attention to them. Some large bass and bluefish have also turned their attention to these snappers as multiple anglers reported good catches of keeper bass and large bluefish on livelined snappers in the river. Blue crabs have also found their way to the western sound with steady catches being reported from the area’s tidal waters all week. If you’re looking for a change from the saltwater game, Rich reported an excellent topwater bite of largemouth bass in all the area’s small lakes and ponds. This light tackle or fly rod action is a great way to kill some time on the hot summer evenings, just be sure to pack plenty of bug spray.

Best Bets for the Weekend

While the “summer doldrums” have started to set in this certainly doesn’t bring the local fishing to a halt. Take advantage of the calm, warm nights for your best chance at playing with some stripers this weekend. While the groundfish game has slowed a bit be sure to not overlook blackfish. The summer season will be open in both CT and RI this weekend and there will be plenty of these tasty critters cruising the shallow rock piles and mussel beds in search of an easy meal. For a great local seafood feast consider blackfishing the morning hours then taking advantage of the abundance of blue crabs before you head home for the day.