Rhode Island Fishing Report | September 18, 2014

Albie fever has struck the northeast! Widespread reports of excellent catches has got just about every New England saltwater angler running around feverishly in search of these speedsters. A great abundance of small bait and a promising weekend forecast should equate to another great weekend of false albacore and bonito fishing in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

The talk at most Rhode Island tackle shops was of the false albacore explosion across the entire state in the past week. The guys at The Saltwater Edge in Newport told me that it was easily the best albie run in recent memory, and albies have been eager to eat around the Newport area where both shore and boat anglers are cashing in. Striped bass fishing remains slow in the area and with no reported sightings of mullet yet the fall run for bass may still be a few weeks out. Offshore, a strong yellowfin tuna bite at The Canyons has remained consistent, and decent numbers of school bluefin tuna have made their way to the Mudhole.

Albies and bonito are all the rage for customers of Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle in North Kingstown, but a few promising striped bass reports have kept local surfcasters busy after dark. Steve Mckenna put a few nights in on the rocks in Narragansett this week and reported that for the first time in months he had some consistent bass over 20 pounds. Hopefully a strong fall can make up for the lackluster summer season. The Rhode Island rockpiles remain littered with scup and black sea bass and fishing for both species showed no signs of slowing this week. Tautog season is now picking up steam across Rhode Island, and the shop weighed in 2 fish over 7 pounds this week. Shallow rockpiles are holding short fish and some small keepers, with the majority of the larger fish holding in 30-50 feet of water.

Greg, at The Tackle Box in Warwick, has seen an upswing in the numbers of striped bass being caught in the upper bay, and believes the large schools of peanut bunker are drawing more and more bass to the area. Bass aren’t all that the peanuts have been attracting as gator bluefish have taken over the area, and can often be found crushing bait on the surface. Fluke fishing has pretty much slowed to a halt in Rhode Island but Greg did hear a few good reports of doormats being taken at Pruden’s Patience, and also around Block Island. Scup are still thick in the bay and anglers fishing around 30 feet of water have had some bonus keeper tautog this week as well.

The Westerly and Charlestown area may have saw the strongest numbers of false albacore this week, according to Breachway Bait and Tackle in Charlestown. The funny fish have been showing up thick from Fisher’s Island down to the Charlestown beaches. Boat anglers have been hooking up throughout this stretch and shore anglers have been scoring some fish at Watch Hill and from the breachways. Scup and black sea bass remain easy to find around the Watch Hill reefs, while fluke have moved out locally but can still be found south of Fisher’s and Block.

Best Bets for the Weekend

Many northeast anglers wait all season for this short window of opportunity to go out and find some false albacore, and with one of the strongest seasons in recent memory upon us, they should be your number 1 target this weekend. Consider bringing some sea bass or scup jigs, as you could load up the cooler with these tasty fish while you wait for the next pod of albies to show.