Rhode Island Fishing Forecast | October 9, 2014

With temperatures dropping and winds increasing it feels like fall fishing is upon us. The tautog bite should be continue to be good in Rhode Island. Weather forecasts don’t look too bad, and this weekend will be a great one to target these tasty hard-fighters. Be sure to have some light spinning gear and some anchovy imitators handy, as false albacore could pop up where and when you least expect it.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

A week of brutal winds and rough seas kept fishing efforts low this week, but anglers that braved the conditions are continuing to find plenty of false albacore and bonito around Newport and Jamestown. According to The Saltwater Edge in Middletown, inshore albie blitzes remain plentiful and you don’t have to travel very far to find them. Scup and black sea bass catches remain very good on the nearshore rockpiles, but many anglers have focused their attention on tautog and very good catches have been reported from shallower water this week.

Howard, at Galilee Bait and Tackle in Narragansett, saw many boats stay in port this week due to the conditions, but shore anglers fishing the west wall continued to have good catches of false albacore and bonito. Striped bass and bluefishing from the local beaches has also continued to improve, in terms of numbers and quality. Large schools of small blitzing fish have been tight to the beaches at daybreak, while some larger striped bass up to 35 pounds have fallen to surfcasters throwing live eels after dark. Scup and black sea bass reports were very good for anglers who did make it out this week, and tautog fishing has caught fire for both shore and boat anglers.

At Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle in North Kingstown, shore anglers fared better than boat anglers in most cases this week. False albacore continue to show up in good numbers across the Westerly and Charlestown beaches, as well as in front of the breachways. These fish don’t seem to be quite as shy this week and for the most part, have been hitting tins with consistency. Small soft plastics and flies also continue to produce very well if you can use a casting egg or something similar to get your offering out to them. Along with false albacore, school striped bass and bluefish of all sizes are biting along the South County beaches, and some bigger bass are being taken in the breachways after dark. Scup, black sea bass and tautog are all biting well, and shorebound anglers have had success for all species in the breachways and along the cliffs of Narragansett.

Best Bets for the Weekend

An excellent false albacore season continues across much of the northeast, meanwhile fall run striped bass and bluefish are plentiful from the Rhode Island shoreline and the tautog fishing continues to improve.