Rhode Island Fishing Report - May 21, 2015

Big fluke and striped bass have just started to grace us with their presence, with reports of both species increasing both in size and regularity each day.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

Captain Frank, of The Frances Fleet in Narragansett was happy to report that fluke fishing  improved immensely over the weekend. Last Friday, Captain Rich was able to locate plenty of fish for his customers in local waters. Chris Mace boated the biggest fish of the day with a beautiful 9-pound fish that bit a bucktail. Along with that beauty, many anglers aboard the boat were able to go home with 4 to 5 keepers apiece. The action remained just as good on Saturday when Mr. Lee topped Friday’s fish with a 10-pound doormat. A few other fish in the 8- to 9-pound range rounded out the days’ great catches. Keeper flatfish were coming on both bait and jigs, but jigs seemed to trick most of the larger fish over the weekend. With the upswing in fluke action the fleet will now be sailing daily. Squid fishing hasn’t been exceptional but was steady with hi-hook taking about 50 squid on each trip. Squid trips are still sailing Wednesdays thru Saturdays at 7 PM by reservation.

At The Saltwater Edge in Middletown, reports from local anglers are that fluke fishing has been improving in local waters each day, but the safest bet remains to run out to Block Island if the weather permits. Striped bass fishing around Newport was helped by the warm weather last week, and anglers are reporting some fish up to around 40-inches on the local reefs. Light-tackle plugging for striped bass has been good if you could find the shallow water bait schools, while trolling swimming plugs along the reefs has also been fooling some good bass. Tautog fishing has been slow most of the spring, but reports are finally picking up in the bay and off of Green Hill.

Howard, at Galilee Bait and Tackle in Narragansett, reported that just about everything improved with the warmer weather late last week. More and more fluke are showing up locally each day, while the waters around Block Island are continuing to produce steady limits. Striped bass has picked up for both shore and boat anglers, with local surfcasters reporting decent fish after dark, including rumors of some fish pushing 40-pounds. Boat anglers have reported some good catches of blitzing striped bass around the bunker schools, which are now all over the area. The salt ponds continue to provide good light-tackle bass action, as they are now seeing decent numbers of squid and steady worm hatches.

At Breachway Bait and Tackle in Charlestown, local anglers continue to hit the salt ponds hard for striped bass, and more reports of keepers are trickling in each day. Worms and squid are the bait of choice for most of the school-sized bass in the ponds, but there is some bunker in the area, which is likely the target of the larger keepers. The south county beaches also have plenty of schoolies running them, and are being caught in good numbers when the winds lay down. Some of the deeper south county beaches are starting to see their first keeper fluke of the season, and with reports improving from Fisher’s, more fish are likely right around the corner.

Connecticut Fishing Report

Andrew, at Fishin Factory 3 in Middletown, saw the Connecticut River striped bass bite recede a bit in the northern stretches, and pick up greatly on the flats around the mouth. There are tons of bunker in the mouth of the river and some larger bass have been pushing them around a bit after dark. The greater concentrations of bass are on the warmer, shallow flats and are hitting 9-inch sluggos and topwater spooks with consistency. The fish are a mixed bag of sizes but upping your offering will weed out some smaller fish, and might get you some keepers over 35-inches. While the upper stretch of the river has cooled off, there are still plenty of fish up there and Andrew believes the Tuesday rain may help out that bite. Fluke reports started off slow in local water, but Andrew also expects that to change very soon, as reports from Fishers are starting to get promising.

James, at Rivers End in Old Saybrook, that the bass bite is in full swing in the mouth of the river. There are now a good number of keepers in the 10-15 pound class that are eager to hit weightless sluggos. Dawn and dusk bites have been best, and also give you a decent opportunity to score some fish on topwater plugs. Most anglers are reporting little action on the local reefs, but a few sharpies have scored some larger fish this week, and it is poised to blow open soon. Good reports of weakfish have started to come in from the western and central sound, with the West Haven sandbar producing well for shore anglers.

Captain TJ, of Rock and Roll Charters, kicked off his charter season this week and had little to nothing to report from the local reefs. TJ believes that we are just a few degrees off, and with good fishing across the pond in New York; we should see plenty of bass in local waters very soon. In the meantime, the mouth of the Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers are holding good numbers of bass, and are keeping his customers busy in the interim.

Ian, at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk, reported that early fluke reports have been promising from the deeper water in the western sound. A few local charters have reported limits of flatfish, with seemingly better results each day. The striped bass bite is also still solid out west, but is spreading out by the day. There are still plenty of fish in the Housatonic, but they are no longer concentrated. The northern herring runs have had a decent bite at dawn and dusk, while the mouth of the river and the adjacent beaches are seeing some concentrations of fish after dark. Smaller striped bass are starting to show up around the Norwalk Islands, and are taking small soft plastics and swimming plugs. In the Saugatuck Reservoir, the trout and walleye bite has seemed to cool off a bit, but the smallmouth bite is still reported to be very good.

Best bets for the weekend

The early bird tends to get the worm in early summer fishing across southern New England. More and more fluke are showing up across Rhode Island and Connecticut each day, and if you can be one of the first to hit them when they settle in to a local spot, you will likely have some of the best fishing of the season. The same can be said for striped bass fishing, as some of the early arrivals to the reefs are very large and very hungry. We are very close to this point for both species, and this weekend should be well spent targeting both.