The midweek rough weather did little to halt the great fall run fishing we are seeing out front. Large bass and bluefish blitzes can be found throughout our range; while fishing for tautog and black sea bass remains at its peak.
Rhode Island Fishing Report
Captain Russ, of The Seven B’s in Narragansett, reports that tautog season is in full swing and his customers have been cashing in on some very good catches on all trips. Keepers in the 4-5 pound range haven’t been too hard to come by, after weeding through some shorts; while a few lucky anglers had fish pushing the 10-pound mark this week. There are still a good number of legal black sea bass in local waters that have been mixed in with the tautog, and most trips are now seeing a few nice cod as well. Tautog trips will continue to run from Wednesday thru Sunday from 6-4, and private charters for around 6 people are available on the Jeanie B.
The fall run is still ongoing according to the guys at The Saltwater Edge in Middletown. The large masses of peanut bunker that have been around Newport all season are yet to leave, and small bass and bluefish can be found harassing them. The fish are plentiful and widespread, making locating a blitz not very difficult. Aside from bass and blues, tautog fishing in the area is excellent. The Brenton Reef area has been a popular spot, but it is time to move off of the well-known areas that are being worked hard by the fleets, and start to focus on smaller cliffs and ledges. The good news is that just about every piece of hard bottom outside of the bay is holding some fish, so finding keepers has been pretty easy if you move around.
At Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle, tautog and black sea bass has been the flavor of the week for most local anglers coming through the shop. Shore and boat anglers have been finding limits of keeper tautog from Watch Hill to Newport, and all the rocky shoreline in between. As always, the more popular spots are fished out so you should look to move around quite a bit, or be willing to pick through large numbers of short fish. The striped bass bite has slowed down a bit, but the fall run is far from over. Water temperatures are still on the warm side and adult and juvenile bunker are still all over the place. The striped bass bite may not be as consistent as the past few weeks but anglers should keep after it as waves of migrating fish will be on the move through the area for a few more weeks. A few false albacore and bonito were landed from the South County beaches this week; which is also an indication that water temperatures remain optimal for most of our gamefish. The squid enthusiasts have been reporting a very nice push of squid in the lower bay, so look to stock the freezer now while they are still around.
Mike, at Watch Hill Outfitters in Westerly, reported another strong week of tautog fishing on the Watch Hill reefs, and throughout Fisher’s Island Sound. Multiple fish over the 10-pound mark were weighed in this week, so it would appear that there is no shortage of quality fish, just large numbers of smaller fish to weed through first. Black sea bass also remain quite prevalent in the area, but they are now on deeper pieces of structure, away from the tautog. Surfcasters are reporting very good numbers of school striped bass around the Watch Hill area, with the occasional 25-30 pound fish in the mix. There are still large schools of adult bunker around the beaches, and the area should continue to see a few more pushes of large bass before it’s all said and done.
Connecticut Fishing Report
Hillyers in Waterford reports that there is still a good deal of saltwater fishing options in the eastern sound. Fishing for black sea bass remains very good but most anglers are reporting having to go deep to find them. 90-150 feet seems to be the optimal range and the deep ends of Black Point and the Bloody Grounds remain very consistent producers. The tautog bite has been very strong, but most anglers are complaining of too many shorts and not enough keepers. This is generally the product of fishing more popular rockpiles, and anglers fishing off the beaten path are complaining far less. Niantic Bay is still holding plenty of school bass and bluefish, and good topwater action has been reported from the Millstone outflow.
Andrew, at Fishin Factory 3 in Middletown, reported that incredible bass blitzes around the mouth of the Connecticut River have been going on for a few weeks now, and Wednesday’s snotty weather didn’t negatively affect it too much. The vast majority of fish are schoolies, but if you can locate the pods of adult bunker there is a good shot you can find bass from 25-35 pounds on topwater plugs. Surfcasters are reporting strong number of school to small keeper bass around Napatree and in the breachways, and also a few decent fish around New London. The tautog bite has been very strong, but again look to get away from the crowds as the vast majority of fish have been shorts. Shore anglers are having some good success for tautog around Jordan Cove and at Harkness, and are actually reporting better keeper to short ratios than some of the boat anglers. There have been some false albacore hanging around the eastern sound, but it has been a crapshoot. Andrew suggests looking around the mouth of the Thames for your best shot at a late season hardtail.
Captain TJ, of Rock and Roll Charters in Clinton, reported that striped bass took a back seat to large gator bluefish once again this week. 10-15 pound bluefish have been all over the central and eastern sound feeding on a plethora of bait; which includes squid, silversides, peanuts and adult bunker. Fairly warm water temperatures should keep the bait around for a bit, so it’s a safe bet that the gators will be hanging around for a few more weeks as well. Bottom fishing has been excellent with scup and sea bass still in the mix. Tautog has been dominating the bottom fishing catch, and finding some keepers only requires weeding through a couple of shorts first.
Mike Roy of, Reel Cast Charters, had another excellent week of chartering around the Connecticut River. The river is loaded with schools of striped bass from the Essex area to outside of the mouth. Most of the bass have been of the schoolie variety, but there are certainly plenty of big fish in the mix as well. One of Mike’s clients saw this first hand late last week, as he was able to land a 50-pound cow on a topwater plug! Mike has also started to target tautog and reports good catches of keepers on most of the central sound rockpiles and ledges.
Best Bets For The Weekend
Wednesday’s weather was a preview of what’s in store as we get deeper into the fall season, but this weekend looks like a nice reprieve as calm weather is forecasted. We are in the peak of our fall tautog season and whitechin fanatics should take advantage of this weekend, as they are numbered. There should also be no shortage of topwater bass and bluefish to play with this weekend as well, as all indications are that we have not yet reached the end of our fall run.