Rhode Island Fishing Report
The Frances Fleet in Point Judith continues to offer customers fall tautog trips as well as trips targeting cod and black sea bass. They had a few excellent trips this week, including one trip with 23 anglers, which resulted in plenty of keepers hitting the deck. High hooks had close to double-digits of keepers landed themselves! They lost a couple days mid-week to weather, but the forecast looks pretty solid through the weekend. There are still a few nice cod and plenty of keeper sea bass showing up to help round out the catch, and the cod/sea bass boat has also seen great fishing, whenever it has sailed, as the dogfish seemed to have thinned out. Cod fish to just shy of 20 pounds and sea bass to 5 pounds were showing up with regularity. They’ll be sailing all weekend for tog at 6 AM on the Gail Frances. Their full schedule can be viewed on their website where you can also make reservations for upcoming trips.
Dave at Ocean State Tackle in Providence told me that the main interest for anglers across Rhode Island continues to be hunting for big tautog. The lower bay and just out front have been hotspots, but the fishing has been good across a range of depths and on just about all the rockpiles across the state. Per usual, after a few weeks into the season, finding smaller pieces of structure that aren’t as heavily fished is a good strategy. Anglers are still reporting big sea bass and scup in the mix as well, so coolers have been easy to fill. The striped bass fishing has remained strong and actually took a turn for the better this week. Excellent topwater action has been reported around Narragansett the last few days, and there are still some bigger fish taking big offerings in the Providence and Seekonk Rivers. For the fall squid enthusiasts, reports continued to be solid this week, and we should have another week or two before they’re out of here for the season. Freshwater anglers are reporting excellent trout fishing, as the RIDEM has continued with their fall stocking program. Silver Spring in North Kingston and Olney Pond at Lincoln Woods have been hotspots, but a number of other trout ponds are fishing well, too. Dave is now back to work a few hours a day, and the shop is open seven mornings a week. Check his Facebook page for schedule updates.
Ralph Craft at Crafty One Customs said that customers are seeing some of the best fishing of the year, in and around the Bay. Fishing for striped bass remains very good, with some large fish still up in the bay, along with all the blitzing school-class fish you could want. Tautog fishing is red hot right now with most boats limiting out in a few hours and there are still black sea bass and some scup mixed in. The fall squid bite is really starting heat up at night in the usual locations. There have even been reports of bluefin tuna still being caught out around Block Island. It seems that the recent warm temperatures have not only extended the fall-run, but have also kept it similar to late-summer in some respects.
Captain Rob at Newport Sportfishing Charters had another solid week of tautog fishing. The fish have been chewing across a number of depths, with the bigger girls still holding a bit deeper. Per usual this time of year, the fishing pressure is still relatively high, so look to get off the beaten path and find some untapped structure for your best chance at some big whitechins. The above-average temperatures have kept the shallow jig bite going strong longer than usual, and Rob has noted some excellent results on the Asylum jig in yellow. Rule of thumb with these jigs is use the lightest you can get away with!
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Captain Connor at Tall Tailz Charters provided the following report after a strong week of tautog fishing: “Fishing this week has remained top-notch! Temperatures are finally starting to drop closer to their typical November range, albeit very slowly, and the tog are really chewing. This is the magic part of the season where you can have great days in depths from 30 to 100 feet of water, which provides a nearly endless amount of good structure to fish in the area. We’ve continued to get most of our quality fish on the jig, with the Tall Tailz white legger and yellow belly being the most productive jig colors. Each trip we’ve been getting easy limits with some nice donkeys in the mix. I’ve been using an even mix of both green crabs and white leggers. Building the bite appropriately has been paying off well for us. It’s only going to get better as the temps continue to drop!”
Breachway Bait and Tackle in Charlestown has received great reports for tautog, with most of their customers limiting out in a matter of a few hours. The fish are still relatively shallow with good action reported in 35- to 50-foot depth range. Mixed in with the tautog are plenty of short and keeper black sea bass, along with some scup. There have also been a few cod around on any given day. Reports of striped bass have been mixed along the beaches but the breachways and salt ponds still seem to be producing well. There is still a good amount of bait moving along the beaches and back in the ponds. Schools of bonito continue to pop up along the beaches and there have been reports of mackerel out around Block Island.
Jay at Pamela May Charters reports that the tautog bite is still in full swing. They had another solid weekend, despite some wind. Fish are available in a range of depths, with the sweet spot moving a bit deeper to the 25- to 40-foot range. The fish are still all over the place though, so you can still find them on the lesser-fished pieces of structure, and/or in spots shielded from the wind. The lesser fished humps are still the best place to find some bigger fish, as well as the bonus keeper sea bass. Striped bass activity has been solid, with good numbers of fish of different size classes dumping out of the bays and estuaries. If you can intercept them as they drop out, the fishing should be good as they get set for their big migration. Bonito made another appearance this week as well, so make sure you have all your light-tackle gear at the ready. Jay still has some openings for tautog charters over the next few weeks, so give him a shout before it’s too late!
Rhode Island Fishing Forecast
After another week of warm temperatures that felt like September, the fishing is slowly starting to trend more towards November patterns. Tautog fishing remains red hot, with easy keepers for many anglers, and plenty in the 5- to 12-pound range. The Rhode Island shoreline is certainly not devoid of hard structure, and right now you can find quality tautog anywhere from 15 to 100 feet of water. This not only allows you to avoid crowds and work different depths, it also provides a number of options on days that the weather doesn’t cooperate and your range is limited. You’re likely to find plenty of big sea bass in the mix still, along with a few nice cod for anglers fishing deeper water.
Striped bass fishing accelerated a bit this week. It seems that a number of smaller bass are dropping out of the bays/estuaries and blitzing on small bait as they hit the shoreline. There are still some larger bass in the Upper Bay and the adjacent rivers, and their activity levels have picked up this week. Bonito are still popping up this week and fall squid enthusiasts also reported steady action.
Another staple of October fishing is fall trout fishing; the DEM has continued their fall stocking program this week, and reports have been good from a number of bodies of water.