Rhode Island Fishing Report
The Frances Fleet out of Point Judith saw much better fishing on recent squid trips, with the high hooks leaving with a bucket or more of squid and everyone going home with more than enough for a couple of meals. They’ll be looking to run squid trips as often as possible over the next week or two while the fishing is good, so make your reservation soon and get in on the fun — this bite sometimes doesn’t last long. Fishing is getting better by the day on their fluke and sea bass trips, with more consistent action and more keepers coming over the rails. The bite isn’t red hot yet, but plenty of fish are being caught and things will continue to improve from here. They are also starting to add half-day trips to the schedule, beginning with weekends for now, with weekday availability expanding soon.
Dave, at Ocean State Tackle in Providence, reports that the striped bass fishing continues to be excellent throughout the bay. The Upper Bay is still producing big fish, many of which are keyed in on herring and pogies. The Mid Bay area is seeing a steady pick of bass on topwaters, jigs, and flutter spoons. The lower Providence River has also been a striped bass hot spot on a variety of offerings. There have also been recent worm hatches and grass shrimp hatches, which can make the fish finicky, but they’ll generally respond to bait — and both hatches can provide a great opportunity for fly fishermen. Bottom fishermen are reporting steady tautog action, along with better scup fishing around the southeast beaches and in the Tiverton Basin. Squid anglers continue to fill their buckets, with a steady pick around Newport and Tiverton. Freshwater anglers are still finding strong trout action on mealworms, PowerBait, and nightcrawlers, while the largemouth are eating medium shiners and Yamamoto worms. Ocean State Tackle will be open all weekend from 4:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
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Captain Rob Taylor at Newport Sportfishing Charters told me that the bass bite has continued to be lights out over the past week. There’s no shortage of bait in the area, but over the past few days Rob has keyed in on the big bass that are chasing herring. He also mentioned that a mass of very large bluefish has entered the area over the past couple of days — hopefully that resurgence continues. Squid fishing has been as steady as ever, while bottom fishing for tautog is consistent enough to make it worth a trip before the spring season ends. Rob also made his first few fluke trips of the year locally, and while it’s not lights out, he said there has been a good uptick of action in the bay.
Captain Connor MacLeod at Tall Tailz Charters provided the following report for the week: “The bass bite this week has been crazy good! The fish have taken over the southern ledges and reefs. We couldn’t find a method that didn’t produce well — topwater, glide baits, soft plastics, live bait, and jigs all worked great. The trick to getting consistent action was using smaller 1- to 2-ounce jigs with a smaller bait profile, since the fish are primarily on sand eels and silversides. When the bass pushed bait to the surface, glide baits and topwater plugs were killer. We had every size class of fish from schoolies to 30- to 40-pound class fish, with the average in the low-to-mid 20s. With the action-packed bass bite we haven’t ventured off to other species, but even as bycatch we’re seeing hammer black sea bass and a good number of blues mixed in. The guys who have been going for flatfish have been producing. Fishing around the moons in May and June continues to be legendary every year. More awesomeness to come!”
Jay, at Pamela May Charters, told me they had another great week of fishing, including a solid holiday weekend despite some less-than-ideal conditions at times. Stripers are still in the upper pond feeding on hatches of various varieties. They’ve also shown up in full force out front, with schoolie to slot-class bass and bluefish hitting topwater offerings and soft plastics. They haven’t made their way up to the bay yet, but word is that it’s still producing larger bass and bluefish — and there should be a push of weakfish coming that way soon. Squid fishing was excellent before the weekend storm; Jay found smaller squid in deeper water and larger tubes in the shallows, with plenty to fill the bucket for calamari and bait. Tautog fishing has been on the slow side, with many shorts and some large females that they’ve been releasing. Jay will be starting to focus his bottom fishing toward fluke, especially with the end of the tautog season right around the corner.
Eric, at The Saltwater Edge in Middletown, told me that fishing in Rhode Island is pretty great right now. They’ve been hearing about personal-best fish being caught by customers just about every week, from both boat and shore. The arrival of bluefish has been a great addition to a very fun spring, especially for fly rod anglers. You can continue to look for fish in the bays and harbors, but don’t be afraid to look out front — more fish seem to have filtered in there over the weekend. The name of the game for most customers seems to be big baits: flutter spoons, glide baits, topwaters, and large soft plastics. Some favorites around the shop right now are the Chop Block, Tsunami flutter spoons, Yo-Zuri Mag Pencil, and Big Water Baits Bag Man. That said, some smaller bait reportedly showed up out front over the weekend, so be prepared to downsize if needed. The tautog bite picked up this past week with some warmer water; it hasn’t been an easy spring for them, but if you get out there before the season closes in RI you should have better luck than earlier this spring.
Dustin Stevens at Rhode Island Kayak Fishing Adventures reports that the striped bass fishing has been relatively consistent over the last week, despite some up-and-down weather. Quality bassing, even in less-than-ideal conditions, is a strong sign for the season ahead! Dustin has been seeing mainly low- to mid-30-inch class bass, but there have been some much larger fish in the mix this week. He caught a few less bluefish this week, but they’re still in the mix and seem to be moving around quite a bit. The tautog fishing is a bit tougher than in years past this spring, but there have been some better fish caught this week. With warm weather and improving conditions, the last few days of the spring tog season should continue to see improvement. Dustin hasn’t gone out for black sea bass or fluke yet, but a few credible sources have reported much better local results over the last few days. With the last week being pretty solid across the board for multiple species, Dustin is optimistic for an excellent June. Reach out as soon as possible to book your kayak fishing trip!
Rhode Island Fishing Forecast
After a cold and wet weekend, some early summer weather is back across the Northeast, and it’s starting to feel like summer fishing is upon us. Striped bass continue to be prevalent throughout Rhode Island, with some much bigger bass entering the bay on the tails of pogies and herring — with herring being the choice for some of the larger fish this week. Good numbers and some larger fish have also shown up around the mouth of the bay and along the beaches. Those fish seem to be feeding on smaller silversides and sand eels, so you may have to downsize your offerings in those areas. A continued influx of big bluefish also seems to be a growing trend this week. The blues are moving around quite a bit, but they’re often being caught in the mix alongside big stripers and can occasionally be found blitzing on the surface in big schools.
Squid reports improved once again and are quite consistent, and they seem to have attracted some quality fluke — which should pick up the bottom fishing slack nicely. Fluke, along with black sea bass and scup, are starting to show up in better numbers in the lower bay and out front. Block Island area fluke reports have also started to improve, with the head boats, charters, and personal rec. vessels all mentioning some better fish out that way, albeit with a rather inconsistent bite from day to day. The tautog season wraps up this weekend, so if you’re looking to stay closer to home, it may be worth targeting them one last time before the season closes. Freshwater anglers are reporting quality largemouth catches post-spawn, and the trout fishing remains strong.