No Fluke

Moment of truth for striped bass

Capt. Dave Monti
Posted 10/24/14

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) regulates striped bass on a regional basis for Rhode Island and other coastal states. Striped bass regulations are on the agenda at their 73rd …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in
No Fluke

Moment of truth for striped bass

Posted

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) regulates striped bass on a regional basis for Rhode Island and other coastal states. Striped bass regulations are on the agenda at their 73rd Annual Meeting taking place October 27-30th, 2014 in Mystic, CT.  The annual meeting agenda along with materials can be obtained at www.asmfc.org/home/2014-Annual-Meeting; click on the relevant Board/Committee name for meeting materials.

Last week, in a meeting advisory to members, Steve Medeiros, president of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA), said, "During the annual meeting the Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board will meet Wednesday, October 29, 10:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and take up Addendum IV to Amendment 6 of the Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan.  The public has weighed in, and now the board must take some action. RISAA has supported a reduction to ONE FISH per day with a minimum size of 30 inches."

Anglers are urged to attend the meeting in person.  However, meeting proceedings will be broadcast daily via webinar beginning at 8 a.m. on October 27, continuing daily until the conclusion of the meeting (expected to be 4:15 p.m.) on October 30.  The webinar will allow registrants to listen to deliberations, view presentations and motions,  however, no comments or questions will be accepted via the webinar.  Register for the webinar at www3.gotomeeting.com/register/256839182.

DEM stocks trout in ponds and rivers

The Department of Environmental Management's Division of Fish and Wildlife has stocked over 4,000 brook, brown, and rainbow trout in selected locations in the state last week.  Due to elevated water temperatures and low water conditions, fall trout stocking was delayed until water conditions improved.

DEM Fish & Wildlife staff finished stocking the hatchery-raised trout last week. The following areas were stocked: Meadowbrook Pond in Richmond; Carbuncle Pond in Coventry; Olney Pond in Lincoln; Barber Pond in South Kingstown; Silver Spring Pond in North Kingstown; Round Top Ponds in Burrillville; Upper and Lower Melville Ponds in Middletown; and the Wood River from Rt. 165 to Barberville.

A 2014 fishing license is required for anglers 15 years of age and older wishing to catch fish. A Trout Conservation Stamp is also required of anyone wishing to keep or possess a trout or to fish in a catch-and-release or 'fly-fishing only' area. Anglers may purchase their fishing license online clicking on "Hunting, Fishing, Boating Licenses" on the left side of the DEM website homepage at www.dem.ri.gov.

Tautog bite getting stronger

The tautog bite is on.  Good sized fish mixed in with undersized fish are being caught in shallow water.   As of last week, not many anglers have been able to hook up with tautog in deep water.  This starts to happen this time of year when the water cools.

Tautog (or blackfish) is a great eating fish with a white dense meat.  Their bulldog like fight (similar to grouper) is very exciting and much like a tug of war between you and the tautog.  Once a tautog is hooked it will try to bulldog its way back down into rock or structure.  So when the fish bites, it becomes the angler's job not to let it bury itself in the structure.

Last week I fished the General Rock, North Kingstown area which yielded three keeper fish over sixteen inches with the largest tautog being 23 inches and just over eight pounds.  Three fish was the tautog limit last week, however, as of October 18 (and through December 15) the limit jumped to six fish/person/day with a ten fish per boat maximum (does not apply to charter boats). These fish were in shallow water 12 to 15 feet and it took two and a half hours to catch them along with about a dozen shorter undersized fish.

My favorite tautog rig is homemade. I use one tautog hook connected to a swivel with a two or three ounce egg sinker on top sliding on a small three to five inch piece of monofilament line with red beads on both sides of the sinker.  Another swivel above connects the monofilament and the braid line (30 lbs.) coming from the rod/reel. Since I have started using this rig,  bottom tie-ups have been cut in half. Braid line does not stretch, so this is my preference, whereas monofilament line may stretch allowing the tautog to reach structure.

Recreational Saltwater Fishing Summit final report now available

NOAA Fisheries announced the completion of the final report from the 2014 National Recreational Saltwater Fishing Summit.  A copy of the report can be found at www.nmfs.noaa.gov.

NOAA Fisheries and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission co-hosted the Summit, which was held April 1-2, 2014 in Alexandria, Virginia. The Summit brought together NOAA leadership with more than 100 leaders from the recreational community and other partners and stakeholders to reflect on past progress, identify current challenges, and discuss solutions. The report will inform NOAA thinking about future decisions and actions.

"Bottom fishing" and "Good old days" at RISAA seminarBottom fishing table fair and how fishing has changed will be covered at the Monday, October 27, 7:00 p.m. RISAA seminar at the West Valley Inn, West Warwick.  Al Conti, owner of Sung Harbor Marina, Capt. Ed Kearney, long time RISAA board member and Ron Raso, who has been fishing for over 65 years, talk about how fishing has changed over the years.  The second topic "The great taste of bottom fish" will be presented by Lary Norin, last year's RISAA angler of the year.  Lary loves to catch and eat fish and is good a both tasks as he is a graduate of Johnson & Wales University culinary arts program.  Everyone is welcome, non-members requested to make a $10 donation to the RISAA Scholarship Fund, RISAA members attend free.  

Where's the bite

Striped bass fishing has been fair.  Fly fisherman Ed Lombado said, "We fished the Narrow River last week at night and the river was very generous, we took a great number of stripers all in the 3 to 4 lb. class. All these bass where fresh fish, very bright and many had sea lice attached to them, a good sign for bass on the move fish. We did in fact get some hickory shad but the stripers outnumbered them 9 to 1 on this night. Pink colored flies worked the best for both bass and shad. Yellow flies worked very well also." Capt. Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown, said Monday, "With twelve foot seas I doubt many boats are fishing Block Island, however, the striped bass and bluefish bite from shore and jetties has been good even in rough seas anglers have been landing fish. We weighed in a couple of 40" fish this weekend." October has been slow for striped bass. "Usually at this time of year we are weighing in striped bass.  We haven't weighed in a fish in a while." said Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait. "A lot of hickory shad have been in Pawtuxet Cove and anglers have been snagging them and catching school bass." said Greg Burning of The Tackle Box, Warwick.

Squid bite is on.  Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait said, "We have sold a number of squid rigs.  Anglers are catching squid in Jamestown as well as Goat Island, Newport."

Cod fishing continues to improve. Roger Simpson of the Frances Fleet said, "The catching of fish in general on the cod trips was about as good as it gets! …generally small market fish with a few into the mid teens on Friday's run but otherwise pool fish were generally in the 8 to 10 lb range. For those that are wondering we have generally been doing better around the Island for just about everything including cod as opposed to Coxes Ledge where the big fish run we have been accustomed to this time of year for years just does not seem to be materializing for whatever reason."

Black sea bass and scup fishing have been good.  Federal waters are now open to black sea bass fishing once again.  Roger Simpson said, "We are excited to again keep the big sea bass to six pounds.. we have been throwing back in staggering numbers for a month now."  Scup fishing in the Bay continues, however, Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait said, "Anglers are not catching the large scup they were landing in the summer,  however, they are catching keepers with a lot of shorts mixed in."  Legal size for scup is 10" (30 fish/angler/day) with some select shore provisional areas where 9" fish can be taken. 

Tautog fishing continues to improve as water cools.  Bill Sokolowski reports on the RISAA blog, "Two of us left the dock in Jamestown at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday to fish the SE side of the Bay. Anchored once found the bottom had too many snags. Let out about 20' of line and never moved again until we called it a day at 1:30 p.m. Limited out with about eight almost identical fish in the 5 pound range, one smaller and one 7.5 pounds… More keepers than shorts. The bite died when the tide went slack." Capt. Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait said, "With rough seas no one has been targeting scup of tautog the past few days."  Manny Macedo of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren, said "Customers are catching tautog around rocks and docks.  Good bite from shore on the bridges in Warren and Barrington, Colt State Park, and at Ft. Adams at about a 15 to 1 (short to keeper ratio." The tautog bite was on last week along the jetty at Codington Cove, Middletown.  "We caught about 100 fish and out of that eight keepers ranging from 5 to 7 pounds.  When we moved to deeper water we caught small tautog and black sea bass so we switched to squid" said Greg Bruning of the Tackle Box, Warwick.

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing on Narragansett Bay for over 40 years.  He holds a captain's master license and a charter fishing license. Contact or forward fishing news and photos to Capt. Dave at dmontifish@verizon.net or visit his website at www.noflukefishing.com.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here