No Fluke

Summer flounder spawning stock down

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This season some recreational anglers felt summer flounder (fluke) fishing was good, others felt it was way off. The truth is that the summer flounder spawning stock biomass (SSB) is down and has been down for six years.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) announced on Aug. 15 that they modified specifications for summer flounder, reducing catch limits in 2017 for both recreational and commercial fisheries by about 30 percent.

The 2016 assessment update indicates that summer flounder has been on a downward trend. The summer flounder spawning stock biomass has been on a downward trend for the last six years. Fish managers have taken action with 30 percent reductions proposed for 2017, both recreational harvest limits and commercial quotas. How this will play out with Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts fishing regulations for 2017 remains to be seen, but no doubt more conservative regulations for 2017 are on the way.

Previously implemented specifications for scup, black sea bass and bluefish were reviewed but essentially kept the same pending fishery changes and any new scientific information.

The Commission’s actions are final and apply to Rhode Island state waters, but how they are implemented is to be determined. The Council will forward its federal waters recommendations regarding summer flounder specifications to NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Administrator for final approval.

The summer flounder recreational harvest limit was 5.42 (millions of pounds) in 2016, it will be 3.77 in 2017 (a 30% reduction) and 4.42 millions of pounds in 2018. From a commercial quota perspective, catch limits are going from 8.12 millions of pounds in 2016 to 5.66 in 2017 to 6.63 in 2018.

This decrease in catch and landing limits respond to the findings of the 2016 stock assessment update, which indicates summer flounder has been experiencing overfishing since 2008. In 2015, fishing mortality exceeded its threshold (the level beyond which overfishing is occurring) by 26 percent. The 2015 estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) is at 58 percent of the biomass target, and only 16 percent above the threshold.

The ASMFC said in a press release, “If the summer flounder stock were to fall below the threshold, it would be considered overfished, requiring the development of a rebuilding plan to reduce fishing mortality and rebuild stock biomass. These results appear to be driven largely by below-average recruitment, an underestimation of the fishing mortality level in the last years of the assessment, and declining biomass indices.”

Location of RISAA meeting changed

The Monday, Aug. 29, 7 p.m. Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) meeting will be held at The Villa Restaurant, 272 Cowesett Avenue, West Warwick. Capt. Mike Roy will speak about how to catch striped bass, bonito and false albacore on light tackle (an appropriate topic for the fall fishing season). Non-members welcome with a $10 donation to the Scholarship Fund, RISAA members attend free. Separate fee for dinner which is provided by The Villa.

Fall hatches will be the topic at Trout Unlimited meeting

The Aug. 31 meeting of Trout Unlimited (TU) will focus on fly tying for fall hatches, primarily a variety of terrestrials. This will be the last streamside meeting of the summer held at the Deer Check Station on Route 165 (Ten Rod Road) in Exeter. In a meeting announcement, the Trout Unlimited Narragansett Chapter said “For those interested in tying with our experts, bring your tools. For those who would like to learn the basics of fly tying, we will host a beginners tying table with tools and materials.” Networking will start at 5 p.m., food will be available at 5:30 p.m., with a short meeting at 6 p.m. before the fly tying starts. The meeting will end in time for anglers to fish at dusk. Contact chapter president, Ron Marafioti, at (401) 463-6162, with questions.

 Where’s the bite

“Striped bass

fishing is good at the Southwest Ledge (Block Island) with a stronger bite at night. However, Saturday was a pretty good day on the Ledge with a good night bite at the North Rip,” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown. Kim Petti of Fin & Feathers Outfitters, North Kingstown, said, “Narrow River is holding bait, which has really brought back the shad and school size striped bass.”

“Customers Albert and Kevin Bettencourt made a Block Island trip Friday night. They launched from the boat ramp in Galilee at about 7 p.m. and arrived at the Southwest Ledge at about 8 p.m. They had a total of three people on board and returned by 11:30 p.m. with 38, 34 and 32-pound fish. They drifted eels, three drifts and each time all three rods went down. They could not turn two fish in time and experience a couple of brake offs that were likely very large fish,” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside.

Bluefish

reports are spotty in the Bay, however, they are at Block Island with anglers catching them when fishing for striped bass. Skipjack bluefish (small bluefish) are in coves and rivers in force. “I had a barrel full of those small skipjack poppers and they are half gone in just a couple of days,” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle.

Bonito

Reports of anglers seeing or landing bonito are common almost every day now. Matt Conti of Snug Harbor said, “Two customers had a school of bonito come close enough to them while fishing the West Wall of the Harbor of Refuge, but could not hook up. There were boats chasing them too, but no reports of landings.”

Kim Petti of Fin & Feathers said, “Customers who fish the southern coastal shore have been landing bonito that have been feeding on bay anchovies.”

The scup bite

remains strong just about everywhere. “Customers are catching scup (and Tommy cod) at Sabin Point and just about everywhere else. They are doing well from the Barrington Bridge (at the old police station),” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait.

Summer flounder

fishing remains strong with the East Grounds (about three miles east of Block Island) and the area around the wind farm towers producing best for anglers. Fluke fishing expert Bob Murray of Skipjack said, “We could not get a good drift going Tuesday at the East Grounds but we managed to hook up with a few fish and then we moved to the windmill area and did better.”

Matt Conti said “the south shore experienced a wave of good fluke fishing this week, but most of the action is still at the wind farm and the East Fishing Grounds.”

Mike Swain of Coventry said, “We have been able to catch summer flounder off Newport, but it has been slow going. Saturday I fished alone and managed to land two nice fluke in the 21 to 23-inch range and my limit of sea bass (three fish/angler/day). But fluke fishing in the lower Bay, off Newport and Jamestown, has not been good this season.”

Capt. Frank Blount of the Frances Fleet said, “Fluke and black sea bass fishing was good this week with angler Tom Lombardi of Connecticut landing a 29-inch, 11.6 pound fluke that was caught on his first drift of the day using a bucktail rig he made himself.”

Fresh water fishing

has been just OK. “The Wood River water flow is up,” said Kim Petti of Fin & Feathers.

“We are optimistic the high water level will be good for fishing over the next week. Customers have also been doing well with trout fishing the Farmington River in Connecticut using small flies. Ant flies are working well and soon green inch worms will be in season, which will change fly presentations.”

“Offshore fishing at the Canyons (Atlantis and the Fishtails) was not great last week. With the full moon this week, customers did not do well fishing offshore. Some small yellow fin and big eye tuna were caught there. At the outer Butterfish Hole anglers have been catching some small yellow fin tuna and some very small bluefin tuna (18 to about 34 inches),” said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor. Capt. Rick Bellavance of Priority Too Charters said, “Offshore tuna fishing slowed to a crawl this past week. I fished Butterfish Hole last week and the Dump on Monday for not much.” Last Wednesday, angler Richard Pastore said he fished the northwest corner of the dump and trolled halfway down the southwest corner and then turned towards the Suffolk with nothing showing, “Lots of whales, birds, dolphins and bait, but no tuna. Bait was at 50 and 125 feet. Water temperatures are 75-plus anywhere south of Block Island. My summary conclusion is the tuna have left the building, so don’t bother chasing them. Mahi and cod are the fun fish right now.”

Cod fishing remained strong this week at Cox’s Ledge. Angler Richard Pastore said, “Wednesday we fished the east to southwest corner of Cox’s Ledge, where we spotted eight boats fishing cod. Took a few small to medium-sized cod on jigs and squid. Also a nice biomass of black sea bass mixed in with the cod, and better yet, no dog fish. The cod bite is pretty reasonable.” Saturday angler Pastore fished Cox’s Ledge again, “The Ledge is covered with a sparse biomass of small to medium cod and plenty of black sea bass… pick a spot and start drifting. Watch the sounder for violent changes in the bottom structure. Every time we drifted across one of those we hooked up.” Capt. Rick Bellavance of Priority Too charters said, “Cod fishing is better than it’s been in years.”

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing for over 40 years. He holds a captain’s master license and a charter fishing license. He is a RISAA board member, a member of the RI Party & Charter Boat Association and a member of the RI Marine Fisheries Council. Contact or forward fishing news and photos to Capt. Dave at dmontifish@verizon.net or visit his website at www.noflukefishing.com.

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