The shorter days and post-storm cooler temperatures are making things feel quite fall-like over the past few days. Not coincidentally, the striped bass fishing has started to really pick up over those same few days. With the weather settling down and the upcoming new moon tide bass fishing should be red hot this weekend, as we wait for the arrival of the elusive false albacore.

Rhode Island Fishing

The water temperatures have continued to drop considerably in Upper Narragansett Bay and another big push of pogies have made their way in. According to Greg, at The Tackle Box in Warwick, large bluefish have been hot on the tails of these fresh pogies. An abundance of stripers have shown up along with these gator bluefish and small to medium-sized keepers have fallen to upper bay anglers with some consistency this week. The scup fishing continues to be red-hot in the upper bay and surprisingly good numbers of fluke are still hanging around. Anglers reported some steady action of keeper fluke at Rocky Point and inside of East Greenwich Cove over the past few days.

At The Saltwater Edge in Middletown offshore reports have become non-existent over the past few days due in large part to the fierce storms that blasted across the northeast. Prior to the storms the offshore bite was fantastic and all indications are that it should pick back up where it left off as the weather settles. Reports of false albacore in the Newport area have started to come in but all the reports have shared one common trend; the pods of albies have been small and spread out. It will likely be another week or so before we see a good push of falsies in the region. Out at Block Island the bonito reports have remained strong and the striped bass fishing is once again red hot. Striped bass fishing has started to greatly improve on the local reefs in the Newport and Jamestown area. The upcoming new moon tides should only amplify this bite and this weekend is shaping up to be a good one.

At Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle in North Kingstown, Steve was short on reports due to the unsettled weather over the past few nights, but the reports that he did have were positive. Steve was able to manage some nice keeper-sized stripers from the Jamestown surf over the weekend. A few of his customers who were able to dodge the storms reported similar success across most of Rhode Island’s south shore. Reports were even better from Block Island where a friend of Steve’s spent the end of last week pounding stripers from the surf. In three nights he was able to manage an endless amount of bass, with many of which in the 20-25 pound class. As far as the local bottom fishing; the fluke bite has started to slow down in the area but the scup and blackfish bite has make up for up. Scup fishing has been excellent on nearly all the inshore rock piles while anglers targeting blackfish have found plenty of hungry fish on rock piles in 10-15 feet of water.

At Breachway Bait and Tackle in Charlestown, Ron reported that anglers had been scoring quality stripers all week at the mouth of the breachway. Anglers who stuck to the late-night ebbing tides have had the most success. Live eels have been the bait of choice to fool a hungry striper but make sure to pack plenty of extras as large bluefish have invaded the area and can make quick work of a dozen eels. Ron saw many more customers coming through the store this week purchasing blackfish rigs and both blackfish and scup reports have been very good around the mouth of the breachway. Some positive fluke reports came in from the area but most of the big fish this week were taken on the south side of Block Island. Ron also made mention of multiple reports of bonito coming in from the Scarborough Beach area.

Connecticut Fishing

According to Zach, at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle in Waterford, the striped bass bite has been excellent in the area with the largest specimens falling to anglers drifting live eels after dark at Bartlett’s reef and around Black Point. Stripers have also been cooperative during the day if you can make it through the hoards of bluefish. Big bluefish can be found at all the local reefs along with The Race and Pigeon Rip. For your best bet at a slammer blue try diamond jigging these spots during the upcoming new moon tides. The fluke fishing has slowed to a bit of a crawl in the eastern sound and mostly shorts dominate the catch as of late. Porgy fishing remains hot and heavy and the black sea bass fishing has been very good in the deep water of the Bloody Grounds and off Black Point. Short fish have dominated the black sea bass bite as well but most anglers have been able to mix in a limit of keeper-sized fish. Snapper bluefish remain plentiful in the Niantic River and they are starting to get up to the 6-8 inch range.

At River’s End in Old Saybrook, Pat reported that the striper fishing has shown some promise as of late and many more schoolie to medium-sized bass have shown up on the central and eastern sound reefs. Bass have also been seen actively feeding on the surface at Hatchett’s Reef and Bartlett’s Reef, although this activity seems sporadic. Large bluefish have finally made their way into the Connecticut River and are feasting on the schools of bunker that remain prevalent in and around the mouth of the river. The blue crabbing in the Ct River has hit its peak and there should be a few more weeks of excellent crabbing to be had. Similar to the Niantic River, snapper bluefish remain plentiful in the CT and they have now grown to over 6 inches in size.

Blaine Anderson, of Anderson Guide Services, spent the better part of the last few days on the hunt for false albacore. Unfortunately he was unable to find any of the target species in local water. There seems to be an extreme lack of bay anchovies right now but once they decide to show up in the sound it shouldn’t be long until the albies begin to settle in. While the albies haven’t cooperated the stripers certainly have, as Blaine has seen a quick spike in the number of large bass on the eastern sound reefs over the past few days. Along with multiple 40+ inch bass, Blaine was able to manage a beautiful 50-inch cow just before the storms Tuesday morning. Blaine has been able to fool large stripers with live bunker as well as live scup this week. He has had no shortage of scup as he has been able to find keepers on all the eastern sound rock piles from 30 feet of water all the way down to 10.

Best Bets For The Weekend

If I had to pick just one week to fish for stripers in Connecticut and Rhode Island waters it would most certainly be the week of the September new moon. Time and time again this weekend has proven to be a great one if you’re after cow bass and it seems to be shaping up that way once again. Take advantage of the lack of false albacore and the slowing fluke season by spending this weekend hunting linesiders and I believe you will be pleased with the results.