Rhode Island Fishing Report – October 20, 2016

Tautog fishing is approaching its peak as the short-to-keeper ratio slowly improves each day. Blues, bass and false albacore are still tormenting bait throughout the region, even if they are becoming a bit harder to locate.

Rhode Island Fishing Report

The Frances Fleet in Narragansett has been able to work around some wind this week and make their way out for some cod and tautog trips. The couple of cod trips that got out at the end of last week required some work but the crew was able to put their customers on fish. Numbers weren’t extraordinary, but most on board managed a few nice market cod in the 15- to 20-pound class. This Wednesday’s trip saw similar results with just about everyone getting a few keepers from the low to mid-teens, and high hook took home four nice fish. There remains quite a few nice sea bass on the cod grounds and federal waters will reopen for sea bass anglers on Saturday. Despite warmer than usual temperatures, the tautog trips all saw plenty of success this week as well. Short fish have dominated the catch and kept rods bent, but each trip is seeing a good number of keepers to 8 pounds or so. Monday’s trip saw the most keepers of the season, with the pool fish coming in right around 10 pounds. Things will only improve as water temps drop over the coming weeks. Check with the office for scheduling changes and weather delays, but cod trips will continue to run Monday, Wednesday, Friday and weekends at 6 AM, while tautog trips will run daily at 6 as well.

Dave, at Ocean State Tackle in Providence, reported that not much has changed in the Providence and Seekonk River fisheries, as good numbers of bass and blues continue to work these waters. Most anglers are hooking up on artificials such as SP Minnows, Bombers, and pencil poppers. Tautog anglers are finding plenty of fish from both shore and boat, with shorebound anglers reporting good catches in the Warren and Providence Rivers. There are plenty of fish out front at places like Beavertail, but anglers seeking shelter from the wind are also catching tog in the Providence and Seekonk Rivers. The fish are getting shallow and jigs tipped with crabs are working well. Scup fishing remains very good at Colt State Park.

Mike, at Cardinal Bait and Tackle, reports that the surfcasting remains very strong throughout South County. A good deal of bass in the 20-pound class were landed last weekend, and a few bigger fish to 38 pounds were also in the mix. A healthy population of bluefish is mixed in with the bass and it seems most of these fish are feeding on bunker, both juvenile and adults. Local tautog fishing is heating up in shallower water, with some excellent reports coming from the Watch Hill Reefs.

Mike, at Watch Hill Outfitters in Westerly, tried his luck tautog fishing last weekend and was able to manage a limit pretty easily, despite some tough conditions. Black sea bass are mixed in with the tautog in local waters, and Block Island continues to put up big numbers of quality fish. Bluefish are all over the South County beaches and on the reefs, along with a big slug of gators that are feeding on bunker in the Pawcatuck River. Striped bass fishing has been pretty good but the fish are on the move, meaning you may have to change locations and tactics from day to day. False albacore numbers seem to be dropping, but those putting the time in are still finding some fish around Watch Hill.

Connecticut Fishing Report

At Hillyers in Waterford, John reports that the first couple of weeks of the blackfish season have gone well. Water temperatures are still a bit warm, but more and more keeper fish are moving into shallow water each day. There are more shorts than keepers, but no shortage of action, and limits are attainable if you put some time in. Most anglers are finding a couple of 7- to 9-pound fish on each trip, and a fish weighing in at 10.1 pounds hit the scale over the weekend. As of the beginning of the week there was still a very healthy population of false albacore from Niantic to Fishers and around Watch Hill. The weekend wind may make them tough to locate, but with water temperatures above average they may stick around for a little while longer.

At Fishin Factory 3 in Middletown, reports that the Connecticut River is where you want to be for some excellent fall striped bass action. Bass from 5-pounds to 50 have been taken inside the river from Essex to the mouth over the last week or so. These bass are feeding on bunker of all sizes, and the best way to hook up is throwing a LARGE metal-lipped swimmer or topwater plug. The bass fishing out front is a bit less predictable but there have been some good fish on the reefs from time to time. Tautog fishing is strong, despite the abundance of shorts. Anglers are finding limits, and Andy weighed in some bigger fish to 10.3-pounds over the weekend. Albie fishing was good in the eastern sound and around Fishers for most of the week. Quite a few anglers hooked up with albies while sitting on their anchor for blackfish, which is not something that happens very often.

Captain TJ of Rock and Roll Charters reported another strong week of local striped bass fishing, with boat limits on all trips. TJ is a firm believer that the new 1 fish limit is helping the bass stocks, and noted that nearly all of his customers agree that 1 solid fish per person leaves them with plenty of meat. Bluefishing has been very consistent, with fish from 2 pounds all the way up to nearly 20. Scup fishing is also very good, at a time of the year when the scup fishing generally tails off. The warmer than normal water is likely the cause of the great scup action, and should equate to a later than usual fall tautog season.

Jeremy, at Fisherman’s World in Norwalk, reported that there is no shortage of blackfish out in the western sound. Action has been excellent in the shallow water (7-20 feet), so anglers have been able to cash in with both jigs and traditional rigs. A bunch of short fish appears to be the norm just about everywhere, but once again keepers haven’t been that hard to come-by. A number of blackfish anglers noted that the slack tide periods have been productive for big fish, along with low light, dawn and dusk periods. Bluefish have been widespread throughout the river, the islands, along the beaches and out on the deeper reefs. Some schoolies have been in the mix inside the river, while some better bass are being caught after dark around the islands. Soft plastics on a lead head or a fresh live eels has been the ticket for keeper bass after dark.

Rhode Island Fishing Forecast

The wind looks to be a bit of an issue from Friday through Saturday, but the weekend should be salvaged by some better conditions on Sunday. If the weather proves to be difficult, anglers could seek shelter and still find some good fish inside our rivers. Bass, blues and tautog can be had inside the Providence and Seekonk Rivers. Big bluefish can be found in big numbers inside the Pawcatuck, while there is no shortage of quality bass inside the Connecticut.