Block Island Rhode Island Fishing Report 6-24-15

         Posted by Wayne G. Barber
   

Ray, with a 48 inch Striper
photo by Buzzards Bay Outfitters

The shore based angling scene is picking up, with more and more catch reports surfacing from around the island. The early season hotspots of the Coast Guard Channel and Charleston Beach are still producing with moderate numbers and some larger 20-pound class stripers have been reported and weighed in. Getting lucky at these spots, however, has more to do with getting a parking spot than it has to do with catching fish. Catching fish at light change in these areas pretty much requires just a simple, slender profile lure, be it a sluggo, SP Minnow, or most effective, a fly. The fish are there.
For those anglers equipped to handle the more challenging surf zone areas of the island, they are seeing their rods bend with mid-teen class weighted bass and a few fish in the mid- to upper-20 pound class. Night time is the right time! Swimming lures, such as Bombers and SP Minnows, are seducing the best fish to bite. Reports have come in to us here from every side of the island, be it the North rip, down through Clayhead, to the South East light and around through Black Rock, and all the way back up the west side from the red can at Southwest Point to the dump. The primary adversity of angling from shore on Block Island is the wind. If the wind is fishable, and allows for good presentation, one's angling efforts are more often being rewarded with quality bass.
For those new to the night fishing game, a valuable piece of advice is to acquire a headlamp or flashlight that has either red or green color modes. These modes do not affect night vision. White light however, at even the dimmest brightness, will cause an eye acclimated to the dark many minutes to readjust to seeing in the dark. If arriving at a spot after sunset and full dark in a vehicle, allow your eyes a few minutes to adjust in total darkness. Then get comfortable using the colored light to operate. This not only helps you to see in the periphery of your light source better, it also is more courteous to other anglers already fishing and acclimated to the dark. There is nothing more disconcerting than to be in a spot fishing, and have a newcomer walk up and shine a white light in your eyes! Regardless of how light may or may not affect the fish, white light shining in other anglers’ eyes, certainly negatively affects their angling experience.

Tourney recap

  The inaugural Striper Kings catch and release striped bass tourney, sponsored by Newport Storm, ran June 12 to June 14 and featured teams from around New England, pitting some of the sports best sharpshooters against each other in the 42-hour event. Ten teams were issued custom rulers and were required to catch, measure, photograph, and release their bass. Live updates via social media were posted throughout the weekend to keep teams informed on the fish to beat. Not 30 minutes into the tourney, the first 36-inch fish was tallied — with several fish following that were up to 42 inches in length. The bite was on! At 7:06 p.m., one hour in, the bar was set real high by Buzzards Bay Outfitters when they released an impressive 48-inch fish! The teams definitely had their work cut out for them. At the 3 a.m. mark on Sunday, Dave Cunningham’s team, Doc Holiday, nearly dethroned the leader with a 46-inch beauty leaving the Buzzards Bay Boys a little rattled with the close call. On the beach Hank Allen posted a 37-incher, all around a solid fish from the beach this time of year, but he was bested by Mark Mollicone’s 42-inch fish — a nice reward for 24 hours of night fishing time put in. At the closing of the tourney, teams met at Yellow Kittens to crown Buzzards Bay Outfitters and team Fish Block Island, the first Striper Kings. Source: Hank Hewitt and Capt. Chris Wills