Tautog fishing exploded this week after things settled down from storms, high winds and rough seas. Fishing was good in our Bays, at jetties along our southern coastal shore, and off Point Judith, Narragansett, Jamestown and Newport around rock piles and ledges.
Daniel Miller took first place in the Rhode Island Tog Classic sponsored by Crafty One Customs in Portsmouth with a hefty 15.4pound tautog.
“The Rhode Island Tog Classic was a big success with great community participation,” tournament host Ralph Craft said. “All proceeds from the tournament benefited the Three Angels Fund for friends and family coming together to cope with cancer.”
First place winners were Miller, in the Boat Division; Matt Murray, 6.7 pounds in the Shore Division; Justin Oser, 10.6 lbs., in the Kayak Division; and Oliver Miller, 8.4 lbs., in the Youth Division.
With improving weather, now is the time to fish for tautog before things get too cold.
There are new regulations for tautog fishing this year initiated by the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association with the aim of preserving large females with great spawning potential. Anglers are allowed just one trophy fish, 21 inches or larger; the minimum size is still 16 inches and a 10-fish per boat limit applies for private recreational vessels.
The spring season ran from April 1 to May 31, allowing for three fish/person/day; the season reopened Aug. 1 and ran till Oct. 14 with a three fish/person/day limit. The limit then jumps to five fish from Oct. 15 to Dec. 31.
Fishing tip: Here’s where RI DEM is stocked trout before Columbus Day weekend
Ponds stocked with trout: Go fish
In Rhode Island, the Department of Environmental Management stocked 24 waterways with rainbow and brook trout last week before the holiday. The DEM is providing stocking updates via its website at dem.ri.gov/fishing.
A 2022 fishing license is required for anglers 15 and older and a trout conservation stamp is required to keep or possess a trout. Fishing licenses may be purchased online on the DEM’S Rhode Island Outdoors, or RIO, portal.
More than 63,000 trout are being stocked across Massachusetts as pond and lake water temperatures start to cool down. The stocking plans rollout locations will be updated daily on the map at mass.gov/service-details/trout-stocking-report. Don’t forget your fishing license — buy online at massfishhunt.mass.gov
Fishing Report: Want to learn how to fly fish? The DEM will teach you on Oct. 22
Where’s the bite?
Striped bass, bluefish and false albacore. “Bass are everywhere in the Bay,” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle in Riverside. “We have so much Atlantic menhaden in the 4- to 6-inch range around that customer Albert Bettencourt of Riverside said they were 4 feet thick in the Warren River with slot-size striped bass and larger fish under them. So with all this bait in the water it was hard to get them to bite.” The bass bite this week at the Cape Cod Canal was very strong with the full moon providing bigger than usual tides. “East End” Eddie Doherty, expert Canal angler and author, said: “Every tide continues to hold baitfish for the predatory buffet. Tim Petracca of Bourne was fishing with Ben Faulmino of Sandwich when they got into a four-hour east end top water bite that yielded over three dozen striped bass in the 30- and 40-inch class. Expert surfcaster Jack Barton guided his 7-year-old grandson, James Astle, working a 5-ounce white bucktail with a red Fat Cow jig strip into catching his first striped bass. James caught a 30-inch slot, and also reeled in his first bluefish, a well-fed chopper, in front of a crowd of regulars and tourists who got to witness the future of sportfishing in action.” Declan O’Donnell of Breachway Bait & Tackle in Charlestown reported: “Stripers have started to push to south county beaches. Chasing peanut bunker, these fish are mostly school bass to decent-sized slot fish. Fishing was also very good this past week in the breachways and salt ponds even when it was too rough to boat fish or fish out front along the beach. The ponds have been loaded with bait (silversides, mullet, peanut bunker, shad, juvenile scup, and seabass) and bass ranging from schoolie to over slot sized that are feeding heavily on all of the bait.”
Fluke, black sea bass and scup. The fluke bite is nearly nonexistent with anglers finding it difficult to catch large black sea bass also in the Bay and in many places along the coast. The scup bite, however, is still very strong anywhere there is structure and good water movement in particular. “Scup being caught are large, 15 inches or so, with anglers still limiting out [30 fish/angler/day, 10-inch minimum size],” Littlefield said.
Tautog. “When it has been calm enough for boaters to get out,” O’Donnell said, “the tautog fishing has been good, with the best reports coming from shallow areas in 30 feet or less.” Littlefield said: “The tautog bite is good with anglers catching keepers at Kettle Point, East Providence; Conimicut Light, Warwick; at Colt State Park, Bristol;, and out in front off Newport.”
Freshwater fishing is improving, with ponds being stocked with trout in Rhode Island and Massachusetts waterways, including Whiting and Falls ponds in North Attleboro. “The trout bite is on at Willet Avenue Pond in Riverside, where the state stocked it and 23 other waterways with rainbow and brook trout just before the holiday,” Littlefield reported.
Dave Monti holds a captain’s master license and charter fishing license. He serves on a variety of boards and commissions and has a consulting business that focuses on clean oceans, habitat preservation, conservation, renewable energy and fisheries-related issues and clients. Forward fishing news and photos to dmontifish@verizon.net or visit noflukefishing.com.
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