Rhode Island

BAY
Striped bass and bluefish have been biting in the waters off Conimicut Point, says David Henault of Ocean State Tackle. The action peaks between 4:30 and 6:30 a.m. Otherwise, it's dead in the heat of the day. John Lisi caught stripers up to 42 inches between midnight and 4 a.m. Tuesday at Beavertail Point. He was casting eels.

BEACHES AND SALT PONDS
"The big news continues to be the inshore bluefin tuna," writes Bob Neilson of Wildwood Outfitters. "Twenty- to 40-pounders are the norm with larger fish mixed in. They are chasing small fish, so metal lures -- such as Deadly Dicks, Kastmasters, Crippled Herring and l-Jacks -- are working. The fish are all over the place from Scarborough to Westerly. Just a reminder that permits are needed. The penalties for not having one are a fine up to $10,000 fine and your boat." Mike Neto caught 12 of the little bluefin about four miles off Newport, said Henault. He was using jigs and Tsunami plugs.

"Fluking has been hot right off the Center Wall of the Harbor of Refuge with fish up to 12 pounds being caught," said Neilson. "Mike McVeigh was out fluking and caught many skates which, he says, are surprisingly good table fare." Fluke fishing is also good off the Pink House in Misquamicut, says Bill McEvoy of King Cove Outfitters. Off Isabella Beach on Fishers Island, an angler caught two big fluke; one weighed 8.75 pounds and the other 9.5 pounds, McEvoy said. Wading anglers are catching fluke in the channel of Quonochontaug Pond, says Cameron. They're using small jigs with live mummichogs on the ebb tide.

Janice Lachance caught a 54-pound striped bass this week, according to Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle. Dan Lacroix caught his limit of stripers in 20 minutes Wednesday; he was fishing live bait at the one of the reefs off Charlestown with Mouchon. Keeper-size bass are biting in Quonochontaug Breachway and off the Weekapaug Fire District very early in the morning, said Don Cameron of Captain Don's Bait & Tackle. Here's an odd one: Angela Kelly caught a 20-pound striper on a tube-and-worm rig that she was casting in the surf. Tube rigs are made for trolling.

Mouchon reports that "acres and acres" of 4-pound bluefish have moved into the waters off Washington County's beaches. Scup are scarce off Point Judith, but they abound off Westerly and Stonington, Conn., according to McEvoy.

OFFSHORE
Ray Lasky and Steve Tezner had a 30-pound albacore on the line at the Fish Tales this week. The fish was almost close enough to the boat to grab the leader when a 600-pound blue marlin surfaced and inhaled the tuna. "They were still shaking the next day," said Al Conti of Snug Harbor Marina.

Not much is happening until you get 60 miles offshore, he said. Then the action is spotty with yellowfin, albacore and marlin on the bite.

BLOCK ISLAND
The North Rip has been producing a lot of striped bass for anglers fishing eels, said Neilson. The action on Southwest Ledge is still strong, according to Conti.

Aboard Wayward Sun, Mike Arsenault is catching mahi-mahi south of the island.

TUNA TALK
Three readers criticized last week's Fishing Report for saying that fishing for the small bluefin tuna is a catch-and-release proposition unless you have a federal permit. The readers noted that a federal regulation says it is illegal to even target bluefins without a permit. It's one of those rules created by bureaucrats who expect enforcement agents to be mind readers: If you're casting a Deadly Dick, Kastmaster or Crippled Herring, who is to say that you're targeting bluefins? At this time of year, metal lures are popular for catching bluefish, bonito, little tunny, and striped bass. If you do want a permit, it is available for $22 online at www.nmfspermits.com.

FRESHWATER
Jim Allen caught a 26-inch carp at Roger Williams Park in Providence this week, said David Henault of Ocean State Tackle.

Tom Babbitt landed a 5-pound largemouth at Canada Pond, the pond alongside Route 146 in Providence. On Stump Pond in Smithfield, bass as large as 4 pounds have been striking shiners.

BEST BITES
South County reefs:
Bass, bluefin tuna, bluefish
Block Island:
Striped bass, fluke
Providence County ponds:
Largemouth bass

Gear up for football bluefins

Because of all the lore about the giant bluefin tuna of decades past, the fish pushing weights of half a ton, inshore and coastal anglers sometimes exclude themselves from the fairly new excitement in our waters of schoolie ''football" bluefins, which often fall in the sub-hundred-pound range. No, your regular striper and bluefish gear is not quite enough to handle these powerful swimmers (picture an 80-pound striped bass on the gear you've got), but it's certainly not hard to gear up and get into the fun.

For example, you'll want at least 50-pound mono (or braid) and 100-pound shock leaders. Fast trolling lures and wet flies and even popping plugs work when you find footballs in a surface feeding frenzy.

Area A: In northern waters, the chase for footballs is going on from around Isle of Shoals out to Jeffrey's Ledge, Tantas and Platt's Ledges, and Cape Porpoise. The ledges have also been hanging in with the usual variety of groundfish -- cod, haddock, and pollock -- still going strong. Though there's not much bait around, the Piscataqua River has some decent striper catches lately. The bluefish concentration has been around Saco River to the islands of Casco Bay.

Area B: Stripers have picked up just a bit this week, though most local anglers are still heading offshore, across to Stellwagen. North of the city, around Point of Pines, the fluke fishing has been steady. Stripers found in the Mystic River responding to chunk bait. Stripers also at Faun Bar and taken mostly at night around the outer islands.

Area C: As reported in recent weeks, the bass and blue fishing has been tepid at best, with blues hitting intermittently and bass remaining deep and rather finicky. Yours truly did run into some decent fluke yesterday around Duxbury and Plymouth Bays. The channel in front of Saquish heading down the beach has some response of late, as does the east side of the channel leading past Clarks Island.

Area D: Not much action from the east end of the canal. The west end has some scup, with fluke out at Mashnee, and some small false albacore in the mix. Some action in Buzzards Bay, but anglers fishing nights and mornings are doing best.

Area E: Bonito have shown up in these waters, and, with false albacore, change the whole cast of fishing -- as usually happens from midsummer on. Use light gear and, of course, on leaders for bonito and just hope your lure doesn't get bagged by a stray bluefish.

Area F: A few bluefish blitz reported along the back beaches in the early morning calms. Marconi Beach and Newcomb's Hollow had a fair amount of fishing this midweek. P-town and Herring Cove are still the best bets in this region. [The Boston Globe, by Tony Chamberlain]

Surf Fishing at Sunset & Sunrise

Magic hours fishing has all the advantages associated with fishing at sunrise, with a lot fewer anglers on the beach. The low light levels make the surf an active feeding zone for all types of predators.

Fishing the surf is always an adventure. The variables involved and the challenges that anglers must overcome are simply overwhelming. One of the many decisions that anglers have to make is when to fish.

Although fish can be caught at any time of the day or night, the consensus among surf anglers is that certain times provide the optimum opportunities to succeed. If surfcasters were polled as to their favorite time of day to fish, no doubt the results would show a definite preference for the early morning hours around sunrise.

Low-light conditions around dawn provide great feeding opportunities for predators that like to ambush unwary prey before the rising sunlight drives them into deeper water.

As an angler, it is also nice to get your licks in early and then have the rest of the day to do whatever else has to be done in our busy lives today.

Of course, fishing the surf at dawn has a built-in bonus: viewing spectacular sunrises. Even when the fish are not cooperative, the sight of the sun rising above the eastern horizon is an impressive sight that even the most veteran surfcasters never tire of seeing.

Many surf anglers are either unaware of or fail to take advantage of another opportune time of day to ply their trade: dusk. The conditions found along the shoreline at dawn reappear around sunset — but in reverse order. Instead of sunlight coming up, daylight gradually degrades into full darkness.

The hour before dawn and the two hours afterward are the most popular with anglers working the early morning shift. Later in the day, the two hours before dusk and the hour afterward (before complete darkness takes over) are prime time. I have found that there is something magical about fishing as the sun is going down, when predators dare to come into the surf to begin their overnight feeding on the abundant bait found in the wash.

Most surfcasters I know love to work the surf in relative solitude, with as few anglers on the beach squeezing their space as possible. If you fit this profile, then the magic hours of fishing around sunset are for you. You will find lots of elbow room and plenty of action under conditions that are very similar to those found at the same shoreline spots around the cherished sunrise hours.

Magic hours fishing is an option for the three seasons of the year that state anglers are able to work our saltwater waterways. During the spring striped bass run (when the fishing begins back in the rivers and bays), fishing later in the day is a decided advantage over early morning fishing. Water temperature often decides whether sluggish striped bass feed or remain inactive in this early season fishery. After a sunny day, the warmth generated on the shallow flats from the rays of the sun often spikes marginal water temperatures upward and in so doing energize stripers to eat. If you can match magic hours fishing with the time of high tide, expect good results.

One of the reasons the summer is not the best season for surf fishing is because the high water temperatures found along our coasts at that time tend to keep predators off their feed and in deeper water during the daylight hours. If you factor in all the bathers competing for shoreline space during the summer months, even gaining access to favorite fishing spots is tough during the daytime.

Except for fluke, sea robins, and shots of small bluefish, the daytime surf is relatively quiet all summer anyway.

Focus your efforts on fishing dawn and dusk, however, and your odds of encountering bigger bluefish, striped bass, an occasional weakfish, and even sporadic shots of such exotic species as Spanish mackerel, cow-nosed rays, bonito and false albacore are significantly increased.

As bathers leave the beaches late in the day, anglers regain access to the shoreline. With fading light levels and with diminishing winds, the surf often becomes very settled — on the surface. Underwater activity, however, can be hectic.

As daylight fades, bathing areas again become feeding zones for predators who return to the surf shallows to feast upon the baitfish hugging the shoreline and those seeking shelter around any underwater structure. Most species — especially the southern exotics like false albacore — are sight feeders so they use these low light conditions to their hunting advantage. Bluefish and bass can feed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but still find low-light conditions favorable to their ambush tactics.

Given a choice, I prefer to fish lures rather than bait. Still, I use whatever catches fish. In the springtime, I fish bait almost exclusively. During the summer and fall, I feel lures give me the best chance to hook up with some nice fish. Magic hours angling around dusk (two hours before sunset, one hour after) provides some great opportunities during the summer months to present my lures.

My best surf success during the first half of the summer is with bluefish and striped bass. They respond well in low-light situations to metal jigs, surface poppers and even swimming plugs. If a northeast chop is pounding the shoreline, I'll even revert to fishing clams in hopes of picking up an aggressive striper the roiled surf has stirred into action.

With the arrival of August, surf action begins to heat up around dawn and dusk. The species mix now includes the ever-present bluefish and stripers as well as Spanish mackerel. High water temperature and lots of bait in the wash also begin to draw false albacore into the surf from offshore waters.

An impressive false albacore run beginning in late August and lasting until mid-October in recent years has really spiced up late summer surf fishing. It is very difficult to get these southern speedsters to strike metal lures because of their extraordinary eyesight, but anglers have the best odds of doing so in the low-light conditions found around dawn and dusk.

Lots of anglers like to work the late August shoreline for fluke during the evening hours. The fluke they encounter are looking for that last meal before moving out into deeper water after fattening up all summer in inland waters. Using bucktail jigs or flutter baits, they do well as the fluke use the failing light to their advantage in ambushing prey right in the wash.

The best surf fishing of the season begins after Labor Day. As the daylight hours get shorter and nights get chillier, baitfish instinctively begin to school up and move out onto the oceanfront where they hug the shoreline on their long southern journey. The presence of these forage fish in the wash is the magnet that draws all kinds of predators into the surf during the fall run.

As the autumn migration gets under way, terrific blitzes of bluefish can take place at almost anytime but dawn and dusk seem to be the most common times for such spectacles to take place. These blitzes can attract crowds of anglers who lose all sense of reason as they try to get in on the action and maximize their catch. With all the lures and hooks flying about, caution must be exercised so as to avoid getting hurt. At the very least, anglers frequently get their lines tangled up with other surfcasters — an all-too-common annoyance along a crowded shoreline when the blues are blitzing.

With a lot fewer anglers on the beach in the hours late in the day, you can fish even a full-blown bluefish blitz in relative safety and with plenty of room to fight your fish. Fishing a blitz under these ideal conditions hardly ever happens around sunrise, or even during the midday hours.

When working lures in the late summer/early fall surf, I have a pattern I follow as the light level falls. I begin with metal jigs like Luhr Jensen's Crippled Herring and their Krocodile spoon, the Gibbs Minnow, the A17 diamond jig, and O.B. Fish Company's Brandy's Minnow. While the light is still up, I also like to work surface popping plugs like MegaBait's Bubble Pop, Tsunami Lures' Talkin Popper, and Atom's Striper Swiper.

Once the light gets low, I switch to surface swimming plugs like Mann's Super Stretch 1-Minus, Bomber's A-Salt and Luhr Jensen's Javelin Shallow Runner.

With the sun setting in the west, you do not need sunglasses while fishing the summer's magic hours. You can also skip the sunscreen as the sun's rays are not as penetrating as they are during the heat of the day. Do bring bug repellent, though, as flies and mosquitoes can be a problem.

Once all the other species (except for an occasional bluefish) have departed for southern waters, striped bass close out the surf season. Beginning in early November, these glorious fish can be caught around dawn, dusk and during the overnight hours until sometime in late December.

Magic hours fishing is a great time to tangle with these fish but different tactics are used from when they opened the fishing season way back in March. Lures, rather than bait, are the way to go.

Most of my late-season striper fishing is done with swimming plugs. My most effective plug colors late in the season range from bright shades in daylight to black in complete darkness.

For example, as dusk approaches I first use a yellow Javelin Shallow Runner, later switch to a school bus (black back/yellow body) color A-Salt, and finish with a black Super Stretch 1-Minus. It is important to retrieve your plugs very slowly since these end-of-the-season bass respond best to slow-moving targets in the late season cold water.

Conditions during this final stage of the season are pretty harsh for even veteran surfcasters. It is at this time that surf fishing closely resembles the personal satisfaction of finishing a marathon: just trying to catch striped bass and surviving the elements are almost as important as actually landing any.

Depending on the season when you fish the magic hours, always dress for the conditions you will encounter. Waders keep you warm as well as dry. A slicker, warm clothes and gloves are often the difference between fishing and giving up. It is a good idea to have some kind of small flashlight (or head light) to assist you when darkness takes over.

Always observe posted parking restrictions; have any nighttime fishing passes required (such as at Sandy Hook and other parks statewide) affixed to your vehicle.

Magic hours fishing is a great time to catch fish in the surf throughout the long fishing season. You won't find lots of other anglers vying for space on beaches, jetties, and sea walls; you will find the fishing to be at least as good as that found around sunrise, or at any other time.

There's nothing magical about catching fish during this special time. You simply have to be there within the prescribed time frame. Your fishing instincts will take care of the rest. [Org Pub. Asbury Park Press, by Allen D. Riley]

Fishing off Pier A in Hoboken, NJ

On the north side of Hoboken's Pier A, a few miles south of the traffic-soaked George Washington Bridge, stands Herbie. He's facing toward midtown Manhattan, with the Empire State Building still reflecting summer sun even though it's near 7 p.m. Orientation is important to Herbie while he's fishing. "This spot's good," Herbie says, glancing side to side to ensure no other angler is within hearing range. "Got a 33 inch blue fish last week," Herbie adds with a conspiratorial whisper. "Right here."

Fishing life Just yards away, a disheveled man curses at a semi-submerged baseball cap floating along the Hudson's incoming western tide. He utters his last lurid oath at the drowning hat and trudges off. Herbie chuckles and shakes his head. He has coal black eyes, a wispy tuft of a black mustache, and a soft, inviting, well-tanned face. He's 64, lives in Patterson, New Jersey, and travels to Pier A to fish whenever he can get the free time. He comes in the evening, around dusk, when the fishing is best.

Herbie jams the butt of his thick, fiberglass fishing pole under his right underarm and deftly ties a red and white colored plastic bobber, a triangular metal sinker, and a gruesomely curved hook at the end of the almost transparent line. Herbie pulls a curled slab of bloody fish out of a shallow white bucket near his feet. He jabs it on the hook, wheels back the rod, and lets loose with a cast that propels the bait far enough into the water that one can barely make out the splash.

"You got to get it out there where they're swimming," Herbie says. According to Herbie, he hasn't caught many blues off the pier, but he caught a 35-inch striped bass a few weeks ago that was delicious. "The big ones come in from the ocean," says Herbie. "They're just passing through, so they're clean. I made steaks out of it and put it on the barbeque."

Bait Herbie and most of the other fishermen use bunker for bait. According to Ronald and Robert Loehwing, Hoboken residents, Moe's Bait & Tackle in Jersey City is the best place for bait. Ronald, a lifetime resident of Hoboken, has been fishing for 25 years. He fishes for recreation several nights a week after work and on the weekend. According to Ronald, the summer months are slow for fishing, with an average of a fish a day. However, in September and October, the number jumps to four or five fish a day. Ronald said most nights, there at least six or seven fishermen, but on weekends there can be as many as 150 rods in the water. He has caught striped bass, blue fish, fluke, and flounder. Recently Ronald caught a 3-foot striped bass; yet, that isn't the biggest he's caught off the pier.

Robert, Ronald's brother, has caught several bass that were tagged from the Hudson River Foundation. The tags are worth $5 to $1,000, with one for $100,000. Robert's tags were worth $10. According to him, some guys fish just to try to find $100,000 bass.

According to the brothers, they eat most of what they catch, but they wouldn't eat the crabs because they feed from the bottom. There are clear lines between the fishermen and the guys who crab. "I would never eat crabs from here," said Herbie. "They eat everything that's on the bottom. No way would I eat those. But people do. They eat them right up."

Crabbing Further down on the pier, away from the fishermen there was a man crabbing with three traps in the water, each affixed to a white piece of rope knotted to the pier's railing. He stands next to two companions. One has slits for eyes and a careless swath of thick silver hair, and looks quite inebriated. They're each wearing worn football jerseys and soiled jeans shorts. The taller one is missing a row of front teeth. The short one is barefoot. The men are crabbing for blue claw crabs. The barefoot man says he doesn't eat the crabs they catch, but his buddy does.

"They're good," says the toothless man. He smiles wide, his gums shining in the still strong light. "Nothing wrong with them crabs." Apparently, crabs aren't as particular as fish; they will eat an assortment of items. "Anything that's gone rotten - bunker, chicken necks, calamari," says the toothless man. The drunk nudges his head back in and says, "You a game warden? We ain't taking no short crabs."

At the end of the pier, there's a man lounging in a folding chair, his sandaled feet up on the rail, and a fishing rod to his immediate right. When asked if he had any luck, the man tilted his head, smiled and said "yup." "What did you catch?" I ask. "Blues, stripers, crabs maybe." "Not a thing," he answers. "Oh, I thought you said you had some luck." He smiles wider and says, "I did. My wife let me go fishing tonight."

Rhode Island 7/18-7/24/05

Week of July 18 through July 24
It's been quite a week on the Rhode Island fishing scene. Offshore the schoolie bluefin tuna have been pleasing anglers trolling all sorts of small lures. They are hitting almost everything you care to put in the water, as long as it's in the three- to five-inch range. Fish are mostly in the 30- to 35-pound range but there have been some much bigger fish taken. Shark fishing is very good with lots of blue sharks around and a surprising amount of threshers for this time of year. Some small makos are also keeping anglers on their toes.
Inshore, the fluke fishing is really pretty good, but you have to plan your trips according to the tide charts. It seems that there are plenty of fish around, but they only really decide to feed on the incoming tide. This weekend we had great fluke fishing on the incoming tide only to see the bite die as soon as the high water mark was reached. You can pick a fish here and there on the ebbing tide, but the action is on the incoming tide.
The big news this week is the 65-pound plus striper that was caught by Ray DaPente who was fishing with Captain Mike Neto. Lots of stripers in the forties were also weighed in this week.
Captain Don's Bait and Tackle tell me that during the week Fred Voight from Philadelphia, PA caught a 44-pound bass fishing live eels with Captain Ben DeMarco. Bill Wilson came up with somewhat surprising catch fishing off of East Beach. It was a 32-inch lone weakfish. Don says that the striped bass fishing is still good off of the Quonny and Weekapaug breachways as well as on the Watch Hill reef. Bluefish are raiding the beaches at first light almost every morning and they are willing to take almost anything you throw at them. Scup are thick in the breachways and most of them are a very nice size. Most anglers are limiting out in a short period of time.
Over at Breachway Bait and Tackle they tell me that there are still plenty of stripers around. Scup fishing is great around the breachway, but fluke fishing locally isn't all that great. The good news is that its only a short run to the east to get in on the good fluking going on around there.
Weekapaug Bait and tackle says that there are plenty of striped bass and bluefish around. The striped bass fishing is really good on the local reefs, like Watch Hill Reef, as well as some of the lesser known reefs. Fluke fishing picked up this week off the south shore beaches. They weighed in several fluke in the 7 to 9-pound range. Scup fishing is very good right in the breachways.
The Frances Fleet is reporting a good week of fishing, with lots of striped bass and jumbo fluke. Both the full and half day boats are banging the fluke with a good percentage of sea bass mixed in on the all day boat. Night bass fishing has been a little spotty. Some nights they really do a job on the fish and other nights it can best be described as a slow pick. They started running bluefish trips recently and the boat, which sails on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, was doing well on bluefish to ten pounds. Last week, Captain Don ran one of the boats over to the mud hole, where they found bluefin tuna to 300 pounds.
Kenport Marina is talking about little Ben Hastad, who caught his first striped bass this week. The fish weighed in at 24 pounds. Ronnie Castelone really had quite a trip to Block Island recently. He managed to catch four fish for himself and his buddy. the fish weighed 44, 43, and two tipped the scales at 38 pounds. Quite a day of striped bass fishing.
There are some really big scup to be had over by the west wall. Lots of fish to two pounds plus are bring taken on sea worms. In addition to the scup, there are also some sea bass and tautog mixed in. The surf guys have been doing well at Deep Hole soaking menhaden chunks. They have been catching bass in the teens and bluefish to ten pounds. Jack Demers on the Sea Busy trolled around the Suffolk wreck for a pair of nice bluefins and then trolled over to the Thirty-one Fathom Hole where he picked up another pair. All fish were released. Rhone Enrich caught five bluefins in the 30-pound class by starting at the acid barge and trolling east.
Over at Snug Harbor Marina they tell me that the fluke fishing along the beaches is holding up nicely. There are some big bass around Block Island falling for live eels. On the offshore side, there are plenty of small bluefin starting at the acid barge and heading east, to the 31 Fathom Hole and all the way to the dump. The shark fishermen are doing well with lots of blue sharks around and a surprising number of threshers. They had weighed three thresher sharks this weekend when I talked to them on Sunday afternoon.
Quaker Lane Outfitters is talking about Brad's 55-pound striper caught last week. Striped bass fishing is steady in the bay. Fluke fishing is good with fish to six pounds. There are lots of really big scup around.
Archie's Bait and Tackle tells me of some really good striped bass fishing in the Providence River. The fish aren't big, but what they lack in size they make up in numbers. Last week saw a nice run of weakfish at the white church bridge, along with some stripers mixed in. Bluefish are raiding Barrington Beach on a regular basis. Most of the fish are in the 5 to 7-pound range and they aren't fussy about what they will eat. Scup fishing is really good for the guys who can get after them from a boat, but the shore fishermen are struggling. It not that there aren't plenty of fish around, but they tend to move and move quickly, often to spots the shore based guys can't reach. Fluke fishing picked up this week dramatically, Warwick Light, Coniquot Light and Oakland Beach are said to be the hot spots.
Dave, over at Ocean State Tackle weighed in a huge striped bass (pictured on the cover) that went 65.2-pounds on the scale. The angler was Ray DaPente who was fishing with Captain Mike Neto. Dave also said that there are plenty of big stripers waiting around the southwest and southeast corners of Block Island. Live eels are the ticket and you have to stay in relatively shallow water to avoid the dogfish. Scup fishing is very good with Sally Rock in Greenwich Bay being one of the spots that are really producing scup to two pounds plus. Fluke fishing is good under the Jamestown Bridge, at Austin Hollow and off of Oakland Beach.
Edward's Bait and Tackle weighed in a few good-sized stripers over the past week. Fluke fishing is picking up and the scup are everywhere, with jumbo scup hitting almost anything you use for bait. Offshore everyone is chasing those little bluefins and once in a while some not-so-little ones show up. Shark fishing is great with loads of blue sharks around ,along with some threshers.
Erickson's Bait and Tackle says that the scup are really thick around Dutch Island with a few sea bass mixed in. Fluke fishing is good from Oakland Beach to under the Jamestown Bridge. The offshore guys have been having a ball with the schoolie bluefin action. Shark fishing is also good and a lot of guys are combining the two.
Lucky Bait says that there are plenty of fluke and stripers behind Hog Island. There are scup and bluefish almost anywhere you would want to cast a line. The fluke fishing is good in Jamestown and Newport.
The Tackle Box is saying that Brenton Reef is a good bet for striped bass. The blue fishing is good in the bay, and Block Island is the place to be if you are looking for really big striped bass. Fluke fishing is good, there are not a lot of fish but what they are catching are good ones.
Peter over at the Saltwater Edge Tackle Shop is all excited about the school bluefin tuna. He says that they are about ten miles off the beach, and if you want to bait them sandeels seem to be one of the baits that is working
Sam's Bait and Tackle is reporting plenty of bluefin tuna, in the fifty to sixty pound class can be found anywhere from the Mud Hole east to Cox's Ledge and on into the dump. The shark guys have plenty of blue dogs to play with and the occasional thresher wander by, just to keep things interesting.
Some small yellowfin tuna as well as a few albacore have been caught in the shipping lanes. Peanut bunker showed up locally and the bluefish are thick chasing after them.
Scup fishing is excellent and some black sea bass are starting to show up on the deeper water reefs. The fluke fishing is holding up very well.

Weekly Fishing Update From Noreast.com

Bobby at Causeway Bait & Tackle in Wantagh called the fluking "decent" in 50 feet of water off Gilgo. Bay fluke fishing is best at the Big M and back up in Merrick. Sea bass and porgies can now be targeted at the bridges, fun fishing for the family and especially the kids. Crabbing is starting to peak right now and snappers are taking bait and very small tins. Some stripers are being plugged at dawn and dusk. The beach was dead this week. Clam chumming for bass has been picky due to the warm bay water. Robert at Sea Isle Sports Center said the fluking was good in the bay with a lot of shorts and better in the ocean from 30 to 70 feet of water both east and west of the inlet. Porgies have arrived at Guy Lombardo Marina, some going 13 inches. The bass fishing on the West Bar is called a "pick." Some schoolies and shorts are being reported. In Point Lookout, Ted at Ted’s Fishing

Station told me that some bunker pods turned up off Long Beach again early in the week. Cocktail blues have been running up on the flats at the top of the tide and sea bass have moved into the bay with some keepers coming from Reynold’s Channel. Bass can still be bellied at the drains in the bay. Mike Lapham took an 18-pounder Wednes-day. Fluking has "a ton of action" in the bay with a 1/30 keeper ratio. The best Ted saw this week was George Hearnwith four keepers from 30 feet of water east of the Tower. Mordy at West End Bait said the bass fishing was "pretty good" this week. Nick

Parini clam chummed a 32-inch fish Thursday, and Friday one angler live-lined a kingfish for a 45-inch bass. Lots of short bass are showing with some schoolies mixed in. Kingfish and croaker to 3.5 pounds are being taken on the beach with small hooks and clams or worms for bait. Fluking continues to be a ton of shorts with a decent amount of keepers. There is a load of bait on the beach and some false albacore have been sighted off Long Beach.

Tom Jr. at Kwak’s Tackle Shop in Bellmore said the fluke at Fire Island were concentrated in small pods and chasing bait. Anglers catching one day would return to the same spot and find nothing the next. Lot’s of snappers, cocktail bluefish and crabs in the bay and at the docks. Bay fluking is still primarily shorts with some keepers if you work hard. No surf action this week and the bay stripers are mostly shorts now that the water inside has heated up. Sea bass and porgies on the inshore

wrecks and reefs from 40 to 60 feet of water are "phenomenal". Good catches of 2 to 3 pound sea bass have been coming from both the Atlantic Beach and Hempstead Reefs. Linda of Lindenhurst Bait and Tackle reported that Ezra Brezina fished the Watch Hill area with his buddy, Ronnie.

They had 9 keeper fluke to 7.9 pounds on Smokey’s large local spearing. PaulMikolich fished the Robert Moses Bridge on the incoming tide and was rewarded with porgies to 14 inches and fluke to 24 inches. Those were big fluke considering the overall trend towards shorts on the inside this summer. Irwin Wallach piloted the Lady Mary 3 miles east of Ocean Beach and took 15 fluke to 20 inches.

Dogfish inundated the area on Wednesday past the 65-foot depth. Anglers who returned to shallow water faired better. Matt and Val Kennedy of K&K fished the Moriches area and managed several good fluke. Val kept Matt busy taking skates off her line over the course of the day. The Fire Island Reef produced porgies to 15 inches and sea bass to 3.5 pounds. Bluefish fell for fresh clams and squid in conjunction with a good chum slick. Kismet Reef produced keeper porgies, sea bass, and blowfish for anglers using sandworms, clams, and bunker chunks. Anglers who chummed the West Bar used clams to score a pick of stripers. "Spanky" fished the front of Demo for two stripers to 30 pounds. Both fish were released. Snappers and blue claw crabs have arrived in a big way. Crabbers working the Wellwood Avenue dock do not need a license. Those working the Babylon dock must have one. John Miranda and Lucy Staminos each had a great catch of a different sort when they won $50.00 reels in Smokey’s quarter dunk. Bob’s Bait and Tackle had lots of anglers scoring fluke east of the Fire Island Inlet in 60 to 70 feet of water. Fluke bullets, squid and spearing did the trick. Daytime striper chasers livelined porgies; whereas, nighttime anglers favored bunker and eels. Snappers and crabs were all over the local docks providing lots of fun for kids and families. J and J Sports saw most of their fish come in as a result of the efforts of seagoing anglers. The Ocean Beach area near the Moriches produced lots of short fluke. Those able to catch a decent drift made their limit of fish from 20 to 24 inches at a depth of 60 to75 feet. Moriches Inlet anglers used peanut bunker to attract their quarries. J and J reinforced the trend by reporting that snappers were swarming all over the bays and docks.

Scallops return to Barnegat Bay

Research professor Michael Kennish: This is really exciting. Scallops were totally decimated years ago, and now they're coming back. "Around 50 years ago, these things were really plentiful." The scallops' reappearance is one bright spot in the troubled modern history of Barnegat Bay, years that have seen native fish and plant species fade away, and even a near-disappearance of the bay's once mighty clam resources.

Using such high technology as robotic submarines along with old-fashioned hand sampling, they aim to document how pollution affects coastal bays and the natural communities that live there. Their findings have enormous implications for New Jersey's coastal communities and their quality of life because contamination coming from the bay watersheds and air pollution fallout "affects the entire structure and function of the ecosystem," said Kennish, who lives in Dover Township not far from the bay. "Usually the organisms that like it are the kind of things people don't want to see."

Most studies of coastal ecosystems focus on the "water column," scientists' shorthand for top-to-bottom chemical conditions in the water, Kennish explained. The Rutgers research goal is to connect water conditions with the state of animals and plants on the bottom, and thus develop a "biological indicator index" that will document the connections between life and the water.

"The bottom community is critical for that because these organisms aren't mobile. They can't swim away like fin fish when the conditions change," Kennish said. "It hasn't been done before in New Jersey, and this particular method hasn't been tried anywhere before."

What eelgrass shows: There's a long-held notion that bay ecosystems will bounce back with improving water conditions, but that assumption has been alarmingly wrong in the Barnegat region. For most of the 1990s, state environmental officials could announce water quality improvements that allowed more and more areas of the bay to be reopened for shellfishing. But even as seasonal bacteria counts went down, so did the numbers of clams in the bay. One state survey estimated that clam resources in Little Egg Harbor, at the southern end of the Barnegat estuary, plunged by two-thirds between the late 1980s and 2001, and show no sign of regaining their former numbers.

From the university's Institute of Marine and Coastal Studies field station in Little Egg Harbor Township, field researchers ride out to conduct an array of projects, from mapping the bay bottom with autonomous submersibles, to studying its eelgrass meadows. That's where researchers Haag and Greg Sackowicz find the scallops, just one of a whole suite of animals that shelter and feed among the long fronds of underwater grass.

Stormwater runoff carries pollution from parking lots and housing developments to bay tributaries: nitrogen compounds from excess lawn fertilizer and animal waste, pesticides, oil from car engines. Some of that material acts as plant nutrients and feeds persistent outbreaks of microscopic algae that reduce the sunlight reaching eelgrass, Kennish said.

So "sea grass is a good indicator because it's very sensitive to the amount of light in the water," explained Lathrop, who's director of the Rutgers center for remote sensing and spatial analysis. He oversees the matching of data and geographic locations, techniques that "follow what's happening in the watershed all the way down to the bay."

"When damage is happening from nutrient levels, it starts at the microscopic level," said Kennish, who has warned for some years that consequences of nonpoint-source pollution have been underestimated. Nutrients also feed mats of macroalgae, large expanses of simple plants such as sea lettuce that have overrun eelgrass beds and other areas of the bay, Kennish said.

"It's like a quilt. There's patches of sea lettuce all over," he said. "It kills the benthic community (organisms that live on the bay bottom). The organisms can't deal with it. It also damages the exchange of gases between the bottom sediments and the water column. So it's affecting the basic chemistry."

The work that's being done in Barnegat Bay will help uncover water pollution and natural resource problems all along the state's 127-mile seacoast and in its coastal bays and estuaries, Kennish said. The ultimate goal, he said, is to "develop indicators of ecosystem health for the sea-floor communities in the near-shore and estuary waters of New Jersey." [org pub Asbury Park Press, written by Kirk Moore]