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Favorite ways to catch and release striped bass

Captain Dave Monti
Posted 5/28/14

We have a good amount of bait in the water… Atlantic Menhaden (pogies), squid, silversides and worms from worm hatches. This translates into great striped bass fishing. The action is hot but …

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No Fluke

Favorite ways to catch and release striped bass

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We have a good amount of bait in the water… Atlantic Menhaden (pogies), squid, silversides and worms from worm hatches. This translates into great striped bass fishing. The action is hot but sometimes catching bass can be difficult, you need to mix it up with different baits and fish where the fish are feeding.

Here are ten ways to catch striped bass, and to help sustain and enhance this great fishery of ours, they are followed by catch and release tips.

10. Trolling with umbrella rigs. Many use this technique trolling in deeper parts of Narragansett Bay, off Newport or Block Island with a variety of squid, shad, worm or eel umbrella rigs.

9. Casting soft plastics, various bait types and weights to fish different depths. Make sure the plastic baits are scented if they are not, add some scent. Who wants to eat plastic?

8. Buck tail jigs with pork rind squid strips. Many have had success with this method to get under schools of blue fish to the striped bass below.

7. Live eels. Used by shore and boat anglers, particularly for larger trophy sized bass. Hook the eel through the mouth and out one eye. Going between the eyes usually kills the bait.

6. Live menhaden. Snag the live bait with a weighted treble hook or net them. Hook the bait through the bridge of the nose, put the fish back in the school of menhaden and let it swim.

5. Chunking fresh or frozen menhaden. Anchor (and chum); drift fish or fish the moving bait schools with chunks. Some anglers use weight slides to get the bait down to where the fish are.

4. Surface plugs. Many school bass in the spring are caught using surface plugs of all types.

3. Swimming lures. My favorite is a grey and silver Yo-zuri Crystal Minnow.

2. Parachute squid jigs. Often used in ocean water (or where there are squid). Anglers successfully use this method off Newport, Narragansett and Block Island.

1. Trolling with tube and worm. Anglers use lead and wire line or weight there tube to get it down to the bottom where the big bass are. Lead and wire line is designed to sink in water column. Bubblegum or red colored tubes seem to work best in the Bay and amber colored ones off coastal shores, all tipped with clam worm.

How to enhance your catch and release efforts

Many anglers are releasing all striped bass they catch to help sustain and enhance the fishery. According from a NOAA report, 92% of recreational striped bass are being released. Anglers who keep their catch often catch several undersized fish until they catch their limit of two legal sized fish over 28". So it is important to plan your catch and release efforts to insure the fish you are not taking have the best chance of surviving.

One way to enhance survival is to use circle hooks. Circle hooks have been used by commercial fisherman for years. When long-line fishermen using circle hooks would return to check their hooks… the fish would still be alive (hooked in the jaw or mouth and not in the stomach).

Here's how circle hooks work…after the bait and hook are swallowed by the fish and it starts to run, the hook is pulled out of the stomach and slides toward the point of resistance on the fish's jaw or lip and embeds itself in the lip, usually the corner of the fish's mouth.

Circle hooks successfully hook bass in the mouth 95% of the time. The trick is not to jerk the rod to set the hook because you could pull the bait and hook right out of the fish's mouth. Let the fish run, as it does, it will pull the hook out of its stomach and hook itself on the lip. Once this happens the fish is hooked so all you have to do is start fighting the fish and reeling it in. To release striped bass, consider these techniques (many from RI DEM).

1. Use circle hooks, they successfully hook bass in the mouth (not the gut) 95% of the time.

2. Land fish quickly to minimize stress.

3. Avoid putting fish on deck and letting it flop around, keep it in the water as much as possible.

4. Wet your hand before handling the fish, dry hands remove the fish's protective slime layer and leave it open to infection

5. Handle fish carefully. Do not put fingers into gill cavities or eye sockets.

6. Gently remove the hook to minimize damage.

7. Use lures with single hook, barbless hooks (I snap them off), or circle hooks (as noted above).

8. Return fish to water quickly. Place fish gently in water in upright horizontal position. Move it back and forth in the water to force water across its gills. Once revived allow fish to swim away.

Freshwater fly-fishing workshop

The DEM's Division of Fish and Wildlife will hold an introduction to freshwater fly-fishing program this month. Hosted by the Division's Aquatic Resource Education (ARE) program, the workshop will be held in Mapleville on Saturday, May 31 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The workshop this year has been reduced to $25.00/person. Held annually at the scenic Addieville East Game Farm, this six-hour workshop teaches the basics of fly fishing. All equipment and materials are provided. Space is limited, to register contact Kimberly Sullivan at 539-0019 or kimberly.sullivan@dem.ri.gov.

Where's the bite

Striped bass fishing in Narragansett Bay outstanding. Small school size striped bass and keepers (over 28") are being caught from the rivers in Providence all the way down to Newport and along the coast to Westerly. Carlos De Hoyas of Pawtucket landed several keeper bass to 33" at Gano Street in Providence. Carlos said, "… a lot of school bass caught there… I was using sea worms with an outgoing tide around 7:30 p.m. last week. A lot of pogies in the River… some guys are catching fish at night live lining under the new Pawtucket bridge at (I-95) Exit 28. Some of them are big." Mike Swain of Coventry and I fished with circle hooks and fresh Atlantic Menhaden chucks Saturday and landed striped bass to 35" and 16 pounds in the East Passage. However, fish are being caught using pogies in the West Passage too. Anglers are also having luck trolling tube & worm and using small umbrella rigs. When I called Ken Landry of Ray's Bait & Tackle, Warwick this weekend he said, "Striper fishing is great, I've got one on the fillet board now." However, bass along the southern coastal shore and at Block Island is just starting to pick up. Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina, South Kingstown said, "The big fish are still up the rivers, there are plenty of small school bass around but few big fish at Block Island."

Summer flounder (fluke) are in so whenever you get tired of fishing for bass, don't hesitate to give fluke fishing a try. Minimum size is 18" with a limit of eight fish/angler/day. Roger Simpson of the Frances Fleet said Sunday's, "Full day fluke trip was the best day of the week. Capt. Richie crushed the fish, lots of limits, over 150 keepers. 50 fish over 4 lbs, pool fish just under or at ten pounds." Angler Ed Bison reports, "Fished the southern Bay yesterday (Saturday). Fluke are in caught three nice keepers to 24" landed a total of 8 in a little over an hour on the incoming." John Stavrakas of North Kingstown said, "With wind against tide we worked hard for a couple of shorts at Nebraska Shoal and Green Hill. We ran to Block Island and fished south of New Harbor for some consistent action. We put three keepers in the box and caught a couple dozen shorts (mostly 17 inches)… Nice trip to kick off the season." Al Lazuk reports on the RISAA blog, "The fluke are at Montauk, tons of them. I was out there twice last week for a total of 35 keepers. One went 12.5 lbs, lots of shorts too." I met an angler at a UCONN fishing symposium last week in Groton, CT and he said he easily caught his limit at Montauk last Thursday too. "Fluke fishing on the south and southwest sides of Block Island is starting to pick up. It is better there than along the coast right now." said Matt Conti.

Bluefish are being caught as anglers target striped bass. "Anglers targeting bass at the southwest side of Block Island are catching good sized bluefish." said Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina. Angler Anthony Clang said, "I fished last evening (Friday) from shore in the Rocky Point (Warwick) area and caught one 23" Blue. The tide was high at 5:30 p.m. and it was pretty calm. I was using chunked porgy (scup)."

Tautog fishing remains strong but spotty. Anglers are on them or not (as is always the case with tautog). The fish being caught are good size, many in the eight pound range. Minimum size is 16", 3 fish/angler/day with 10 fish boat limit, spring tautog season ends May 31.

Squid fishing remains strong around Newport with anglers seeing clouds of bait when fishing for bass. Matt Conti of Sung Harbor said, "Squid fishing is very strong along the southern coastal shore."

Fresh water fishing remains strong for both trout and largemouth bass. Many anglers are still catching trout stocked in ponds by DEM including the Golden Trout that played a larger role in DEM's hatchery program this year. Visit www.dem.ri.gov for stocked ponds and Golden Trout program information.

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing on Narragansett Bay for over 40 years. He holds a captain's master license and a charter fishing license. Contact or forward fishing news and photos to Capt. Dave at dmontifish@verizon.net.

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