NO FLUKE

Great Outdoor Pursuit big success

Captain Dave Monti
Posted 8/21/14

Team prizes for the 2014 Great Outdoors Pursuit were recently awarded to winners at Burlingame State Campground in Charlestown. The program aims to reunite families with the outdoors, encourage more …

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NO FLUKE

Great Outdoor Pursuit big success

Posted

Team prizes for the 2014 Great Outdoors Pursuit were recently awarded to winners at Burlingame State Campground in Charlestown. The program aims to reunite families with the outdoors, encourage more physical activity and help build the next generation of environmental stewards. This year 407 teams registered for the event including 1,690 participants who visited different facilities and took part in outdoor adventures leaning about the environment and health issues. The Great Outdoors Pursuit is sponsored by the Department of Environmental Management with support from the Department of Health.

The winning teams included: Shatzi of Providence who won the grand prize family kayaking package valued at $1,260; Joe-Joe's Circus of Cumberland won the grand prize camping package valued at $860 including a free week of camping; Touring Torreys of Foster won the grand prize family fitness package valued at $360; S'More Fun of Cranston won first place hiking package valued at $360; Greene of Woonsocket won second place beach package valued at $310; and Lavallee-Larkin of Cranston won the third place ocean exploration package valued at $265.

Galilee fishing

tournament and seafood festival bigger than ever

The third annual Galilee Fishing Tournament and Seafood Festival will be held Friday, September 5th through Sunday, September 7th in Galilee (Narragansett), RI. The seafood festival Saturday and Sunday features over fifty craft and art exhibits, shops, restaurants, commercial and recreational fishing displays including a kids learn how to fish area dockside.

The fishing tournament (which starts Friday night at 5:00 p.m. and ends Sunday at 2:00 p.m.) will feature both boat and shore divisions for adults and children. Adults will fish for bluefish, fluke and striped bass. The junior division for children 14 and under will fish for bluefish, black sea bass, fluke, scup and striped bass. Entry fee for adults is $15 and $5 for juniors.

The weigh in station opens Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The award ceremony will take place Sunday at 4:00 p.m. Fishing tournament prizes include charter trips; bait & tackle shop gift certificates with trophies for junior division winners.

The Galilee Fishing Tournament and Seafood Festival lead sponsors are the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the Town of Narragansett and managing partner, the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA).

Funds raised by the tournament and festival will be donated to the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation , Special Olympics Rhode Island and the Town of Narragansett Parks & Recreation Financial Aid Program. Find out more about the seafood festival and fishing tournament at participating vendors, bait & tackle shops or online at www.galileetourney.com. You can also register online for the tournament.

Where's the bite

Summer flounder (fluke). "Fluke fishing is fair in the lower Bay; better out in front off Jamestown and Newport. One customer fished under the Newport Bridge and did not do well. They went out in front and boated twelve fish and eight of them were keepers (minimum size is 18"). Another customer fished off Conimicut Point with his kayak and caught three keeper fluke." " said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle, Riverside. "Fluke are being caught at the 50 to 60 foot depths off southern coastal shores along with black sea bass." said Phil Matteson of Breachway Bait & Tackle, Charlestown. "Trish Cioe fishing on the Patricia Ann off Charlestown caught a 25 inch fluke in 50 feet of water on a flood tide with a squid strip and a fluke rig with a red skirt." said Capt. George Cioe. Ken Landry of Ray's Bait & Tackle, Warwick said, "The Bay warmed right up and fishing is not great, some fluke are being taken off Newport and Jamestown at Austin Hollow and Hull Cover. But not a lot of fish. It's one or two fish here or there…the mouth of the Sakonnet River is not good either, if was a bust for the last customer that went there last week." Tom Giddings of The Tackle Box, Warwick, said, "We fish behind Hog Island to get out of the wind last week and did very well with fluke between the Mt. Hope Bridge and the Island." Roger Simpson of the Frances Fleet said, "Just a tremendous amount of very big fluke this past week. Pool fish for this past Saturday and the biggest fish so far this 2014 season (on the Frances Fleet) weighed in at 12 lbs after being bled and sitting in a cooler most of the day (easily close to 13 lbs right out of the water). The behemoth slab of nearly 32 inches caught on the first drift of the morning inhaled a white buck tail jig tipped with fluke belly and two spearing. Mr. Pak Yin from NJ who caught the big flattie also had fluke of 8 and 7 pounds in his cooler Saturday!"

Bonito. No consistent reports of Bonito in the area. Phil Matteson of Breachway bait said, "We had a customer catch an 8 pound bonito when he was jigging off the bottom for fluke. Other than that we have had not reports of bonito or false albacore but it is that time of year so they should be on their way."

Shore fishing is fair. "Sabin Point, East Providence, is still holding a lot of scup and tommy cod with an occasional striped bass and bluefish. Scup fishing at Colt State Park is very good." said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle. Phil Matteson of Breachway Bait & Tackle said, "Fishing off the Charlestown Breachway and form the beaches has been better this week. A few tautog have been caught in the rocks and large bass to 25 pounds have been coming in the Breachway with the tide with a lot of bait. So much bait that the bass have been hard to catch with artificial lures. Anglers are catching striped bass at night using eels… From the beaches anglers have been hammering the bluefish in the five to ten pound range making it difficult to catch a bass from the beach."

Tautog fishing reports have been spotty as anglers have not focused on targeting tautog. John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & tackle said, "We had a few customers give tautog fishing a try but they gave it up as they caught nothing but shorts (minimum size for tautog is 16").

Striped bass fishing has slowed right down in the Bay with the water warming up quite a bit. "A few school bass here and there have been taken in the Bay but very few fish. A few large bass are being taken off Bonnet Shores, Beavertail and Newport. Guys are trolling tube and worm and using eels to catch them. But there are not a lot of fish. Things have slowed at Block Island too with a lot of bluefish, so you have to take a lot of eels to catch a bass." Angler Kevin Bettencourt of Riverside said, "Shane, my oldest son, at 13 years old made the overnight trip (to Block Island last week) and landed a 48" bass at 3:30 a.m. We were using live eels. Although long, the fish had no girth to it and only weighed in at 35 lbs. For its length it should have been 40+… My fished taped out at 45" and weighed 35 lbs as well."

Black sea bass and scup. "Anglers are catching black sea bass and scup at just about every rock pile in the Bay. It is the only consistent action on the Bay." said Ken Landry of Ray's Bait & Tackle. Mt Hope Bay on both sides of the bridge is yielding plenty of black sea bass and scup.

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing for over 40 years. He holds a captain's master license and a charter fishing license. Visit Captain Dave's No Fluke website at www.noflukefishing.

com or e-mail him with your fishing news and photos at dmontifish@verizon.net.

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