Remember the good hearted squabbles between former mayors Scott Avedisian and Allan Fung over whether Warwick or Cranston was the second largest city in Rhode Island and which of them should get the 20000 license plate? At one point Warwick lost second place to Cranston according to the US Census, but then Avedisian and his successor Joseph Solomon questioned if the inmates at the Adult Corrections Institute in Cranston should have been included in the count. If they weren’t in the count, Warwick had the bragging rights as number two.

Now there’s a new ranking and Cranston isn’t anywhere near the top if, in fact, not on the list at all.

Warwick is the third best fishing town in the state according to FishingBooker, that touts being the world’s largest platform for booking fishing trips.  Under the FishingBooker scoring, Narragansett is top ranked in the Ocean State followed by Portsmouth and then Warwick.  Rankings are based on six key criteria. Using data collected over the past year from more than 100,000 fishing trips and reviews on the FishingBooker site the survey took into consideration at the number of available fishing charters; average review score; average recommended score, number of guides with the Angler’s Choice Award, number of bookings and minimum price of a fishing trip.

Captain Dave Monti, whose weekly fishing column “No Fluke” appears in Beacon Media newspapers and paper across the state, however, argues Warwick should be ranked first.

“Based on shore fishing dominating I believe Warwick to be the top rec fishing city in RI as it has more coastline, with more people, more access than any other town in RI.  Ocean coastal communities like Narragansett have a lot of coastline, but many shore anglers cannot afford to get there to fish, particularly urban fishers,” he wrote in an email.

Monti said for years Rhode Island charter license hovered at 250 with 55 of those belonging to the RI Party & Charter Boat Association (RIPCBA).  He believes the number climbed to close to 300 licenses during COVID.

In a follow up email to the press release, Vanja Polovina at FishingBooker, said this was the first campaign comparing fishing “towns.”

“In previous campaigns, we focused on comparing states. In our 2023 survey, Rhode Island ranked in the top 10 states in the USA, placing 8th overall, just below Maryland and above Louisiana. The state's strongest performance was in the financial category, where it ranked highly for affordable fishing licenses and trip prices,” Polovina wrote in an email. A total of 24 Rhode Island charters were used in calculating the rankings.

Placing eighth overall in the country isn’t the way Rich Hittinger, an avid fisherman and member of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association sees it.  Hittinger has cast a line in many states and, in fact, used FishingBooker to book a charter in Tahiti for a day of fishing, which turned out to be less active than he had hoped for.

“That’s why they call it fishing,” he said.

“Rhode Island in general is one of best places in all of the United States, especially in the summer,” he said. Hittinger pointed to the diversity of species caught in Rhode Island from striped bass, blue fish and tautaug in Bay waters to blue fin tuna, a variety of sharks and even tarpon off shore. Hittinger put the cost of fishing charters from $400 a day for small boat with a couple of fishermen to $1,100 for a larger boat and a party of six.

And what’s the economic impact of recreational fishing?

Monti said in 2018 NOAA reported on the annual economic impact of recreational fishing on the state including durable goods such as boats, engines, etc. was $418 million.  He believes 20 to 25 percent of the total can be attributed to charter fishing.