RI Fish Report Blog. May 14 - May 21

[Capt.Castafly]

The fish blog was created as a common communal gathering place to share and report weekly fishing activity. Having this information in one thread benefits those who greatly use this RI forum and ply our local waters. The premise is to gather all weekly reports into one common portal, thus making it easy to access, view and add your own fish reports.   This is the fifth year for this type of approach. Post your success or skunks, either way, black or white, zero to hero, let us all know if the bite is good or bad.  Fresh, factual information is one of the best sources of Intel we have at our disposal to predict where the better fishing will be tomorrow.   

 

Friday marked the transition between five days of cold and wind to more manageable winds and warmer weather.

It's just what many of us were waiting for. Lots of open water fishing in the upper bay with stripers ranging from shorts to a few keeper size.

Small bait is still rather scares, so the surface action doesn't last long, but soon will pop up in another area close by.

They are not too aggressive since they are moving slowly near the surface.

[VitaminDee]

Returned to my rocky beach for togs yesterday and they seemed to move somewhere else, only 4 togs after a long outing with 2 other friends. Beautiful days are ahead of us!

[AClarke]

Just finished up at a popular spot in south county. Got out a little after sunrise through the tide slacking off. No visible action, lots of other fisherman moving around no one catching. I have a lot of confidence the fish were there but just weren’t biting. Maybe the outgoing would have turned the switch on but don’t have the time today. 

[Pescador710]

Went searching for fresh weakfish arrivals in the backwaters of the upper bay. No weakfish but fresh schoolies kept me busy. Stripers from 20” to just shy of slot. I’m confident there were a few keepers in the mix. Jumpin minnow did the most damage. Spring skinny water topwater fish is a fun little fishery.

[SlackTideBri]

No shortage of mung and heard a dragger no more than 2 clicks offshore last night...might be some correlation there. Bait appeared to be small shad the way they somersaulted out of the water but could be mistaken. First time out was greeted by a seal and took a wave in the kisser....yep, good to be home.  

 

[Sayaintso]

Went out front yesterday morning and no action what so ever on plugs but my buddy caught a couple 26-27in schoolies using fresh squid. He also had to weed through a bunch of skate, after the 7th or 8th skate we knew it was time to move on out so we ended up flipping rocks for some crabs and went out for tog, the bite was ok for tog but how ever the bite for scup was on  fire! Huge ones to in the mix! managed to get a bucket full to split between 4 people and 3 nice 17,17,18in togs to end the session. Tight lines everyone

[Joser]

4 hours ago, SlackTideBri said:

No shortage of mung and heard a dragger no more than 2 clicks offshore last night...might be some correlation there. Bait appeared to be small shad the way they somersaulted out of the water but could be mistaken. First time out was greeted by a seal and took a wave in the kisser....yep, good to be home.  

 

I was wayyyy un in Buzzards bay yesterday and couldn't fish through the mung. not sure why but is seems like it was everywhere? Big tides maybe?

[Hill]

Yesterday, kid hooked a keeper tog in about 2 feet of water on a 1/0 hook with worm, start of incoming. Good times.

[Kooky]

Big tide and picky fish tonight. Threw the bag at them, they would only follow spooks. Lots of swirls and half bumps right behind the plug and especially on pause.  2 takers but very frustrating night. 

[cow tamer]

7 hours ago, Kooky said:

Big tide and picky fish tonight. Threw the bag at them, they would only follow spooks. Lots of swirls and half bumps right behind the plug and especially on pause.  2 takers but very frustrating night. 

Love that top water action. Lot's of times, should they miss it, they seem don't seem to stick around. Other times they'll keep on at it.

[Kooky]

1 hour ago, cow tamer said:

Love that top water action. Lot's of times, should they miss it, they seem don't seem to stick around. Other times they'll keep on at it.

A few nights ago they would charge back at it till they made solid contact, last night they would not commit. I would follow up with an unweighted Fin-s or something else with a slightly different look but nope.  They would only follow the spook.  Im blaming the big moon tide....

 

Also PSA if you havent packed your bug spray now is the time, biting gnats and mosquitos were out in force last night.

[bdowning]

11 hours ago, Kooky said:

Big tide and picky fish tonight. Threw the bag at them, they would only follow spooks. Lots of swirls and half bumps right behind the plug and especially on pause.  2 takers but very frustrating night. 

Out front was mophead city with weeds last nite. Big tides and huge full moon are really stirring things up. Found fish but had to go way inside. Some salad there too but less.

[Capt.Castafly]

John Edwards and Dave Pollack were onboard today for a full day trip, later adjusted to four hours due to increase winds. This morning was cold and foggy but the wind was blowing well from the south once we left the cove. Visibility cleared after a few hours, and we were greeted by blue skies and scattered clouds. We found no schools of bait or working birds anywhere in the upper bay. We did spot the pogy boat fishing south of Providence Point close to the shipping channel.

 

We were very, lucky having a productive day, fishing in the lee in shallow places.   

We maybe release 20 stripers of all sizes. Dave Pollack had the biggest maybe 15 lbs. while John was slightly smaller at 10. One nice surprise we caught an 8 lbs. weakfish, had it almost into netting range and it pulled the hook. Sorry no pictures.

 

 

[UPSmanMatt]

Clean water, fog and big waves last night. Sub slot fish. 

[LockedDrag]

18 hours ago, Kooky said:

Big tide and picky fish tonight. Threw the bag at them, they would only follow spooks. Lots of swirls and half bumps right behind the plug and especially on pause.  2 takers but very frustrating night. 

Funny. That’s been the story for me on topwater this year so far. Halfhearted swirls