Fishing Forecast - July Full Moon
The summer doldrums are taking over. Fishing has been tough and the weather has been even worse. There are plenty of positives to discuss, but it's just that time of year things tend to slow down. On the bright side, the lull in the season is just a temporary situation. The other side of the summer doldrum holds the early fall run - surface-feeding bass, hardtails, heaps of bait and plenty more. Some time around early August, the "fall run" begins to take shape. Although we're still pretty far from fall on the calendar, you can often feel it in the air, and you can certainly see it with the fish and how their behavior shifts. We have that to look forward to in the next couple of weeks. For now, the striped bass bite is tough but they are around in decent numbers if you can make it work around the sharks. The bottom fishing has been solid with the black sea bass bite picking up nicely. There are a handful of bonito around, though not quite like the summers of the past couple of years yet. There are also a mix of Atlantic mackerel and chub mackerel around, too. Unfortunately there hasn't been much going on offshore as far as recreational tuna go, but there are plenty of giants to be had.
Striped Bass
This time of year is the most difficult for bass fishermen. If you have access to a boat, you have a leg up, but things still haven't been easy for the boat guys. You may find a pile of fish one day and go back the next day to a ghost town. When you do find a pile of fish, there's a good chance they're finicky and tricky to fool. We've been hearing about this a lot at the shop and been running into it ourselves. From the surf, if you can find fish there's a strong chance there are brown sharks in the area just waiting for an opportunity. In the next couple of weeks things should improve. For now, I'd still start with larger-profile baits and work may way down to something smaller. Big soft plastics like the Hogy Originaland 13" BWB Bag Manhave both been great. If you're on boat or kayak and looking to cover water, it's a good time to drag a Butchie Built Tubebehind you with a piece of FishBites as a trailer for scent. Big spooks like The Doc,Yo Zuri Mag Pencil,or JoeBaggs Skipperare all worth a shot during low-light conditions. Big spooks will draw fish up from deep all summer long. Speaking of drawing fish, glide baits are still producing as well. The Berkley Chop Block,Shimano Gravitator, Yo-Zuri Pro Glide,and Lemire's Plugworks Gliderare all great options. If you're fishing the surf, Needlefishhave been doing the most damage lately. It's also a good time to start using a Striper Flyor Red Gillas a teaser above your plug if you aren't already. With smaller bait present and finicky bass, this can be the difference between a great night and a bad one. Be careful of the sharks. They moved in thick recently and are here to stay until the fall. Take the precautions to keep yourself safe, but also to protect the bass. Feeding bass to the sharks is a lose-lose scenario. If you get sharked, move on to another spot.
Schoolie bass caught on a white Albie Snax.
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Striped bass picks mentioned above
Bottom Fishing
The bottom fishing has been solid recently, and should only get better as August rolls around. The fluke bite hasn't changed too much - some nice fish mixed in, but a huge percentage of landed fish are short of the 19" mark. Fishing rigs like the Teezer Fluke Slider Rigor Flippin Out Fluke Rigwith a big bait is one way to cull out a keeper-sized fluke. Large Bucktailsor a Tsunami Ball Head Jigwith a big bait or 8" Gulpshould also help to avoid the little shorts. The black sea bass bite has picked up how you'd expect and will only get better. Just about every rock or hump out front is loaded with a pile of hungry sea bass. Drop a Metal/Epoxy Jigand they will be all over it. To cull a bigger fish, try a 5+ inch soft plastic like an NLBN Paddletail,JygPro Swym,or 6-7.5" Slug-go.The scup bite is also on fire. Similar to sea bass, they are always willing to hit a small jig. If you want a cheat code, tip your jig with a small piece of FishBites and you're sure to get on them. We also have Porgy Rigsthat can be tipped with FishBites or squid, clam, etc.
Solid black sea bass on a Hogy Epoxy Jig.
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Bottom fishing picks mentioned above
Offshore
Due to the weather, there haven't been many people running out to the midshore grounds on a regular basis, so there isn't too much to report. There are numbers of giant bluefin at the windmills with a spattering of rec-sized fish mixed in the area, but it seems to be overwhelmingly dominated by giants out there for now. I'd expect the recreational fishing to pick up in the next couple of weeks here. There is plenty of bait and life, so I would hope that once they do move into RI waters, they'll stick around for a while. Hopefully we get some weather windows to get out there consistently and really figure something out. If you're going out to look, we have a few different Spreader Barsand Splasher Barsto troll and hunt for a bite. The jig/pop bite hasn't really taken off yet, but as soon as some numbers show up and stick around, make sure you're fully stocked on UVT Jigs,Hogy Sandeel Jigs,and Point Jude Deep Force Jigs.The RonZis also a must have. The new UVT Chieflooks like a very cool alternative to the RonZ, though I haven't personally seen them in action yet. Overall, things are off to a slow start mostly due to the weather. That should change in the coming weeks and hopefully we have a stellar late summer and fall to make up for it.
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