Fishing Forecast – June Full Moon

Striped Bass

If you’re a striped bass fisherman in the northeast, the June full moon is as exciting as it gets. There are good numbers of big bass both in the bay and out front. Everyone from boat, kayak, or surf has a real shot at a giant. That said, there’s tons of small bait around and the fly fishermen or light tackle enthusiasts are still having good action. The small bait is a mix of several different species, but the two most predominant right now around the bay seem to be juvenile herring and sand eels. Check out our Striper Fliesand Bonito & Albie Fliesfor some good presentations to match the hatch on the fly. For light spin gear, topwater like the Rebel Jumpin’ Minnow, Game On! 4” X-Walk, Game On! 6” X-Walk, and Yo-Zuri TopKnock Pencilare all going to get the job done. You can never go wrong with a minnow style plug like the SP Minnow, Nomad Shakiri,or Joe Baggs Swarterfor a subsurface presentation. On the really calm nights, the Cotton Cordell Redfinis a great option. Especially with the full moon coming up, it’s a blast watching fish blow up on a wake bait. It’s hard not to mention Albie Snax, too. Those things just work. If you’re fishing from boat or kayak, especially with electronics, you’ll see the clouds of small bait down toward bottom or suspended in the column. Good options for fishing vertically are Epoxy Jigs, Bucktails,and small soft plastics like the NLBN 3” Paddletail, Zoom Fluke, RonZ Straight Tail.

With all that said, big presentations are still catching big fish. The Doc is still taking big day time fish. Although, with the water temps in the bay in the upper 60s the low-light hours seem to be more key than they were a couple weeks ago. You can still get on a good topwater feed in the middle of the day, but it seems to be happening less frequently, especially with the bigger bass. Low-light conditions have been productive. Big paddle tails and straight tails are still getting it done, too. The NLBN 8” Paddle Tailand NLBN 8” Straight Tailare both great big bait presentations to try and cull bigger fish. Live eels and plastic eel imitations are still doing well, too. The Gravity Tackle 13.5” Eelcontinues to crush big bass. I’ve been loving the BKK Titan Diverwhen I want to fish low and slow. The BKK Titan Rideris great hook fishing big plastics weightless. The tube bite is also getting hot out front, so if you're on boat or kayak make sure to pick up some Trolling Tubes.

Big day time bass taken in the bay recently.

Fluke - Heating Up! 

The fluking continues to improve with more and bigger fish moving in.  We still have a couple more weeks (hopefully) before the draggers do their thing, so now is one of the best times to get out there and fill the freezer. The limit this year is six fish at 19” in Rhode Island, so the freezer-filling potential is there if you can get on a good bite. Right now, you can catch them in as little as five feet, as deep as 60+, or just about anywhere in between. That said, this time of year is a great opportunity to use light tackle in shallow(ish) water to make the most of the fight. There is tons of small bait around, both in the bay and out front. If you can find the bait, you’re in business. Having bait on the screen has been key. Whether it’s squid, juvenile herring, or sand eels (all of the above are present right now) the fluke will be under them. Smaller presentations have been working well. Four and five inch Gulp! has been working its magic. Z-Man Doormatadorz and Baitfuel Grub are also scented soft plastics that will catch. I generally fish white or pink baits for fluke, but chartreuse has been my go-to so far this spring. Zoom Flukesare another of my favorites. I’ll usually smother it with Pro Cureas fluke respond really well to scent, but when the bite is hot you really don’t need it. Epoxy Jigshave also been a good option with the small bait around.

Eric with a beautiful fluke last week.

Black Sea Bass - The Best Eats Around

Black sea bass are in and the fishing is starting to get hot. The best thing about fishing for black sea bass is they are generally very willing to eat. Of course that’s not always the case, but more often than not they’ll jump on whatever you drop near them. This makes them the perfect fish to bring kids, or maybe just someone that’s new to fishing. They’re also beautiful and taste great. If you’re looking to keep the rods bent, they will eat metals and epoxies all day long. A bigger presentation will help cull the bigger ones from the school. I usually like a good-sized paddletail, like the NLBN 5” Paddletailor RonZ Z-Fin Paddletail. They’ll take big straight tails too, like the 7” Hogy, Lunker City FinS Fish, Zoom Magnum 7” Fluke,or anything similar. They’ll be in just about any depth this time of year, but structure is the most important thing. Black sea bass love to hang out around reefs, wrecks rockpiles, etc. The down-current side of humps and structure are usually where they stack up. They show up very well on sonar, usually in big schools. Although structure is important for targeting them, big black sea bass will often wander solo or in pairs rather than with a school. There’s a pretty good chance you’ll run into some good ones while you’re fluking with no structure around, which is always a nice surprise.