2002 ARCHIVED FISHING REPORTS
November 12, 2002
November has brought some larger fish to the Island with a couple over 40lbs
caught so far. 15 - 20 pounders are about average right now. The
bait has all but left the inner ponds and the winter population of seals are
already showing up. The action has not been as red hot as past years
- some nights live eels wouldn't even produce. But putting in the time
will get you fish. Bucktail jigs with pork rind has been successful.
On the fly; large eel and bunker patterns are getting bites. Most
success from the beach has been at dusk and through the night. We should
have nice bass passing through all the way into December so head on out before
it gets to cold!
-CW
Oct 19, 2002
The weather has been a real pisser - I had to break out the surf rod and stow
the fly gear for a few days as it blew 20+ for a week. But we have had
some nice mornings with bass and ablies still being taken from shore as well as
the occasional bonito. The North Light has been popular lately. Eels
at night are regularly catching 20lb bass around the Island. Bunker and
silversides are still in the inner ponds and the Great Salt Pond. The Fall
migration will bring larger fish accessible from shore through
November.
FROM Capt Mitch on the Sakarak:
This week has been plagued with high winds and bad weather. It seems that this
Easterly wind doesn't want top give up. On the days we did make it out the
fishing was very good, yielding plenty of green bonito and a sampling of
blue-fin tuna. Striper fishing has very good when the weather has co-operated
and bluefish have invaded the entire south shore and are accompanied by false
albacore and even a few green bonito. One fellow fishing from Georges wall, also
known as the Gallilee breach way wall landed a ten pound greenie.
Hopefully the weather will settle down and the Fall migration will get underway
once again. Fishing should go well into November this year with some stragglers
lingering till December. We'll be fishing right through then. -GOOD
FISHING CAPT. MITCH
Oct 1, 2002
The Block Island Inshore Fishing Tournament was a success despite the forecast
for bad weather. Just about everyone was stuck on the beach until Saturday
morning when a couple boats made it out. All species were caught this year
with seven anglers walking away with some nice prizes - see the tourney
page for the full report.
With the crowds gone and plenty of time to fish we have found that all the
popular points on the island are holding fish. As long as the weather
holds up we should have a very good fall. When fishing the Island remember
the Island is small enough that you can find fish if you look around. The
favorite question in the shop is 'where should I go?' Well the answer is
'anywhere there's saltwater' - but you'll have to fish it for more than thirty
minutes and if it's not 'hot' then try the next spot. On an Island 3miles
X 7miles - its not hard - but you have to look and fish. Saturday had
bass, blues, bonito, and F. albacore inside the pond. Sunday was a good day at
North Light with bass and bluefish feeding heavy. The peanut bunker are
4" now and big patterns work. Let the fly sink below the bait and
give it a 'crippled bait' retrieve. Capt Pete and Capt Chris headed to the
mudhole on Monday and found 25+ boats chunking. We were very happy to find
some eager false albacore on our first casts, each over 10lbs - no school
bluefin though.
FROM CAPT MITCH: Well, here I sit on a Saturday again, because I canceled
prematurely. The weather isn't anywhere as bad as they predicted, although
the wind howled last night for quite awhile, quitting about four am. None the
less son Chris is out mating on the Jackie C so I guess it wasn't that
bad. The bonito are still in the mud hole although they have slowed down a
little since my last report. Hopefully a few nice days will get the action going
again. Striped bass are getting better by the day with some great fishing
to be found all around the Island on most of the favorite areas. Sea bass are
also a great bet right now with some fish pushing the four and five
pound mark. We don't see that too often. I still have open days and will
available right through the month of October. If there is only one or two of you
let me know and maybe we can slip you in on a Wednesday day when I routinely
take out Friends and get as little fishing in myself.
GOOD FISHIN
CAPT. MITCH
Sept 22, 2002
The Inshore action has been hot and cold -
getting colder as the full moon approached but shots for Bonito and F.Albacore
came when the tide is running hard through the Cut. Harbor blues are in
the pond and have provided some fun action if you can draw there attention from
the loads of peanut bunker - something we have not seen in
years. Bass are being taken from the East beaches and some in New Harbor
in the early morning. Mark Northup of Sandy Point Fly Leader Co. visited
his home turf for his brothers wedding and managed to get in some solid days of
fishing. On Tues (9/17) Capt. Pete Farrell took Mark, his wife Jill, and
me to Montauk for the afternoon bite - and it was ON FIRE! Albies, bass,
and blues were on the surface and the action was great fun - we will have
pictures posted soon. Each of us landed (and broke off) our share of these
hard fighting fish. Capt Pete is on the Cape this week and we are getting
ready for the Tournament weekend.
From CAPT MITCH of the
SAKARAK: Well the Fall run of bluefin tuna has finally gotten
underway inshore, or should I say within the easy grasp of the Sakarak. Tuna
have showed up south of the Island on the 700 line and along the 825 line in
other places along with a healthy dash of Atlantic bonito ( green bonito) If you
like catching these small speedsters, now is the time. They can easily be taken
on the fly when they are in the chum slick as they have been this week. Light
spinning or conventional tackle is another option. The other notable
occurrence this week was the arrival of hordes of
extremely large sea bass around the Island. I'm talking three and four pound
fish. The largest was taken yesterday by a south County Elk on their yearly
trip. Mr. Bush, known affectionately by his Elk brothers as Bushy took a
5lb 2oz fish off southwest ledge. A major celebration was undertaken at the
annual pig roast held at the Elks lodge.By the end of the evening I think had
grown to a respectable thirty or so pounds. Striped bass has up and down
this week and definitely down today after
the full moon last night. this should improve though by the middle of the
week. With tuna, bonito, striped bass, large sea bass and slimmer porgies
all around in good numbers, the next week should be an interesting one to say
the least. The only problem I'll be having is trying to make up the minds of my
customers what to pursue.
See you all next week.
GOOD FISHIN
Capt. Mitch Chagnon
Sept 4, 2002
Some traditions are meant to be broken and the traditional crappy weather for
Labor Day is one of them. Six days of east wind - 20-30knts - is enough to piss
anyone off. We had gusts to 40 in the Great Salt Pond. It all ended with a nice
little thunder storm. The only good thing is the amount of rain we got which
should replenish the ponds. Anyway... Capt Pete and I got out for a scouting
trip today and found all four fall species here - bass, blues, bonito, and
albies. There is an amazing amount of bait - baby bunker and siversides - loads
of it. Have you ever seen the Air Jaws special - White Sharks breeching as they
maul little seals? Well the blues were doing just that - straight up through the
middle of a bait ball and getting airborn. The bonito would barrel through
occasionally with the bass scattered about. This is the first time in awhile
that the fish have been on the surface with birds working. The fall looks like
it should shape up to be a lot better that July and August for fly fishing -
September and October are the best months to come out to the Island. Capt. Mitch
Chagnons Sakarak report below sums up the rest of the Block Island scene. All
those interested in the BLOCK ISLAND INSHORE FISHING TOURNY should email us ASAP
- Tight Lines - CW
FROM CAPT MITCH ABOARD THE SAKARAK:
Well, true to form the Labor day weekend saw northeast winds once again. It
seems this happens every year at least for two of the three day weekend. Since
Labor day is also the true beginning of my offshore season I have found myself
sitting here at my computer instead of off-shore watching a spread of tuna
baits. In any event, the inshore fishing is starting to come alive once again,
with new arrivals of false albacore and a few Green bonito. Don't know where the
action will move to after the six days of Northeast wind quits but, I'm sure
someone will stumble on them within the next few days. Bass and bluefish
are all over the bay and the South shore, Sea bass and scup are also all over
the place along the South shore s well as around Block Island. few Fluke are
also still around the Island in few spots and along the south shore in 60-70
feet of water. News from the canyons and past the sixty fathom edge is scarce,
since the weather has been out of the East. We still have some openings
for the upcoming month, if anyone is interested. Hopefully I'll have some better
news next week regarding the
offshore scene.
GOOD FISHIN
CAPT. MITCH
8/12/02
Lets get right to it...
The fishing is hard this week - no question - but bait has appeared in the
harbor which is a great - the Bass have been working the entrance on the little
stuff and have proven to be difficult to catch. The South side and the
North point are producing from the beaches in the early AM or very late PM with
the daytime best from a boat. Then Bonito have made their official
appearance with Capt Pete Farrell and client landing the first on the fly for
the season. Frigate Mackerel are also in the Great Salt Pond - they fight
like a mini Albie and are great fun on Light Tackle. J&B's Tackle
Tri-State Tuna Tourny is going on right now stationed out of the Block Island
Boat Basin. The majority of boats coming in tonite - the offshore report
will be updated... Here is Capt. Mitch Chagnon's words of wisdom for the
last two weeks...
8/11/02 For the better part of the
week, the Sakarak stayed close to the
Island. The Northerly wind we had dampened any offshore prospects, and
the results from the wind made Saturday and Sunday both very hard for
the customers to swallow. Both days we set out around the horns and the
Butterfish hole only to find a very dead ocean. We marked fish in a few
places and even saw a few on Sunday but the action there was
non-existent, at least for us.
Striped bass fishing has good for the most part, with
the very best
we could ask for occurring on Thursday night for Dave Pacia and his crew.
Drifting eels across the North rip produced every drift with many of the
fish going over the 40" mark. Sea bass and scup have also been moving
in in greater numbers.
Hopefully the warmer weather and the upcoming change in the
moon will
put the off-shore action back in the lime light. Striped bass should
stay good and bluefishing should also be a good bet.
GOOD FISHIN
CAPT. MITCH
8/3/02
Sorry I haven't posted a report for awhile ,but I have been out on
Block Island on a working vacation, so to speak. On the fishing scene, I
really can't overemphasize how good it has been. With such a short run
to the fishing grounds each day we have been fishing non-stop over the
past two weeks. Inshore we have had excellent luck with the striped bass
and bluefish as well as some great bottom fishing for sea bass and
fluke.
Off-shore, we have continually hit pay dirt with bluffing to
85 pounds.
Most of the fish have been either in the twenty pound range or in the
forty pound range, indicating that we definitely have two groups of fish
now. The beginning of last week we were catching mostly sub legal and
barely legal fish. By Tuesday that had changed and we got into some
biggest fish, never going farther South that the 43750 line. A few
Yellow Fin and some bigger blue fin have been around the 14700 x43700
and just West of the Dump. We have had oceanic bonito and Atlantic
bonito also from the 800 line South.
Hope you all have a great week. See you out there.
Capt. Mitch
7/26/02
Do you know how hard it is to fly fish in a 15-20knot breeze? The past
week has been nothing but East wind and rain. Early in the week no one
left the dock due to the weather. Those that managed to get out did have
success on the bottom bait fishing. We had a few kids trips this week
catching big scup, sea bass, and fluke. 10 year old James Balser
reeled in his first striped bass with us on Thursday. Capt. Pete
Farrell managed a few small bass on a scouting trip this morning at the
rip. The Butterfish have shown up in Old Harbor and some bait has made an
appearance in New Harbor. Another 50lber was hauled in South of the Island
on an umbrella rig last week - big fish are around and in deep water. We
have a new green crab pattern and butterfish patterns we will try this week as
the 'bad' weather should pass today. We finally got in the new Storm Soft
Plastics - and they work great, Mullet color is hot right now. The
offshore report will be delayed until we have news how the weather effected the
grounds...
7/20/02
Bass and Blues have moved to striking distance from the shore in good
numbers. Success has been reported all around on fly and spin.
Needlefish and Bombers are working for surf casters and small baitfish patterns
on the fly. Mitch of the Sakarak sent the following report:
The week went reasonably well with great weather nd good fishing. Fished
everyday with the exception of Friday. Most trips concentrated on striped
bass and blues. Both have been in great supply with some bigger fish moving in
during the middle of the week. We made two brief foray's offshore on
Wednesday and Thursday but didn't go where we should have. Large
schools af ABT had invaded the area around the claw and 31 fathom
hole. Good signs of tuna were also seen South of coxes on Monday by the
KAHUNA 14378/43770 on his way home. The SAKARAK
concentrated on the area around tuna ridge 14475/43750 to
just below the Island 14550/43750. We caught a few tuna both days. Most
wee thirty to forty pounds with Thursday day seeing a mixture of thirty
pound fish and small sub legal bluffing. 27"-28" Tagged a couple each
day.
7/13/02
The fish are hungry this week as anglers from the beach and boat are all
reporting success - and the fish aren't as finicky as the last two weeks.
Mitch Chagnon said this new moon should turn it on and he was right. Greg
Snow of Snow Fly charters had a great mornings this week catching fish from
shore - he landed a 37" this morning. Gurglers have been working as
well as long flatwings. A 50lber was caught trolling early in the week by
Bill Gould on the G Willie Makit, and Bill also caught the first bonito of the
season trolling the south side. Steve Miller of Storm Petrel has kept all
his clients happy all week with 20 and 30lb fish. A few of us were out on
Tuesday night and found a bunch of bass sipping on the surface on the little
tiny shrimp/brine/crustaceans - all efforts were fruitless as we had
nothing that even resembled what they were eating. The first reports of
tuna offshore are in and we are trying like hell to get out with the flyrods.
Hopefully by the next report we will have a tuna story...
7/6/02
A busy week here on Block Island as the 4th of July brings out boats and people
in droves and the weather was fantastic. We had great trips this week -
Paul Koopman and two friends, Mark and Martin, jumped on our boat for a perfect
morning at Southwest Point. Martin caught his first bluefish and striper
that day - all caught on camera - using the ever popular Sluggo. Paul
hauled in one that pushed 32" on the money fly - Bonito Magic. Mark
got his striper at the rip with one of his own ties. At one point we had
all three rods bent over with fish on! This was a great morning of
fishing.
July 4th week is also Lou Eagle's annual trip to Block Island. Lou fished
with us four mornings in a row and did well on the beach with some of his own
fly patterns landing several fish from 22"-30".
The following party boat report comes from Mitch Chagnon Capt of the 'Sakarak:
My mid-week report isn't the most
encouraging, but after all the fantastic fishing we have had this your it seems
like the bottom has fallen out. Most trips saw a mixture of striped bass, Fluke
and bluefish. We had to work hard to make the day but the fish are still
there. I'm sure the fishing will improve when we go past the new moon.
School tuna and a few giants have been spotted on the offshore grounds, right on
schedule. A few albacore and small yellow fin also made their way into the fish
box of a few anglers. Capt. Alex Petrucci and a couple other boats found some
fish at the dip and the West side of the Hudson. Off to the East there is
still a lot of good water coming. Usually the first good off-shore catches show
up this week just ahead of the new moon (new moon July 10th) - Good
Fishing - Mitch
7/1/02
Back from Chicago... all I can say is ouch! My liver will never forgive
me! The wedding was a HOOT and Mark and his lovely bride Jill are off to
the Canary Islands. Capt Pete and I did make an attempt to locate some
fishing - it was a slimy creek feeding the golf course and it held some carp -
we think... after spotting a dead, bloated raccoon, and getting scorched by the
95 degree heat, we decided there was better fishing in the bar - and we were
right. Anyway...
Back to the Island - the first trip of July was at 4am this morning. A
10kt breeze at 4am isn't the best sign for fly fishing but Capt Paul Koopman, a
guide from Rowayton CT visiting the Island, handled the weather like the
experienced guide he is and landed a 26" Bass with a Bonito Magic
fly. If you haven't fished CT email Paul at koop@optonline.net
for a trip. Our Capt's have a busy holiday week ahead and are sure to have
some good reports! Tight Lines...
6/24/02
A few of us are off to Capt. Mark Northup's wedding in Chicago so let me get
this report in...
Crustaceans is the theme of the week. If you have a crab pattern and are
around the island - us it. The charter boats report crabs and lobsters in
the bellies and tailing fish have been reported in close - early morning.
Fish can be sighted on the flats but spook easy due to the increased boat
activity in the harbor. The weather has been fantastic lately with early
morning the best time to fish. Capt. Mitch Chagnon aboard 'Sakarak' had
great success this week with fish from 32-48lbs. then a slew of bluefish the
next day - anything to bend a rod is great fun. Capt. Steve Miller on Storm
Petrel had three fish in the 30lb class this morning. Troy Milstead
spearfished a 44" 31lb bass yesterday - his biggest yet. And for
those who frown upon spearfishing - let me say this, spearfishermen give
the most accurate report of fish presence along the shore and most are
not hacks, they are a great source of information for fly and spin fishing
from the beach. Another good source of info are the lobstermen - if you
know one get on his/her good side and ask questions. As someone who did a
little bit of hauling for a lobster boat, I can tell you we see alot through the
course of 200-300 pots. If your plugging success is still with the all
black stickbait, sluggo's, and the 'Kobe' popper. The conditions are prime
for a worm hatch tonite or tomorrow. Start at 10pm and fish till
3am - I have a 7:15 ferry to catch tomorrow and I'm still going fishing
tonite!
6/19/02
This was 'guide night' as Peter Farrell of Blockhead Charters, Chris Willi of
Block Island Fishworks, and spin expert Jodi Harvey headed to the North Point in
an impromptu 'fish off.' An evening sunset bite was on and proved to be
exciting action as each drift gave us hits and fish. Jodi fished a black
stickbait that fooled five fish - the biggest being 12lbs. Pete went
with the brighter colors and got one to the boat. Willi had a 8"
flatwing that enticed several strikes with one boated. All in all, not bad
action for an hour or so. With the score 5-1-1, the men in the boat
lost - costing us the drinks at Dead Eye Dicks. The fish have arrived so
let the summer begin.
6/17/02
The fishing has turned on as the
water has warmed up and the cold weather moved out. The rough weather did
beat the shoreline up bringing in fish to chomp on the bait and crabs caught in
the mix. 20"-36" fish have been taken on the fly with sand eel
and silverside imitations working best. Our charter captains have taken
bigger fish, 20lb-36lb, on trips this week. The nooks and crannies of the
west side of the island have produced and the North Rip has been good for
plugging - as long as other boats don't put the fish down. If you make it
to the Island stop in the shop for the most current report and the latest
arsenal for fish on the Island.
We at Block Island Fishworks send our sympathies to the family and friends of Kenneth Schwam who died this past week while guiding on the Vineyard. This can happen to any of us so take the proper precautions and stay safe this season! Click here for the story Martha's Vineyard Guide Dies.
6/10/02
Bait has appeared around the Island in larger numbers bringing more fish close
to the shoreline. Plugging around rocks and structure on the West side has
produced fish in the 32"-36" range and those fly fishing prefer the
surface flies like sliders and gurglers. Spearfishermen are reporting
larger schools with larger fish on the South side coinciding with the steady
increase of fish being caught from the beach. This next week should see
the start of the Block Island season!
6/4/02
Fish are being taken on the fly sporadically from the outer beaches and inner
ponds. The flies of choice are the Bonito Magic (sand eel / silverside
imitation) and skinny epoxy sand eels. Mid-day fishing is
mediocre so concentrate on dawn and dusk, and try to play the tides in your
favor. The word is Narragansett Bay is still going strong with squid as
the primary bait and the worm hatch over in Point Judith was very good.
Our Charter Boat Captains are reporting success trolling around the Island -
concentrating on structure and depth, with medium sized bass and bluefish being
taken.
5/27/02
The first stripers were taken on the fly late this year. The fishing was
done at 1am on the outgoing tide with sand eel patterns. Size ranged from
26" to 8" - that's right - 8"! Light tackle enthusiast,
Jodi Harvey, hit two stripers casting from the East side of the Island, and the
Charter Boats report Bass and Bluefish around the Island. We expect it to
heat up in the middle of June - with good report coming from Narragansett Bay,
Point Judith, and the Cape and Islands.