New England - Rhode Island Fishing Reports

The big news of the week is the improving blackfishing. We’re hearing reports of fish coming from depths as shallow as 30 feet and down as deep as 70 feet. They’re on the cod grounds, they’re on the reefs and they’re up in the bay too. Striped bass are starting spread out now and the South County Beaches, Breachways, Watch Hill, salt ponds, upper bay and Aquidneck Island, all have fish. These fish are mostly smaller, so sticking with smaller lures and single hooks is your best bet. Weakfish numbers seem to be on the rise in Rhode Island with several fish reported from the bay last week and two more this week from beach. Hopefully this means we’re going to see more of them around this season. Lastly, the cod fishing has been called a slow pick by most this week, but at least some of this can be attributed to the windy weather which has kept many boats off the water and made for difficult drift conditions for those that went out anyway. Let’s hope for some stable seas this week and maybe we’ll get a clearer picture of what’s going on out there. Mackerel and gannets have been spotted on the cod grounds also and there have been some nice blackfish mixing in out there as well.