Hillyer's Tackle

Ed at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle told me the thing they’d heard about most in the shop this week was big bluefish tearing through tackle. The amount of wire leaders they’d sold in the last week was proof enough that big blues have invaded The Race. The Race has consistently been the site of some the best fishing the region, or the eastern sound in general has had to offer for most of the season. The blues have joined the big schools of bass and really turbo charged the action there. If you’re looking to cull out the blues to some degree Ed suggested fishing at night with eels or black bucktails. During the day Diamond Jigs and bucktails have been the best bet for both species. Black sea bass fishing is still fairly slow but again, The Race at slack tides has some bigger fish. Anglers fishing deep, from 80- to 110-feet of water are finding the best quality fish. Fluke fishing hasn’t changed much, it’s still decent for dedicated anglers and there are lots of short fish around. Ed mentioned that the anglers that are having the best success are avoiding the fleets and finding their own spots where the better quality fish haven’t been picked over. The other key to finding a few keeper flatfish has been staying on the schools of bait whether squid or sand eels. Scup fishing is very good. By shore or boat, anglers report good action from the mouth of the Thames River west to Black Point. They heard a few more blue crab reports in the shop this week from folks who’d been out scooping them with decent success.

Ed at Hillyer’s Bait and Tackle told me that his customers are telling him they are into good fishing no matter what species of fish they are after. Excellent bass fishing soldiers on at The Race. The bite there is primarily driven by big schools of butterfish that can be found anywhere between Race Rock and Little Gull Island. The bigger bait source means larger presentations are working well – primarily Diamond Jigs. Inside the sound, the local reefs are fishing well, especially with eels for larger fish. There is also a very good eel bite out at Block Island where large soft plastics like GT Eels and Game On are working well. Fluke fishing is a mixed bag with most anglers reporting weeding through lots of short fish to get a few keepers. Ed said he’d heard targeting shallow water had been the difference for a few folks in finding some legal sized flatfish. Tog fishing has been good for customers headed out in search of them. The shop has been selling lots of crabs by the dozen and reports have been mostly positive. They are well stocked with plenty of rigs and jigs and they’d heard fishing with light jigs had been especially effective. The Black sea bass season reopened and those fish should be on the move into deeper water. Porgy fishing has been outstanding for shore anglers, especially around the mouth of the Thames River where sandworms, squid and clams are all catching scup. They finally heard some good blue crab reports in the shop this week from folks who’d been out scooping them.