The different game fish that we catch on our trips

The Fishing Season and Fish we Target on our charters.

The Fishing Season. The season starts with Stripers in May and June, and we fish for them through to the end of October. Bluefish normally show up in June and are around in a big way once July comes round, and will hang around until sometime in October. June, July, and August are good months for flounder fishing, sometimes extending into early September. Tautog starts on October 18 and runs until November 12 or so. All great fishing to be had in Rhode Island. Below we have provided a short description of each of the species we can target.

Striped Bass. These are beautiful fish and can be a lot of fun to catch. We typically use plugs and soft plastic baits on spin casting outfits to catch these fish. The larger fish over 34” in length are all females, and we prefer to release the largest fish when possible, as they are the most prolific breeders. The best time to fish for them is June and July.

Bluefish. Bluefish are totally aggressive tackle-busting fish with nasty teeth. They give you a great acrobatic display by the boat when you bring them up, often jumping out of the water and shaking their heads. The larger ones also run two or three times when you bring them near the boat, and don’t really give up. Pound for pound they provide a better fight then stripers.

Flounder. Flounder a a bottom-feeding fish that cruise from 1-3 feet off the bottom looking for their food. We typically drift with bait to catch these, and they are plentiful and very good to eat. You can catch these during most times of the day, and you don’t have to leave early to catch them. It is important to have some wind so the boat will drift at a decent speed otherwise the fishing will be slow.

Scup. Scup are small fish that many people consider to be trash but they are very good to eat, with a sweet meat. We can catch some monsters jigging for them with lead head jigs, fish up to 24” long.

Tautog. These are the hardest-fighting fish you’ll every catch. They are also probably one of the ugliest, although they are also one of the best eating fish found in New England waters. In other states they are referred to as Blackfish, in most parts of New England they are called Tautog, the Indian name given to them. It is often misspelled as Tataug, tatog, ot totog.

Tuna. These are the fastest and toughest fish we can catch on the inshore grounds, capable of speeds up to 40 knots they can spool the line off your reel very quickly. The species we normally see are False Albacore and Bonito.