The question of whether the fishing season is running late or early is usually off the table by the time July rolls around as by now migratory fish have arrived at their summer haunts and holds, and the year’s patterns have begun to establish themselves. What’s even better is that for the most part, all the popular fisheries are open for business – be sure you check the current regulations BEFORE you leave the dock, however, as ignorance is not an excuse here. A single day’s trip in July can include pelagics like tuna and mahi followed by some bottom fishing for fluke and sea bass, topped off with a couple of bluefish or striped bass at any point in the trip. At least, that’s how I like to do it, anyway. How can you argue with such options?
Despite my annual mid-month trip to Florida for ICAST, the world’s largest fishing trade show, I put in a lot of fishing time in July. With fluke and sea bass now open just about everywhere (sea bass is closed in Connecticut water for private recreational anglers from June 24 – July 7), many trips include some bottom fishing no matter what the primary target species may be. Last season my fishing partner and I did well on both species working the windmills off the southeast corner of Block Island anytime we ran offshore for tuna. Excluding one trip where we put an exuberant number of hours on the twin Yamahas looking for cooperative bluefin, a few drifts here was always a highly anticipated event to close out the day’s action.
Traditionally anglers seeking the summer favorites of sea bass and fluke would opt for basic high-low bait rigs tipped with squid and spearing, but in recent years fishing jigs tipped with Gulp has become the go-to of anyone looking to take the fishery seriously. The primary (bottom) jig is selected with enough weight to tend the bottom – anywhere from 1 to 6 ounces – and above a dropper loop is tied in and either a much smaller jig or single hook is threaded. You can also add all sorts of flash and flare to the upper jig, but I have found this to cause as many tangles as anything and quite often just fish a plain hook and Gulp. The lower jig gets a Gulp grub in either the 6- or 8-inch size. Color is up to you, and each day seems to have its preferred color, so don’t leave home without some variety that at least includes white, pink, and chartreuse. My bottom fishing bag also includes colors like salmon red, mahi, new penny and electric chicken.
Fishing a jig rig is simple, just find the bottom and bounce it along as you drift over likely structure, making sure to keep in contact with the bottom as much as possible without getting hung up. Some days the fish want more angler-imparted action, while other days a subtle presentation is king. I always keep changing things up as I drift along and my success rollercoaster along, but I try to keep track of what is and isn’t producing and try to replicate any positive actions.
If you’re looking for a more active technique, and for me, a more enjoyable tactic, small diamond, butterfly, and epoxy jigs make for another option on bottom fish. This is usually what I opt for when planning to add some bottom fishing onto a day offshore as it’s easy to double-duty the mahi spinning rod for bottom fishing. As is always the case with bottom fishing, go as light as you possibly can! Matching a reel spooled with 10-pound braid to a light spinning rod finished off with 20-pound fluorocarbon and you have a rig that can fish jigs as light as ½ or ¾ ounces, and you’ll be amazed at how fun and sporting this gear can be. A 3-pound sea bass, 12-plus-inch porgy or 5-pound fluke will make you question your decision to go light, but rest assured the gear is up to the task.
I’d be remiss to leave striped bass off the menu this month, and not just because as of this writing the action has been excellent from New Jersey to Maine! July is when the big stripers tell you where they’ll be for the next few months, and Block Island is going to see a lot of those fish. Be sure to stay inside state waters (3 miles from shore) as striper fishing is illegal in the Exclusive Economic Zone, also referred to as the EEZ or ‘Federal Waters.’ What’s great here is that Block offers a ton of water and fish-holding structures close in near the island. My largest boat striped bass, a 55-plus-pounder, was landed close to the island and I have many 30- and 40-pound class fish to my credit within earshot of land. By day your options are quite varied for targeting big stripers including the tube and worm, topwater like the Doc spook, flutter spoons, live fish baits like mackerel or bunker, and even live eels, but by night there are only two choices for me: large rubber eels are my first choice with the live variety taking a way back second seat. I dug deep into the gear I use for this fishery in last July’s report, so feel free to hop back in the archives for a refresher if you need it.
When the Block Island bite is on you almost can’t go wrong with how or where you fish, and the fleet of boats will tell you where the best action is to be had, but don’t forget the adage, “Nothing attracts a crowd, like a crowd,” as you’ll hear me mutter this at least once on every trip regardless of success rate. Many times, when the bite seemingly turns off, all that is needed to reignite the action is to move away from the crowd and all those humming engines and hooks constantly going up and down. Start your hunt at the popular spots – the West Grounds, inside Southwest Ledge, Black Rock, Southeast Light, Old Harbor, Clay Head, the North Rip, etc. – and go from there.
Keep in mind that if you plan to harvest a striped bass, new emergency regulations were implemented this year by the ASMFC which must be ratified by all states on the coast no later than July 2, with most already doing so as of the time of this writing. The bag limit of one striped bass per angler remains the same, but the slot limit for harvest has been reduced to a 3-inch window from 28 to 31 inches. This means that no fish under 28 inches, or inclusive of and over 41 inches, may be retained. These emergency regulations remain in effect through the fall with the option to extend, I’ll follow up in a future installment with more details as they become available.