No Fluke

Get ready for furious runs

Captain Dave Monti
Posted 7/30/14

It's the middle of the fishing season and it's time to start thinking about bonito and false albacore. Last year few false albacore were around but local anglers caught their share of bonito. Both of …

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No Fluke

Get ready for furious runs

Posted

It's the middle of the fishing season and it's time to start thinking about bonito and false albacore. Last year few false albacore were around but local anglers caught their share of bonito. Both of these species are hard to catch, but have thrilled local fishermen with their furious runs stripping line from light tackle giving anglers a memorable fight.

Many times false albacore and bonito are mixed in with striped bass and bluefish, like last year. They can be caught from boat and shore with lures and even on the troll. They generally range in the two foot range, weigh four to five pounds but have been caught as large as twelve to fifteen pounds.

Atlantic bonito are part of the same mackerel family (Scombridae) as tuna. Their meat has a darkish color and a firm texture, with a moderate fat content. The meat of young or small bonito can be of lighter color, close to that of skipjack tuna. They are often grilled or baked. However, false albacore are usually not eaten.

This past Monday at a Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) meeting, anglers learned how to target and catch bonito and false albacore. Guest speakers were Capt. Eric Thomas of Teezer77 Charters, Portsmouth, RI. He was a featured speaker on false albacore and bonito fishing at the New England Saltwater Fishing Show. Local fishing experts Susan and Roger Lema also spoke at the seminar.

I asked the Lemas for their top tips on how to catch bonito and false albacore. Susan Lema said "The first tip is use as little hardware has possible. We tie directly to a 25 pound fluorocarbon leader with a uni knot and no swivel. This keeps things simple with no hardware flashing in the water to spook the fish." Roger Lema said, "The second tip is to fish the outgoing tide in front of rivers, coves and ponds as the water and bait have to be moving." Susan said, "These fish are ram feeders. They open their mouths and hit the bait at high speed so things are moving." The third tip is to be prepared to mix it up. Roger said, "When we go out we have five rods ready to go. Some prepared to cast silver lures like Deadly Dicks and Kastmaster lures. But, we are also ready to troll (at four knots) with broken back lures, shallow swimming and deep swimming lures to use depending on where the fish are in the water column." And, one last tip, "You have to anticipate where these speedsters will surface again and be there when they do. So we like to fish the sides of the schools rather than getting out in front of them." said Roger Lema.

In the August 2013 issue of "On the Water" magazine, Brendon Richards said, "The common characteristic of all quality albie and bonito haunts is deep, moving water of at least average clarity. These fish feed primarily by sight and are scarce in stained waters." They like bay anchovies, silversides, sand eels, peanut bunker, small squid and shrimp… so silver lures do a fine job mimicking these baits.

How to identify bonito and false albacore

Steve Medeiros, president of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association said, "I learned the difference between false albacore and bonito with a simple rhyme. Bonito have teeth and are good to eat. False albacore have no teeth and are no good to eat. Atlantic bonito (aka bonito) have solid lines along upper half running head to tail, and teeth. False albacore (aka falsies or little tunny) have broken/squiggly lines, spots below lateral line, and no teeth."

Where's the bite

Striped bass fishing remains strong. Angler George Allen of Portsmouth said, "Last week the bass bite off Newport on reefs was very strong with fish in the 50 pound range being taken drifting eels, with menhaden chunks and trolling tube and worm." Liam Teixeira of Bristol, RI landed a 40 plus inch striped bass when fishing Block Island on his friends' boat Midnight captained by Ed Mack. He was using eels at night. Frank Merro of Lucky Bait & Tackle, Warren, said "Customers are catching big bass at Block Island using eels." Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina said, "Striped bass fishing is very good on the Southeast and Southwest sides of Block Island. Eels have been the bait of choice but all different methods seem to be working. It does not seem to matter. Striped bass fishing is great." Angler John Stavrakas said, "We counted 150 boats out on the SW ledge yesterday (Sunday)." RI striped bass record holder Peter Vican (77.4 pounds caught June, 2011) said Monday, "We have caught fish in the 30, 40 and 50 pound range fairly regularly for the past couple of weeks (at Block Island), but the fish were a lot smaller at the beginning of the season."

Shore fishing. Mary Dangelo of Maridee Bait & Canvas, Narragansett said, "Anglers are catching keeper bass at the mouth of Narrow River early mornings with anglers landing bass at Stinky Beach in Narragansett as well." Fishing on the East Wall of the Harbor of Refuge and at Pier 5 in Narragansett has been good for scup and bluefish." said Dangelo. The scup bite is still strong with large scup to 19" being caught in Bays and off coastal shore. Angler Steve Burstein of West Warwick easily caught his dinner fishing Bay and ocean waters from shore a couple of times last week. Scup fishing has been good around the Newport and Jamestown Bridges, Colt State park, at Fort Wetherill, Jamestown and off just about any pier or dock. Squid is the bait of choice, the trick is to use small scup or porgy hooks and small pieces of bait. The scup limit is 30 fish/angler/day with a 10" minimum size. However, 9" scup can be taken in special provisional shore areas. Visit www.dem.ri.gov for a listing of these areas and all fresh and saltwater fishing regulations.

Summer flounder (fluke). Roger Simpson of the Frances Fleet said "Four of the seven (full day) trips sailed this past week had winning pool fish between 9 and 10 lbs with pool fish the other days in the 7 to 8 lb range." Last week Chris Gasbaro and his work associate Jason landed 29 pounds of fluke off Newport aboard No Fluke Fishing Charters. Their largest fist was 26". Frank Merro of Lucky Bait said "Anglers are landing fluke from Conimicut Light to the Sakonnet and under the bridges. Some of the best mid-Bay fluke fishing has been at Warwick Light."

Offshore fishing has been good. Capt. Andy Dangelo of Maridee Charters had a shark fishing trip last week… "They tagged fifteen blue sharks and kept one 200 pound mako then went on to catch mahi mahi, they also limited out on striped bass and caught keeper fluke too." said Mary from Maridee Bait & Canvas. Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina said "Customers are catching a good amount of school bluefin tuna in the 30" to 40" range at the Mud hole and just south of Block Island. Yellowfin tuna are being caught in the shipping lanes in the 60 to 80 pound range."

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shell fishing for over 40 years. He holds a captain's master license and a charter fishing license. Visit Captain Dave's No Fluke website at www.noflukefishing.com or e-mail him with your fishing news and photos at dmontifish@verizon.net.

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