The Grand Slam: Stripe Bass, Blue Fish, Sea Bass
Duration: 6 Hours
Island: Block Island, RI
Budget: $1000
Species to be caught: 3-8
Trolling, bottom fishing, casting – we can do it all during this 6 hour trip.
- Fishing 90%
- Eating 70%
- Relaxing 50%
- Sight Seeing 80%
Just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed our fishing trip with you. It was the highlite of our trip to Block Island. We cooked the fish that night and had a fine meal. What was really great was how you sincerely cared about us having a good time. Looking forward to fishing with you again on our next trip!
What Fish Surround Block Island?
The following 16 fish species can regularly be caught in and around Block Island. I’m not including sharks or the rarer pelagics such as Yellow Fin Tuna, Wahoo, and White Marlin, which are usually further offshore.
Striped Bass
Block Island is the holy grail for Striped Bass. Matt routinely catches stripers throughout the summer in the 50 inch 40+ pound range. During the spring and fall these beasts can be hooked on the surface casting or fly fishing.
Fluke
These iconic Rhode Island fish are also known as summer flounder.
They can grow over 10 lbs and give an awesome fight on light tackle. They are fickle – sometimes biting aggressively and other times only giving a few lite taps challenging the angler to properly set the hook.
Sea Bass
These delicious and vigorous fish are fun to bottom fish for with light tackle. Often as fast as you can sink your bait you can hook another sea bass if you know where to go.
Bluefish
This iconic New England fish is truly a thrill to catch. Pound for pound it is one of the hardest fighting fish species – often leaping out of the water and stripping line off the reel.
Cod
The wrecks and ledges south of Block Island are once again populated by cod. Usually they don’t exceed two feet in length and bottom fishing in 120+ feet of water involves lots of reeling, but if you want to catch this classic delicacy, we can.
Bonito
These guys are a barrel of fun to catch on light tackle or a fly rod.
Bluefin Tuna
In May and June these legendary tuna migrate right by the island feeding on massive shoals of sand eels. Football sized 30-50lbs bluefin can be caught jigging with spinning rods or casting poppers near birds on the surface. The bigger fish can be had trolling if you are in for a fight.
Mahi Mahi
In August and September we can zip offshore and find Mahi swarming around hi-flyer lobster buoys. These apex predators can be had on every cast with chunk bait but the more sporting fisherman can hook them with a fly or plug. (We caught about 50 mahi the day this photo was taken.) We do run and gun trips offshore in August and September, but we leave early and we need calm weather.
Scup / Porgy
These are arguably the best fish for a ceviche and are wonderful pan fried. These fish are abundant and often we need to use bigger lures and chunks of bait in order to target fluke and sea bass.
Tautaug / Black Fish
Tautaug are found near rockpiles and wrecks. They are picky eaters and often can only be caught using green crab or mussels.
False Albacore
Also known as bointa or little tunnies, these feisty fish can reach over 30lbs and show up around the island later in the summer and early fall when the water is the warmest. They are a thrill to catch.
Trigger Fish
Triggers have a delicious firm white meat and pound for pound give a great fight although they can bite thru hooks with their strong jaws. These are somewhat of a novelty catch that periodically are mixed in with the sea bass over rock piles.
Dog Fish
These little sharks give a decent fight on light tackle and kids seem to get a thrill out of catching them. However, we try to avoid these little sand sharks because they often tangle our lines.
Almaco Jack
If we make a run offshore, we may likely find these hungry fish circling buoys along with triggers and Mahi. Although small (in New England waters) they give a good fight and are delicious grilled or blackened.
Skate & Sea Robins
These funny looking bottom feeders are mixed in with the fluke so some bi-catch is to be expected. Children do enjoy catching these odd creatures and the variety of bottom fish always keep you guessing.