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Beaches barren, Bay booming

All the action anglers were enjoying during the recent cold spell died when the weather warmed again.

"There's hardly anything happening along the beaches," said Don Cameron of Captain Don's this morning. The breachways are loaded with bait, but nothing is biting.

Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle steamed from Charlestown to Jamestown the other day, and didn't spot a single pod of bonito or false albacore on the surface.

I drove from Watch Hill to East Beach yesterday afternoon, and failed to see any birds working over feeding fish.

Meanwhile, David Henault, on Prudence Island, was watching more than 1,000 birds diving on a bluefish blitz just a stone's throw off Sandy Beach.

The Bay is the place to be.

At least until we get past the effects of tonight's full moon.

Posted by Tom Meade  at 8:50 AM | Permalink

Blues in Bristol, bass at Block

Bluefish were blitzing in Bristol Harbor this morning, and big bass have returned to Block Island. Freediver Brad Petrone shot a 51-pound striper there.

Flocks of birds were diving into pods of baitfish well after sunrise today in Bristol Harbor, said David Henault of Ocean State Tackle.

Fishing has been challenging at Block Island for several weeks, but some large fish have returned. Brad, a resident of South Kingstown, was on the surface near Black Rock Saturday when he spotted a single small bass in about 16 feet of water beneath him.

He descended and saw a school of fish in front of him. "The big one was hanging out at the back of the school," he said. "He saw me at the same time I saw him, and he started to veer off." About eight feet away, the fish presented a broadside shot, and Brad took it.

The bass was 48 inches long, but it had a deep body. When Brad got to the mainland and brought the fish to Snug Harbor Marina, it weighed 51.2 pounds.

Posted by Tom Meade  at 12:36 PM | Permalink

John "Hab" Haberek dies

John "Hab" Haberek, a storied surf fisherman and the maker of Hab's Custom Plugs, died yesterday. He was 53.

"The sport-fishing world has lost a champion, someone who really made an impact," said his friend Mike Laptew, "The Diving Fisherman." Hab appears in some of Laptew's most memorable video footage. "I can’t really believe he’s gone," Mike said.

John was a member of the Wallum Lake Rod & Gun Club where he and his dog hunted pheasant.

He was known as a tireless angler and a brilliant craftsman who made exquisite wooden lures.

"I’ve had the great pleasure of knowing John for over a dozen years and I’ve watched him grow from a small wooden lure maker to the premiere custom plug crafter of our time," Mike said. "His ambition was simple, he wanted to make the best quality plugs humanly possible. He attained that goal quite a few years ago and countless trophy stripers have been taken on his lures.

"John was a true outdoorsman who loved hunting, training bird dogs and, of course, surf fishing. He raised his son to love and respect the outdoors as well."

"John and I fished together many times and we traveled to places like Menemsha in the spring where we joined forces with Buddy and Chip Vanderhoop to fish the legendary herring creek," Mike remembers. "Together we had quite an adventure with Captain George LaBonte in Jupiter, Florida and our trip to Cuttyhunk was a real corker. However the trip that will stay with me forever was John’s first trip to Menemsha. I had been telling him for years how great the fishing was in late May and how wonderful Gay Head (Aquinnah) and all of Martha’s Vineyard was before tourist season. In fact, it was over a cup of coffee on the porch of the general store at Beetlebung Corner where John turned to me and said, 'I can’t believe how relaxed I am. I can’t believe how relaxed I am!' Well, that morning the fishing was epic with more fish being caught on his poppers than on live herring. Ron Arra was there and everyone was landing nice fish on John’s top-water lures. At one point (it’s on my Stripers in Paradise video) John turns to the camera and says, 'I think I’m in heaven.'"

He was the husband of Jessica (Ashworth) Haberek to whom he was married on September 14, 1974.

Born in Norwood, Massachusetts on March 8, 1954, he was a son of Amelia (Piedzewick) Haberek of Attleboro and the late Edward J. Haberek, Sr. He was raised and educated in Attleboro and resided in Attleboro and North Attleboro prior to moving to Smithfield 21 years ago.

In addition to his wife of 33 years and his mother, he leaves a son, John M. Haberek, Jr. of Smithfield, Rhode Island; four siblings: Jo-Ann M. Wall of Middletown, Rhode Island; Michael A. Haberek of Norton; Gregory D. Haberek of Swansea and Michelle S. Carlson of Attleboro and several nieces and nephews. He was the brother of the late Edward J. “Butchie” Haberek, Jr.

Visiting hours are Wednesday, from 4:00 – 8:00 PM in the Memorial Chapel of the DYER-LAKE FUNERAL HOME, 161 Commonwealth Avenue (exit 5 off I-95 N or S, go right at end of ramp, ¾ mile on left), Village of Attleboro Falls, North Attleboro.

A funeral service is scheduled for Thursday, at 10:00 AM in the Memorial Chapel of the DYER-LAKE FUNERAL HOME, 161 Commonwealth Avenue (exit 5 off I-95 N or S, go right at end of ramp, ¾ mile on left), Village of Attleboro Falls, North Attleboro.

Burial will follow in North Purchase Cemetery, Attleboro.

Posted by Tom Meade  at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments 2

Fly fishermen are catching

Ed Lombardo reports:

We fished the Wood River last night. Got there at around 4:30 p.m., and fished until 8:15 p.m. The water level is a little higher; it came up a good 4 to 5 inches and the temperature was 60 degrees. Again tiny midges size #22 to #28, with dark gray bodies and tiny wings, were emerging. We started out fishing wasps, ants, and inchworms, in sizes from #16 to #12. For the last week, the fish just come up to the wasps and dimple under or nudge it but refuse to take it. The time is just not right for this imitation. It may also be that the size #12 and #14 are just a little too big. I did not have any smaller sizes with me, but I will tie a few soon. The size #14 and #16 Black Sparkle Ants work well. Took fish on this imitation up until dark. We also had success with my soft hackle dry in a size #16 gray rabbit fur body, and soft hackle to match. Later, just before dark and up until quitting, Dick took a good number of fish on a size #14 Light Cahill Emerger. Light Cahills are emerging at dusk and into the early night. Dick said that the fish liked it best when skittered across the surface of the water.

I also fished the Narrow River on Tuesday night while the tide was outgoing. I started at around 4:30 p.m., and fished until the bite was done at 7:45 p.m. Lots of shad and a few schoolies. Most of the shad where large although there where smaller shad mixed in. I used an Airflow +40 intermediate fly line with pink flies. These flies are made with craft fur tied in high tie fashion. Flies are 3 to 5 inches long. I almost always use a dropper fly which is 2 ½ feet up the leader. Keep changing the depth of retrieve.

Posted by Tom Meade  at 12:58 PM | Permalink

Blues and bass in the Bay

Bluefish were blitzing in the Providence River near the hurricane barrier early this morning and off Colt State Park later in the morning, reports Ed Hughes of Clean The Bay who was out there working.

Chris Willi of Block Island Fishworks reports that fishing at the island is challenging, and David Henault of Ocean State Tackle believes the bass are feeding in Narragansett Bay instead of their usual haunts close to the island and off Newport.

This morning, Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat Can't Imagine, caught a 20-pound bass off Newport, then moved inside the Bay and caught bass in the 30-pound class off Sandy Point and Poppasquash Point, David said.

Posted by Tom Meade  at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

Light tackle time

Trout fishing on the Wood River is good as fish continue to feed on tiny midges and terrestrial insects. Ed Lombardo said he and some friends caught fish on #14 ant imitations and Pale Morning Dun parachutes this week. They fished both the Pines and Frying Pan Pond stretches of the stream.

Fly fishermen and light-tackle anglers are also scoring in salt water, said Tim Clark of Wickford Rodworks. “I took a 30-pound bass from Jamestown on a needlefish and spoke to several others who also did well, mostly with soft plastics and eels,” he said in an e-mail. “Bring extra eels as the blues are ravenous...

“Albies are popping up from Point Judith all the way to the Narrow River with very small tins and flies accounting for the most fish, though more than one bass fisherman has gotten a surprise when his popper gets hammered by a lightning quick albie!”

Posted by Tom Meade  at 8:40 AM | Permalink

Blues are biting

Just returned from beach with supper, a 9-pound bluefish.

Pods of 8- to 10-pound blues, and perhaps false albacore, were feeding beneath birds along East Beach, from Blue Shutters to Fresh Pond Rock around noon. The rain was falling sideways.

Gary Grimmer said blues were also biting near the Charlestown Breachway this morning. As always, the fish were nailing just about anything, but I caught fish on a Pt. Jude Lures tin and a chartreuse Rogers Ranger.

Posted by Tom Meade  at 2:41 PM | Permalink

Variety offshore

"Fishing on the Patty-J was pretty good," said Nick Chagnon over the weekend. "Despite some pretty rough conditions, the fish seemed to be eating pretty well on the Southwest Corner of the island. We caught about a dozen bass, most were in the 20- to 30-pound range and some pretty big bluefish also. The action only lasted for a short time, however, and our crew decided they had enough fish by about 9:30.

"Also, I fished aboard the Sakarak with Captain Mitch Chagnon on Friday. We caught about half a dozen bluefin tuna from 30 to 35 inches, some green bonito, and false albacore around the Mud Hole. I heard other boats in the area had similar action. We also saw some larger tuna in the 100-pound range crashing a little to the southwest but they went deep before we could hook up."

Posted by Tom Meade  at 6:39 AM | Permalink

Bristol blues

Philip Vecchio found more big blues in the Bay this week. His report appeared as a comment yesterday, but he intended it as a post. Here it is:

"My friend and I went out again last night (9/4) after work. Originally, I was going to head for Pine Hill Cove, but as we left Warwick Cove the wind was blowing steady out of the south and the waves ranged between 2-3 feet. I decided to head to the Northeast side of Prudence to get some protection from the wind and waves. Once we rounded Providence Point we began to search for the schools erupting on the surface. At first I was a little concerned because we didn't see any activity other than a few birds flying close to the water. As we continued to scan the water, we headed toward Bristol. Halfway between Providence Point and Bristol, my buddy Dan spotted a school beginning to form near the shore just South of Colt State Park. Once we got to the school we pretty much never left. Similar to my previous posting, our intentions were to use light tackle. However, once we both hooked into our first fish, we realized the light tackle wasn't going to work tonight. The fish were taking all the line. We could never get them to the boat. When it seemed we were getting the best of them, they would get a huge spurt of energy and take all the line we had just reeled in.

"Fortunately, we also brought with us more appropriate tackle. So we retired the light tackle and brought out the big guns! Although, even with the saltwater tackle, the fish still gave us a run for our money. These bluefish were big and thick! It was tough trying to get our hands around them to take the hooks out. As someone else had mentioned a few days ago, these fish were definitely 'Big Headed, Block Island Blues.' Most ranged between 24-32 inches and weighed between 9 and 11 pounds. In the end, we caught over 15 fish and lost four plugs. What a night!"

Posted by Tom Meade  at 6:45 AM | Permalink

Busting bass and bluefish

"This week has gotten off to a bang," says Rob Robinson of Wildwood Outfitters in an e-mail. "First, Matt Winn took his father out to the south side of Block Iate last week and grabbed his personal best 54.7-pound bass and then followed it up with a 49.3-pound monster right after,drifting eels.

"The south side of the island has started to be spotty over the past few weeks, but it should pick up again well into early December like last year where our guys were pulling 50-pound fish during that period.

"John Torgan fished the west side and chased massive schools of busting false albacore and bonito. We landed three albies (on one trip) and one bonito (on another), all on #2 Deadly Dicks in silver on light spinning rods. In one of the bonito boils, just north of the rip, I thought I saw some small bluefin tuna, but I'm not sure."

From South County, Rob continues:

"The waters outside of Point Judith have filled up with large mummies, peanut bunker, and small menhaden. Guys were jigging through the bait with good success, grabbing fish up to 30 pounds. John Arnold of Hopkinton took two nice bass trolling Yo-Zuris off Deep Hole.

"The shore fishing has really arrived. Bonnet Shores Beach had blitzing blues
beaching themselves all day along the entire beach. Decent sized fish in the 8- to 10-pound range with a few bigger ones mixed in. Some were close to 15 pounds, chasing peanut bunker, and some bigger menhaden were mixed in, too. The lifeguards closed the beach. Great sight though, 10-pound blues cruising along in less than a foot of water, thousands and thousands of them. Those that had their rods with them had a fish on every cast, as soon as the plug literally hit the water.

"Joe Scichilone landed a 25.6-pound bass Saturday morning off Hazard Rocks on a olive needlefish.

"The South Shore is producing some of the best big bass of the season with guys pulling fish up to 45 pounds off the beach right behind the Ocean Mist. The early evening and morning bite has been the best with little or no bluefish to deal with. The fish were caught on 9-inch white swim shads. We have had fish between 30 and 42 pounds weighted in the last couple of days from that location."

Posted by Tom Meade  at 9:14 AM | Permalink

Perseverence pays off

Nick Chagnon reports on Saturday's fishing:

"Fishing on the Patty-J was decent today. The fish were not widespread nor very numerous. However, they had some good size. We caught about 10 bass and 20 blues. The biggest striper was about 40 pounds with another about 35.

"The bluefish seem to be getting bigger everyday. This makes for a great fight but a somewhat oily fillet.

"The bass fishing has been somewhat challenging lately with the fish only biting in isolated spots on certain tides but it seems there are enough fish to make some pretty good trips most days. Basically, it seems those with patience and perseverance are being rewarded eventually with some large bass, but there hasn't been a red hot bite lately."

Mike McGaw reports from the Sakonnet:

"The striper action is picking up again out front. Fished the drop edges of Schuyler's Ledge at the end of the Sakonnet and took several large blues before a 43-inch striper came to the tube and worm. Water temp was 69 degrees, tide incoming."

Posted by Tom Meade  at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments 1