Eelman Nolan with one of yesterday's fish

“There are some awesome fish in the Bay now, just about everywhere,” said Bill “Eelman” Nolan.

“Had many fish yesterday from 20 to 27 pounds on live bunker,” he said in an e-mail Friday. “It was amazing fishing for May 15.”

Thursday morning, on the dropping tide, a big school of bass was feeding on menhaden between Bold Point and India Point in Providence. Ed Hughes fished the spot on the evening’s ebb tide, but the bass and the bait had left.

On Ninigret Pond yesterday, large numbers of cinder worms were emerging, and there were a lot of bass beneath them.

The fishing was challenging, however, said Ed Lombardo who fished with Ryan Sansoucy, the skipper of Hush Fly Fishing. “The fish were very selective, so it required a lot of fly changing and long casts,” Ed said.

This morning, Eelman returned to the Bay. Here's one of the fish he caught today.

Seven-year-old Abigail Mottur caught this keeper near the Prudence Island ferry dock on a Storm Shad.

Peter Phipps, one of my editors, was jogging at India Point Park this morning, and he spotted striped bass feeding on menhaden between India Point and Bold Point. A fisherman on shore had caugh some just-legal fish.

The bass bite has been tremendous from Prudence Island to the north, says Sam Toland of Sam's Bait & Tackle.

Fishing a 3-inch jerkbait, 5-year-old Charlie Mottur caught a 24-inch bass and his sister, Abigail, 7, caught a 31-inch keeper on a 4-inch Storm Shad. They were fishing near the Prudence Island ferry dock, Sam said.

Nils Christensen of Ultimate Kayak Fishing stayed at Billy Silvia's Prudence Island home over the weekend, and he sent this report:

We had a great time of fishing, and despite the bad weather Friday and Saturday morning we got into some nice tautog and fluke. Live lining poagies yielded bluefish between Prudence and Patience, and we watched birds working all around the island.

Narragansett Bay is the jewel of Rhode Island waters and a perfect perfect place to kayak fish. We enjoyed the weekend here and will be back kayak fishing around Prudence Island.

Fishing from kayaks, Nils Christensen and some friends caught both blackfish and bluefish around Prudence Island over the weekend, Silvia said.

He's been fishing the wrecks of Mount Hope Bay and off Hog Island Light.

For photos of what he's been catching look here.

Fluke fishing picked up well as soon as the wind did on Sunday. Most boats were working the areas from west of the center wall to Matunuck. I did see several boats off of Green Hill. Numerous nice size fish including slabs of 4.5 and 6.5 pounds. White and chartreuse ThomCats worked so well I stayed with them all morning. Squid-and-shiner combos were again the "meat" of choice. Also got a huge sea robin that could have swallowed a squirrel.

"The pool winner was 6 pounds, and we had several other nice fish in the 4-pound range. The majority of anglers went home with fresh fluke for dinner. Quite a few shorts kept the rods bent throughout the day and quite a few large sea robins kept things interesting. For early to mid- May, the fishing was very good with fluke caught over a very large area and on every single drift.

"Capt. Mike also reported marking a substantial amount of bait which will only bring more fluke to the south shore beaches."

Bill Andreoni and a friend caught 20 stripers in Greenwich Bay last night. One of them was a keeper.

Kenny Ferrara recommended fishing Prudence and Patience Island in today's Fishing Report. Here's a shot of Bill "Eelman" Nolan with one of several bass he caught out there yesterday.

There are more bluefish being caught. See the most recent comments with reports.

If you shoot any fishing photos over the weekend, send them in.

What a day on the Bay

"The Bay was red hot," said Bill "Eelman" Nolan in an email that included photos yesterday. "You can see the lures I was using, One is a Storm Shad and the other a Tripple Ripple grub!"

Ed Hughes said a friend of his caught three bass and a bluefish yesterday in Allen Harbor.

Bluefish on May 6. Imagine that.

On the charter boat, Can't Imagine, Billy Silvia was catching 34- to 36-inch bass this morning, said David Henault of Ocean State Tackle.

Greg Rego weighed an 8-pound largemouth at Ocean State Tackle yesterday. He said he caught the fish on a shiner at Tucker Pond in South Kingstown.

Bill Nolan caught keeper-size bass in the Bay yesterday. He said the eastern side had lots of stripers like the one pictured. It took a soft-plastic lure, Bill said.

Inshore codfishing remains strong, according to the skippers of the Frances Fleet. Their report:

"Saturday's local cod trip found some very good fishing for the modest turnout of anglers who braved the weather. The bite in the morning was excellent with fish all around the boat. Jigs and teasers were out-producing bait while the bite was on, but bait was also effective. One angler had jigged up four good fish in the first 10 minutes! He then had a nice double header right after. Capt. Mike came down and jigged up six nice fish in short order shortly thereafter. By late morning the bite slowed up, but it was already a good day. Everyone left with a nice bunch of cod in the 5- to 10-pound range with the largest around 12 pounds. One 8-pound tatoug and one big pout otherwise it was exclusively codfish.

"Saturday night, we made our first squid trip of the season but were plagued by dirty water and too much east wind which had the squid hard down on the bottom and tough to catch. To be sure, most anglers did get at least a few but the action was not up to par. Mixed sizes on the squid but more were in the large and jumbo category."

Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat, Can’t Imagine, was catching tautog as large as 8 pounds this morning in the Tiverton Basin. He was chumming the fish in with grass shrimp and catching them with crabs on small jigs. Chris Ropoza of Ocean State Tackle caught five keeper-size tautog on clam worms and steamer necks Wednesday afternoon at Fort Wetherill. The fish would not take crabs, he said. The blackfish bite is improving in the Warren and Barrington Rivers, particularly near the American Tourister outlet, Littlefield said.

Steve McKenna fished Matunuck yesterday afternoon and had small stripers on just about every cast, Bill Nolan reports. Nolan said, “An all-white Cocahoe did the damage.” Thom Pelletier of Quaker Lane Bait & Tackle said there have been a few keepers among the schoolies at the Ocean Mist in Matunuck.

He also said that a school of bass was busting through menhaden in the waters north of Colt State Park, and that Billy Silvia caught schoolies yesterday in Greenwich Bay.

Tautog have been biting near the southeast corner of Bristol Harbor, he said, and there have been more blackfish off Rumstick Point and near the Hog Island light.

"Steve McKenna likes the Cocahoe Minnow alot on a half-ounce jighead," he says. "I like the Bass Pro Shop's Triple Ripple 4-inch, all-white curly tails on a plain jighead I also use 5- and 7-inch white Fin-S-Fish by Lunker City. It's a fantastic lure and works well all season long!

"For some reason in the spring, jigs without hair on them perform much better than standard bucktail jigs with hair. Seems to be the more plain and simple the plastic is, the better the results.Of course, you cant beat a small white Storm shad either, but this time of the year, the less complicated the better.

"Once the squid show up in force, regular plugs will begin to work well as the fish become more and more aggresive and a bit larger."

Bay bass are biting

Bill "Eelman" Nolan reports that schoolies are biting in the Bay. His friend, Steve McKenna, took this fish yesterday morning.

Al Conti of Snug Harbor Marina recommends fishing slopes at the head of Point Judith Pond. Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle suggests fishing the narrows in both Point Judith and Ninigret ponds. In Connecticut, there have been scattered reports of flounder biting near Enders Island, the Mystic River, and some of the coves around Stonington, said Don Michaud of King Cove Outfitters.

A slug of small stripers has moved into Ninigret Pond, said Mouchon. Schoolies are also biting in Cemetery Cove on the Pawcatuck River, according to Michaud. Conti reports that the bite at the West Wall hasn’t been consistent.