BAY

Fishing chunks of bait and trolling tube-and-worm rigs or dead menhaden, anglers have been catching bass off the Carousel in East Providence and off the golf course near Barrington Beach, said John Littlefield of Archie's Bait & Tackle. Clam tongues continue to take bass near the bridges over the Warren River, he said.

"The Providence River continues to be hot with bass up to 38 pounds," says David Henault of Ocean State Tackle. The upper reaches of the river have been the best for anglers fishing with menhaden or clam bellies or trolling 49er rigs. Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat Can't Imagine, has been catching bass on live menhaden as well as chunks. Jim and Justin White, skippers of the charter boat White Ghost, have been taking bass as large as 32 pounds on the fly and light tackle in the lower Bay, Henault said.

There are plenty of 16- to 18-inch bluefish in the middle of the Bay, said Thom Pelletier of Quaker Lane Bait & Tackle. Saturday, the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association will be fishing Greenwich Bay for the group's annual kids' day. Generally, they catch a lot of bluefish.

Shore fishermen are catching scup near the Stone Bridge in Tiverton and off Colt State Park, said Littlefield.

Bluefish and sea bass are biting in the lower stretches of the Sakonnet River, said Carol Records of Wickford Rodworks.

BEACHES AND SALT PONDS

There are plenty of fluke off Washington County's beaches, says Al Conti of Snug Harbor Marina. Yesterday, the bite was slower than it normally is because there wasn't much current for a good drift. To catch fish, a helmsman had to use the throttle, Conti said. The Thatcher family caught five keepers aboard the charter boat Sea Dog on Wednesday, said skipper Steve Travisono. He echoed Conti, saying that it was important to use the motor to keep the boat moving.

Mike Wade of Watch Hill Outfitters fished with Tom Patasi of Coastal Fishing Charters on Tuesday, and he reported, "We slammed 'em … doubled up on every drift. The morning started slowly until they switched from jerk baits to artificial squid, attracting hits on every drift. Wade was fishing a Tsunami soft-plastic squid and Patasi was casting a hard lure, and they both worked. All the fish on Watch Hill and Sugar reeds were between 30 and 37 inches long.

Ron Mouchon has been catching bass on the reefs off Charlestown and South Kingstown, said Steve Travisono. Smaller bass have been biting in Ninigret Pond, he said.

Keld Olsson and Geno Rapa hosted a Rhody Flyrodders Fly Fishing Night on The Narrow this week. Ed Lombardo reports: "We started just upstream of the Sprague Bridge at around 4:15 p.m., just a little past high tide, and the water was moving very well. All conditions where just right: outgoing tide, lots of bait (silversides), the wind died down. With 12 fly fishermen working, just two striped bass and two winter flounder were caught. Geno thought that the water was too warm. I didn't take the water temperature but it felt very warm. We fished shrimp, silverside, and sand eel, patterns."

Sea bass have been biting near the bell buoy off Point Judith, and there have been a lot of big scup biting.

The first green bonito of the season appeared in the fish traps off Point Judith on Wednesday, Conti said.

Anglers are catching scup at the walls of the Harbor of Refuge, according to Thom Pelletier.

OFFSHORE

Bluefin tuna, in the 100- to 150-pound class, have appeared around the Fish Tails this week, said Al Conti.

There are blue sharks around Ryan's and Jennie's Horns this week, he said.

PARTY BOATS

Anglers fishing with the Frances Fleet enjoyed a strong start to the 2009 fluke season Wednesday, said Frank Blount, owner of the fleet. "It was most certainly a very late bite and Capt. Rich stayed out a bit longer to keep the big fluke coming over the rails," he reported. "There were a couple limit catches today, and a good number of anglers had two to five keepers apiece to take home. There were quite a few good size jumbos including a few in the 7- to 8-pound range and a fine 9-pound slab to take the pool honors. In addition, anglers had some nice sea bass, but nothing big, and some hard-fighting ocean blues, and last but certainly not least a fine fat jumbo red hake. There were quite a few shorts in the mix, as well, later in the trip when the fish turned on."

BLOCK ISLAND

"The fishing has been really good at dusk and into the night," says Chris Willi of Block Island FishWorks. "The Rip has been red hot on the moving tide, sometimes with top-water lures and sometimes with mid-water lures. The Slug-Go and the Jumpin' Minnow are choice lures for light tackle guys. Squid flies, white Deceivers, and sand eel patterns are working on the fly. Two friends of mine enjoyed a sunny morning chasing some bass at the Rip and then at Southwest Point. The fish were a bit finicky but getting the fly into the middle of the pack seemed to prompt the strikes. Charlestown Beach has maintained its reputation as the place to be for the first two weeks of June for the surf casters, and the New Harbor channel is freshly dredged and holding fish. Not much is happening at Black Rock yet."

State waters near Southwest Ledge are producing some large bass this week, said Conti. A 58-pounder came to the scale at Snug Harbor Marina.

Anglers fishing aboard the charter boat, L'il Toot have been catching bass drifting eels off the northern side of the island and jigging near Southwest Ledge, said skipper John Rainone.

FRESHWATER

Start looking for trout to take flies that resemble the giant Hex mayfly on the Wood River this week, says Ed Lombardo. Bass and pickerel are biting in South County, said Thom Pelletier.

BEST BITES

Block Island: Striped bass, possibly fluke

Party boats: Fluke

Watch Hill reefs: Bass

Greenwich Bay: Bluefish

HOT BYTES

For more frequent fishing reports, go to Hot Bytes in the sports section of projo.com.

SHELLFISHING CLOSURES

For current conditional closures, call RIDEM’s 24-hour information line at 222-2900. Current descriptions and maps of shellfish grounds, closures and approved areas are available on RIDEM’s web site at www.dem.ri.gov/maps/mapfile/shellfish.pdf.

BEST TIMES TO FISH

The Providence Journal’s weather page now includes Solunar Tables, listing the best times to go fishing.

THE TIDES

tmeade@projo.com