BAY

"The fish are still really keyed in on bunker, and that's all I am doing, live-lining bunker,'' says Bill "Eelman'' Nolan. In the Providence River, the bass are so focused on bunker, stripers are coming in with menhaden in cast nets, says Billy Barbour. "Plenty of numbers,'' writes Nolan. "Lots in the teens and 20s and a few over 30.'' As Bay waters warm, and the river becomes more crowded and crazy, smart anglers are moving south and catching fish.

Stripers are schooling in age groups, says Kenny Ferrara of Ray's Bait & Tackle. "If you're catching small ones, move until you find a school of larger fish," he advises. Anglers have been catching large bass this week off Rumstick Point in Barrington and Bear Point on Prudence Island, he says.

Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat Can't Imagine, started Thursday morning with a 39-pound striper and a 20-pounder under the Newport Bridge. He was fishing with menhaden, says David Henault of Ocean State Tackle. Mike McCoy, skipper of the charter boat Reel McCoy, has been catching a lot of 32-inch bass from Field's Point to the hurricane barrier. Larry Dario has been taking fish as large as 38 inches on weightless chunks off Providence Point, Bear Point, and the weather buoy between Poppasquash Point and Prudence Island, Henault says.

Fly fisherman Ed Hughes says he couldn't buy a fish at Field's Point this week until he moved about 100 yards and started catching bass on every cast on a yellow bucktail streamer with an oversized red head.

Gator bluefish, in the 13- to 14-pound class, have been biting in the Providence River. If you're snagging menhaden for bait, snag some extras, Ferrara says, because the blues are going to steal your bait.

Fluke are biting near Shepley's dock at Oakland Beach, off Dutch Island, and Austin Hollow, Ferrara says.

For catching scup, Ferrara recommends the Flat Rock spindle, Hope Island and Black Face. Henault says they are also biting around Newport.

BEACHES, SALT PONDS

Bass are biting over the reefs off the Five Cottages, says Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle.

Bill McEvoy of King Cove Outfitters says anglers in the Kayak Fishing Rodeo this weekend should find bass near Napatree Point, the channel at the mouth of Little Narragansett Bay, Elihu Island and the breakwater in Stonington Harbor.

Fluke as large as 8 pounds are taking bait along the beaches of South Kingstown and Charlestown. To the west, anglers are finding more short fluke off Misquamicut this week, but the fishery is holding up, says Bill McVoy.

Wednesday, large bluefish were feeding at the mouth of Charlestown Breachway on the ebb tide.

OFFSHORE

Steaming to the Fish Tails is a safe bet for catching "all the blue sharks you want,'' says Matt Conti of Snug Harbor Marina. That's where most of the blue sharks were taken in the Star Island Shark Tournament over the weekend, he said this yesterday morning. There were 193 boats competing, and they landed eight mako, two threshers and 14 blue sharks.

The first tuna reports of the season are coming in, Conti said. Bluefin have been spotted pushing sand eels near Southwest Ledge, and anglers have seen yellowfin near the Fish Tails and west of there.

BLOCK ISLAND

Ron Mouchon caught bass up to 30 pounds on live bait along the eastern side of the Island on Thursday morning. Fred Bowman, skipper of the charter boat Bottom Line, caught a 55-pounder on an eel Thursday.

Dogfish have moved in along the southwest side in about 50 feet of water, says David Henault. To avoid them and catch bass, fish tight to the rocks along the south and east sides of the island, he said.

FRESHWATER

When Everett Thornton and Ed Lombardo got to the Wood River on Wednesday evening, there were no aquatic insects visible, so they tied on ant and wasp imitations and picked up some trout; the wasp fly was especially productive, said Lombardo. Later on some #18 Blue-Winged Olives and Sulfurs appeared. It wasn't until dark that they saw fish rising to Hexagenia limbata spinners, but a thunder storm rolled in and they had to call it quits. "We need some really hot weather to get the Hex going," Lombardo says. Generally, the Hex hatch peaks around Independence Day.

"Look to subsurface patterns throughout the day along with skittering Tan Caddis," says David Porreca of River & Riptide Anglers. "As evening approaches you'll find a variation of mayflies such as Little Mahoganies, Sulfurs, Light Cahill's, and giant Hex flies later in the evening. Wednesday evening, I even noticed a nice hatch of Yellow Sallys [Little Golden Stoneflies]."

Chris Ropoza has been using a Woolly Worm on sinking line to catch a limit of trout on Olney Pond in Lincoln and Carbuncle Pond in Coventry, says David Henault.

Large carp are biting at Twin Rivers Reservoir in North Providence, Henault says.

For catching largemouth bass, he recommends Olney Pond and Barney Pond, both in Lincoln.

KAYAK RODEO

The fifth annual Kayak Fishing Rodeo is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday morning, based at King Cove Outfitters in Stonington, Conn. The entry fee is $50 and includes the post-tournament cookout. Details are online at www.ultimatekayakfishing.com

BEST BITES

Prudence Island:

Striped bass, bluefish

Barrington to Bristol:

Striped bass

Olney Pond:

Trout, bass

HOT BYTES

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

THE TIDES

The moon causes tides and affects the activity of saltwater and freshwater fish as well as animals on land. Anglers generally find the best fishing two hours before and after a high tide, but fish and other animals also become active around the time of low tide. This table shows the height of tides in feet at Castle Hill near the mouth of Narragansett Bay. Recreational shellfishermen prefer to dig for clams when the tides are lowest, shown on the chart as “minus tides.”