BAY

"The fluke fishing in the Bay is pretty good right now," says Jim White, author and skipper of the charter boat White Ghost. "Scott and Nancy Blackwell from Pennsylvania got 22 fluke Wednesday up to 7.5 pounds. Seventeen of the fish were throwbacks at 18 and 19 inches. Also got some pretty decent seas bass; the largest was four pounds and some big sea scup.

"Striper fishing inside the Bay is pretty slow this season, actually the slowest I've seen in maybe 20 years right now. Lots of searching around for only a few fish."

To catch bass, one has to fish the reefs off Newport, where stripers between 26 and 28 pounds have been biting this week, said Kenny Ferrara of Ray's Bait & Tackle, who also recommends Bonnet Shores and the reefs off Narragansett.

"The fishing in the southern end of the Bay is really holding up well," writes Bill "Eelman" Nolan. "Of course you have to fight your way past bluefish. There are still plenty of bunker to be had also. The bite is occurring early, however, and most of my fish are coming before daybreak."

Mike Laptew, "The Diving Fisherman," says there may be bass lurking on the rocky dropoffs of Jamestown.

Bluefish, scup and fluke have moved into the Bay as the bass have moved out, said Ferrara. For fluke, he recommends fishing near Shepley's Dock and Conimicut Point in Warwick. Larger fluke -- up to 9 pounds -- have been biting in the waters off Bailey's Beach, Second Beach and Third Beach, he said.

Scup fishing has been good at Rocky Point and the Flat Rock Spindle.

Look for bluefish throughout the upper reaches of the Bay, particularly off Barrington and Bristol.

BEACHES AND SALT PONDS

"Fluke fishing just gets better and better," says Al Conti of Snug Harbor Marina. "I have never seen so many big fluke. Fishing with his son, Matt, Conti has been catching huge fluke in 50 to 70 feet of water off South Kingstown.

Thom Pelletier, skipper of the Charter boat Tomcat, agrees. "Fluke fishing remains phenomenal," he writes. "[Wednesday's] first fish of the day weighed in at 7.6 pounds. As I was bleeding that one, the rod went off again. I set the hook and knew right away it was a corker. When I finally got him up and was sliding the net under the fish it shook its head and put the hook into the net at the frame. Couldn't get him in and the next time he shook the hook came out. … I can't say how big but it was easily the biggest fluke I've ever had a hook into. … Continued a steady pick all morning, mostly south of the Nebraska Shoals."

Bass fishing has been holding up on the reefs off South Kingstown, particularly off the Five Cottages and Green Hill, says Conti.

Tautog fishing is also good. Shore fishermen have been catching blackfish at Deep Hole and in front of the Ocean Mist in Matunuck.

OFFSHORE

Shark fishing is extraordinary, says Al Conti, but tuna have vanished.

A 471-pound thresher won the Snug Harbor Shark Tournament, and a 458-pound thresher also came to the scale. "Most of the big stuff came from the Suffolk and the Fingers," Conti says, noting that blue sharks are so abundant that they were a nuisance for some boats in the tournament.

Normally, there would be tuna near the Acid Barge and the Mud Hole in July, but Conti says, "It's like somebody put up a fence to keep them out."

BLOCK ISLAND

"The big swells have brought the bigger fish in close," says Chris Willi of Block Island FishWorks. "Fishing has been very good.

"Fly guys have been successful with large flies in the early morning from Old Harbor to New Harbor via the south. Fish over 40 inches on the fly are being landed.

"There are plenty of bluefish at the harbor entrance and gobs of bait everywhere -- squid and sand eels. Soft baits and stickbaits are the light-tackle favorites now, with regular changes in colors being the most productive [strategy]."

Mike Lanni caught two bass this week, each one more than 50 pounds, and Jack Linton weighed in a 48-pounder, according to Al Conti, who said the best bite has been at Southwest Ledge.

PARTY BOATS

"It was pleasant to see how many fluke close to and over 7 pounds were caught last week," writes Ray Thimes from the SevenBs V. "It is nice to know that there are decent fluke around to catch. We fished the Charlestown shoreline and hooked up with some nice fluke and a few sea bass. Trips to the Block Island area produce some stripers with a few blues in the mix."

FRESHWATER

"The Hexagenia limbata mayfly continues to bring up the majority of fish late evenings on the Wood River," writes David Porreca, of River & Riptide Anglers. "If it is daytime, focus on Caddis and terrestrials throughout the day. Try using these patterns as the lead fly with a subsurface nymph tied 18 to 24 inches off the bend of the lead fly. As evening approaches, Rusty Spinners and Dun Variants are excellent patterns to fish mimicking the Gray Drake spinners that has been extremely prolific this season. I fish this technique from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., and then I switch the big Hex flies and hang on tight for fast and furious action."

With another view of strategy for the Wood River, Ed Lombardo reports:

"We fished the Wood River Wednesday night, and the Hex hatch came off at 8:50 p.m. Fish where keying in on the dun and spinner stages of the hatch. At 9 p.m., with the full moon lighting up the river, it was magnificent seeing trout rising in very good numbers. Funny, where just a few hours ago in the very same water, no fish came up to our offerings of ants, wasps, or even soft-hackle dries. They are content waiting for the larger meal, the Big Mac of all hatches, the Hex. Fish took spinners from all of us.

"This time of the season where the Hex has been emerging for weeks, and it's a good bet to fish the spinner imitation early in the morning. If one can get up to be on the water at 6 a.m., I think he or she would be pleasantly surprised.

"The water temperature Wednesday was 66 degrees. Time to release fish ASAP."

David Henault of Ocean State Tackle reports that some large bass have been taking shiners on some of the small ponds along the Rhode Island-Connecticut border.

BEST BITES

Jamestown and Newport reefs:

Striped bass and bluefish

Party boats off South County:

Fluke, stripers, sea bass

Kent County ponds:

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.”