BAY

Fishing has slowed in the upper reaches of the Bay, says Kenny Ferrara of Ray's Bait & Tackle, but the lower Bay offers fine fishing for fluke near Beavertail Point, Austin Hollow, south of Dutch Island, and north of Goat Island. The best bait has been peanut bunker, the predominant baitfish in the Bay, he says.

The waters near Halfway Rock hold 7- to 8-pound bluefish, and a few school bass, he says. Larger blues are feeding on a variety of baitfish in Rhode Island Sound, off Newport.

Scup have been biting near Hope Island and Pine Hill Point.

Ray Boucher caught a 50-pound bass on a small eel, fishing the rocks along Bonnet Shores this week. He also caught several small bass there. Nearby, fly fishermen are taking bass in the Narrow River, says Ed Lombardo.

BEACHES AND SALT PONDS

Peter Pimental landed a 6.2-pound sea bass this week, reports Steve Travisono, skipper of the charter boat Sea Dog. Bottom fishing was off Wednesday, but it has been terrific with fluke and sea bass biting, he said.

"This weekend's fishing was awesome even though it was slow," says Nils Christensen, creator of Ultimate Kayak Fishing.com. "To do some early morning fluke fishing, we decided to leave at 4 a.m. to get out there for first light. First drift in 80 feet of water landed a nice fluke around 22 inches. On the second rod I got a pair of sea bass. One weighed in at 4 pounds, and the second at 2.5 pounds. Don O'Neil and I landed a total three fluke and seven sea bass off Misquamicut."

"Sunday produced some nice fluke, including four over four pounds on the same drift off Carpenters Beach," says Thom Pelletier, skipper of the charter boat ThomCat. "Monday had another good batch of fish to 8.1 pounds. Glow or white rigs were the best bets. I fished mostly in 55 to 75 feet of water. Heard a rumor of one commercial guy boating a 50-pound limit on only eight fish. Among them were an 11- and a 12-pounder."

PARTY BOATS

After Wednesday morning's trip, the skippers of the Frances Fleet reported, "Despite accurate predictions for rain and some wind, we had a bunch of eager anglers. Unfortunately, many of the anglers underestimated the impact of the slightly unpleasant weather conditions for themselves. However, the conditions were actually conducive to good fluking as there was a good solid drift and the anglers who were able to tend bottom did rather well."

"The Seven Bs V is still catching some nice fluke off the Charlestown and Green Hill beaches," says Ray Thimas. "James Bager of Warwick caught an 8.75-pound fluke, and Jim Skowronski of Prospect, Conn., latched on to a few fluke in the 6- to 7-pound range."

BLOCK ISLAND

Warm water seems to have sent the big bass away, but Matt King, skipper of the charter boat Hula Girl, continues to catch fish while trolling, says Chris Willi of Block Island FishWorks. Light-tackle anglers need to be on the water late at night to find stripers, he says.

Deep water is the key to catching fluke off Charlestown Beach and Clay Head, Willi says.

OFFSHORE

Justin White, a skipper of White Ghost Charters, guided Kevin Hennessey and his brother, Ryan, this week to 10 blue sharks up to 175 pounds and a six-foot-long mako. One shark stayed at the boat for four hours, chewing on the lower unit and trim tabs, and wouldn't leave, White says. He was fishing only nine miles southeast of Newport.

Tri-State Shootout anglers have been catching blue marlin in the waters west of the Fish Tails, says Al Conti, but yellowfin tuna are scarce.

Two big-eye tuna, each weighing more than 200 pounds, were landed by Shootout boats, says Willi. There are no defined temperature breaks, he says, so catching tuna involves some luck.

Scattered bluefin tuna, between 26 and 47 inches long, were biting in the waters south of the Fairway Buoy, and more mahi-mahi are moving in, Conti says. A 40-pound mahi was landed this week, says Willi.

FRESHWATER

"Bass fishing continues to be excellent in South County lakes and ponds," reports Gary Dolloff of the Green Hill Bass Club. "The top-water bite has been hot for some time now. If you want excitement, try a rubber frog across a lily pad bed. We landed four bass over 3.5 pounds at Watchaug Pond [in Charlestown] last weekend using this method. Indian Lake [in South Kingstown] continues to produce some large fish. I landed three fish in the 4-plus-pound range fishing Jitterbugs early Monday morning. Once the sun gets up, these fish head for deeper water."

TOURNAMENT

A two day, three-species tournament to benefit the community food pantry in Charlestown is scheduled for this weekend at Shelter Cove Marina. The entry fee is $20, and prizes will be awarded for the largest striped bass, bluefish and fluke. To register, visit Breachway Bait & Tackle or Shelter Cove Marina, both on Beach Road in Charlestown.

BEST BITES

South County by boat:

Fluke, sea bass, bluefish, scup

Block Island:

Fluke, striped bass

Watchaug Pond:

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.”