BAY

Frank Tameo and Kenny Landry continue to catch bass in the 25-pound class off Beavertail Point and Annawan Cliffs, says Kenny Ferrara of Ray's Bait & Tackle. There have been reports of larger fish in the same vicinity, he said.

Scup are biting in the waters off Pine Hill, Hope Island and General Rock off North Kingstown, says Ferrara. General Rock also offers sea bass.

Halfway Rock is a good bet for catching bluefish and school stripers, says Ferrara. Schools of bluefish were popping up between the Green River and Warwick Light early this week, says Arthur Cabral, whose grandson caught several fish in the 5- to 8-pound range and two over 10 pounds.

For kids, there are plenty of skipjack blues biting in the Kickamuit River, East Greenwich Cove and Bristol Harbor, says David Henault of Ocean State Tackle.

Fishing is excellent in both the East and West passages, but there are very few anglers out there, says Greg Zeek of Zeek's Creek. To catch fluke, he recommends the waters near the Jamestown Bridge, URI's Bay Campus, Mackerel Cove, Dutch Harbor, Fort Adams, Agassiz Cove and Bailey's Beach. "If you're not catching 20-inch fish, move," he advises. Scup and sea bass have been biting in the same areas.

Bluefish in the 5- to 8-pound range have been biting near both the Jamestown and Newport bridges, and shore anglers have been catching smaller blues at Fort Getty, Zeek says.

On Brenton Reef, large bass are biting eels, and smaller stripers are taking tube-and-worm rigs.

BEACHES AND SALT PONDS

"Still some nice fluke to be had along the South Shore," says Thom Pelletier, skipper of the charter boat ThomCat. "Many fish are within an inch either way of the 20-inch limit. The day's best Wednesday weighed 5.5 pounds. Big pink ThomCats were hot. Squid, mummies and fillet strips from a bluefish all caught well. Wednesday, they seemed to be more to the east, off Point Judith. Some days, Green Hill, Nebraska Shoals and Charlestown Beach are more productive. If you try fluking off of the Lighthouse or the Center Wall, bring lots of gear because these spots are tackle eaters."

On a busman's holiday Wednesday, charter boat skippers Thad Gruska of Pole Cat and Steve Travisono of Sea Dog Inshore Charters went fishing for fun with Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle. They caught limits of bass between 20 and 30 pounds, which were filleted and donated to the food pantry in Charlestown. Even larger bass have returned to the reefs off Charlestown and South Kingstown, Travisono said.

Large scup are biting off the Five Cottages and the center wall, Travisono said.

Bonito are here, but they're scarce.

PARTY BOATS

The skippers of the Seven Bs V and the Frances Fleet are reporting a steady bite of fluke off the South County shore.

Striper fishing has slowed, says Ray Thimas of the Seven Bs V, noting that 13-year-old Louis Zapeta of Central Falls caught a 25-pound bass this week. The bite should improve as the numbers of baitfish increase.

OFFSHORE

The Mud Hole and the waters just south of the Fairway Buoy have been holding small bluefin tuna, according to Kenny Landry.

BLOCK ISLAND

After fishing with his son Matt on the Donecutten, Ed Hughes wrote, "We were on our way to the Mud Hole when he had some minor mechanical problems. We were about nine miles off the center wall. Matt decided to fish right where we were. I figured we'd get a bunch of bluefish, but about 20 minutes of chumming we landed our first blue shark. It weighed about 200 pounds. We had consistent action all afternoon with Matt and of his four friends catching and releasing two sharks. We lost at least four others. We even saw a white marlin and had a mako in the slick. Not a bad day considering we didn't even go halfway to the Mud Hole!"

Fishing aboard Mike Neto's charter boat Adriana Wednesday, David Henault, Tom Cox and Ronnie Annunziato caught and released several bass over 34 inches long, including a 45-pounder. They were drifting eels on an incoming tide off the south side of the island. A group of anglers aboard Neal Vitullo's charter boat Played For It, nearby, also caught bass and bluefish.

On the North Rip, anglers aboard the Irish Jig were working parachutes and catching bass, said Henault.

FRESHWATER

Pike as long as 32 inches and bass are biting medium and medium-heavy shiners on Stump Pond in Smithfield, says David Henault. He also says bass and pickerel, and even trout, are biting on Olney Pond in Lincoln Woods State Park.

Anthony Palumbo used spinner baits to catch a 34-inch pike on Stump Pond this week. He caught bass on Gorton Pond in Warwick on watermelon-with-silver-flake worms, he said.

Ed Lombardo is catching trout on gypsy-moth imitations. See the next Outdoor Notes column for details.

BEST BITES

West Passage:

Bass, fluke, bluefish, scup

South County reefs:

Bass, bluefish, scup

Block Island:

Big 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.”