Connecticut freediver Dave Hochman shot a 68.4-pound striped bass off Rhode Island's south shore last weekend. It is a new spear-fishing world record.

BAY

"The Bay is definitely slowing way down, and more and more bluefish are moving in," says Bill "Eelman" Nolan. "I am traveling as far south as the Narragansett and Newport shoreline now to find fish. I am switching to night fishing very soon with live eels or fresh menhaden chunks."

Kenny Ferrara of Ray's Bait & Tackle says there are still some schoolies biting near Poppasquash Point and Pine Hill, but large bass have moved into the waters off Conanicut Point, Beavertail Point, Annawan Cliffs and Bonnet Shores. His son Kenny Landry caught bass trolling a tube-and-worm rig along the eastern shore of Gould Island and near Halfway Rock.

Early this week, Nils Christensen, creator of UltimateKayakFishing.com, said, "Still some nice striped bass fishing in Narragansett Bay. We did a charter with Capt. Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat Can't Imagine ( www.DezulFishing.com). Great fun catching bait at 3 a.m. for our 6 a.m. charter. Landed stripers all morning with Don O'Neil's striped bass at 24.5 pounds the largest one of the morning."

Kevin Bettencourt caught a 45-pound bass off Newport this week. "Fishing with Chris Valley and Rob Perreira, we headed up the Providence River at 3:30 a.m. to snag pogies," he says. "By 5:30 a.m., we picked up my father, Al Bettencourt, and made the run to Newport. We found the bass stacked up in 45 to 68 feet of water. The trophy was taken on the first drift of the day using a live pogy, three-wayed with a 4-ounce sinker."

Fluke have been biting near Conimicut Light and the Warwick Country Club in the upper Bay, and off Austin Hollow in the lower Bay, Ferrara says.

Rocky Point has been the hot spot for scup this week, Ferrara says.

Bluefish have moved into the upper Bay, in the Providence River and off Potter's Cove.

BEACHES AND SALT PONDS

"The fluke bite is holding up well along the South County beaches," reports Thom Pelletier, skipper of the charter boat ThomCat. "We fished south and west of Nebraska Shoals in 45 to 55 feet for some nice eating-sized fluke," he writes. "Nothing huge, with the best at 5.17 pounds and several on either side of the 4-pound mark. We also saw the first chunky sea bass this season. White rigs and jigs worked best."

As good as fluke fishing has been, it's getting even better, says Al Conti of Snug Harbor Marina. Last week, Ray Rao won the marina's weekly contest with a 10.2-pound fluke, and this week, Billy Barbour reported catching a couple of fish over 8 pounds apiece. Conti said the bite has been good in 60 to 65 feet of water south of Nebraska Shoals and also in the waters east of Point Judith Light. Commercial rod-and-reel fishermen are catching so many large fluke that they are releasing fish under 2 pounds apiece.

Striped-bass fishing is steady but not red-hot, says Conti. Mike Lanni landed a 51-pounder this week.

Diving on the reefs, Jay Moore says he is seeing a lot of fish in the 40-pound class this week. He and some friends took two much smaller fish for a cookout and watched the large fish swim off.

The reefs off Watch Hill reportedly hold some really large stripers.

OFFSHORE

"Blue sharks are everywhere," says Al Conti. They are as close as three miles off the mainland, good news for anglers entered in Snug Harbor's shark tournament this weekend.

The sportfisherman Rooster steamed to The Fingers this week to take a 109-pound mako shark.

Tuna have disappeared.

So have billfish.

BLOCK ISLAND

"Fishing was pretty good the past five mornings," said Chris Willi of Block Island FishWorks ( www.bifishworks.com) on Monday. "Fishing in Graces Cove, Lou Eagle landed his largest bass on the fly at 39 inches and over 25 pounds -- on his own purple fly. We caught fish at Groves, the Poop Chute, Cormorant Cove, and the Channel. Southwest Point held lots of fish for the light-tackle -- all doing well with the RonZ in silver or purple haze. The largest fish was 37 inches but most were 30ish."

FRESH WATER

Allie Di Tommasso caught a 5.28-pound largemouth on a shiner at Ponagansett Reservoir in Glocester this week, said Beverly Mouradjian of Big Bear Supply. Steve Hopkins took a 5.12-pound bass on a Rapala swimmer on Slack's Reservoir in Smithfield.

Ed Hughes has been catching 8- to 10-pound northern pike on large Mepps spinners at Worden's Pond in South Kingstown on sunny days. When a low-pressure system moves in, however, the pike stop striking.

The water temperature on the Wood River Wednesday evening was a warm 65 degrees, reports Ed Lombardo, and the large Hexagenia mayflies are waiting until nighttime to emerge. As he waited for the Hex, Lombardo caught trout on his "potato-chip fly," a Blue-Winged Olive. "The Hex did emerge in good numbers at 8:55 p.m., and trout took both dun and spinner imitations," he reports. He recommends fishing #8 or #10 White Wulffs or AuSable Wullfs, tied sparsely.

TOURNAMENT

The 27th annual Snug Harbor Shark Tournament is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, and early registrations indicate that there may be a full field. Information is available on the marina's Web site, www.snugharbormarina.com.

BEST BITES

South County by boat:

Fluke, striped bass

Providence River to Bristol:

Bluefish

Providence County ponds:

Nass and panfish

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.”

*Morning tide