BAY

"Fluke fishing is phenomenal," says Kenny Ferrara of Ray's Bait & Tackle. Anglers are landing good numbers of keepers, along with a lot of 5- to 6-pound fish, and even some 8- to 10-pounders. Ferrara recommends the waters from Dutch Island to Beavertail Point, and the drift between Goat Island and the Newport Bridge. David Henault of Ocean State Tackle suggests fishing just south of Fort Adams for fluke.

Trolling tube-and-worm rigs on Brenton Reef produced keeper bass for Kenny Landry on Tuesday and Wednesday. Smaller bass, along with bluefish, were biting near Halfway Rock and Gould Island, said Ferrara.

Menhaden have remained in the Seekonk River and Wickford Cove for several weeks, said David Henault. "If they're still here, bass have to be, too," he said. Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat Can't Imagine, has made very few trips out of the Bay because he's finding plenty of fish inside, said Henault.

Scup fishing is still good off Pine Hill.

Bluefish are appearing near Warwick Neck, Henault said, and blackfish are just beginning to bite.

Free-divers have been spearing tautog and triggerfish on the reefs off Newport and Middletown.

BEACHES AND SALT PONDS

Bass fishing has been relatively dead for the last two weeks, according to Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle, but there were signs of improvement Thursday morning. Before the bite died, 30-pound bass were numerous on the reefs off Charlestown and South Kingstown. Oscar and Henry Ernst, visiting from Norway, each caught stripers in the 25-pound class.

Bonito are still scarce, but cobia appeared in the waters off Narragansett yesterday, Mouchon said.

Bluefish abound along South County, and anglers have been seeing an occasional giant bluefin feeding on the blues near Nebraska Shoals, Mouchon said.

Fluke fishing remains good. Steve Travisono, skipper of the charter boat Sea Dog, took his clients to some large fluke Wednesday off South Kingstown. To the west, Bill McEvoy of King Cove Outfitters said, "The fluke are getting smaller and less numerous, and bass are not as active as they were." But bluefish are numerous and very active in the waters off Westerly and Stonington.

Anglers fishing over rock piles have been finding large scup in eastern Long Island Sound, McEvoy said.

OFFSHORE

John Bertoncini, fishing the offshore canyons aboard Lighting Strilkes, caught a 75-pound white marlin this week, said Al Conti.

The sportfisherman Big Game lived up to its name, landing four yellowfin in the 100-pound class and a 110-pound big eye. Bluefin tuna are becoming scarce.

Conti and his son landed about 130 pounds of cod on a trip to the southeast corner of Cox Ledge. The catch included some 10- to 12-pound fish, and the anglers weren't bothered by dogfish, he said.

BLOCK ISLAND

Bass fishing is considerably slower this week, but bonito have appeared to keep anglers on the move, said Chris Willi of Block Island FishWorks. The bonito have been taking small Yp-Zuri swimmers and Point Jude sand-eel tins, he said.

Fluke fishing continues to be very good in the waters off Clay Head, and all along the west side of the island where sea bass are also biting.

PARTY BOATS

Capt. Russ Benn on the Seven Bs V reported a "somewhat sagging fluke fishery in the second half of last week, though the trips that saw better drift conditions did fare OK. The weekend bass trips saw a slight uptick with the stripers, but also saw huge numbers of bluefish scarfing down the live eels. Half-day fluke trips continue through the end of August, and then tuna are on the agenda."

FRESHWATER

Thunder storms have kept Anthony Palumbo off the water for much of the week, but he did get out over the weekend. His report: "Saturday we fished Indian Lake in South Kingstown. The fishing was great in the morning to early afternoon. We caught a total of 18 fish, with the largest one breaking my line at the boat. I've caught a lot of fish in my life, and I can say for sure that she was at least 6 pounds. Most all bites were on rubber baits with the bulk coming on smaller finesse worms. They were taking plastics off the bottom and mid-depths. Most all fishing was concentrated out in the open water, because the shoreline bite was non-existent. Sunday I headed out to Gorton Pond in Warwick, and once again, the fish were active at lower depths. I tried to use some different presentations but the Senkos and 6.5 cut-tail worms by Yamamoto were the baits here. Fished slowly on the bottom is the way to go."

Anglers fishing with shiners are catching bass in Smithfield's Stump Pond, said David Henault.

BEST BITES

South County by boat:

Fluke, bluefish, possibly bass and bonito

Point Judith party boats:

Fluke, bass

Newport reefs:

Bass, blues tautog, triggerfish

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.”