[MVP]

5/21/15 RI Blackfish/Fluke Combo Trip Report

Received call from Capt. I fish with in the fall for blackfish out of Newport, RI.
He asked me if I was interested in doing a combo trip of Blackfish, fluke and possibly squid. His biggest blackfish of the year are normally caught in May. He knows how to get my attention. Sounded like an interesting trip and with chance for one last chance at catching blackfish so I sent out text to see if I can get a crew together to fish 5/21. Put a great crew together (Capt. Lou, Kurtis, Bob Bates, Mark (AWAD) and myself. Timing a trip like this is difficult as it is towards the end of the blackfish bite which has been very good the last 2 weeks and the beginning of fluke season for them. Squid fishing has been lights out in Hyannis, MA so they usually come in after the Hyannis run. We were coming off the moon on 5/18 so I thought my timing was going to give us a shot to get all 3 species in.

Met everyone at the boat at 5:45 and were off to the grounds at 6 am in cold windy conditions. The nice thing about fishing Newport is that the scenery is amazing and you are normally fishing great bottom in minutes as the run to the fishing grounds is short. Game plan was to limit out on the blackfish in the morning and then focus on the fluke afterwards. Come in have dinner and then head out for squid in the evening. Sounded like a great plan but conditions and migration of fish and squid had different idea. Squid were not in good numbers so Capt. decided to scratch the squid rather than taking us for a boat ride in the evening. SW winds that day may have bought in colder water and must have effected the blackfish bite as we tried early and later in the day and only managed 4 keepers for the 5 of us. Fluking was a little better but still below par as the bite is just starting.

I was disappointment with the results as I have been fishing RI for blackfish for 20 years and have only had 2 slow days in all that time. Not a bad ratio of good to great trips vs slow days but still disappointed as I wanted my guys on my trip to experience the great tog/fluke fishing I am use to. Felt like I let them down even though I know it is out of my control. Capt. moved around from blackfishing to fluking back to blackfishing and finishing with fluke as bite is truly effected by the tide. It was not for lack of effort as Capt. worked to get us on the bite. Total count for the trip was 4 keeper blackfish and 10 keeper fluke for the 5 of us. Can not thank the guys enough as they are seasoned charter fisherman and no you have to have a few slow trips to appreciate the really good ones. Even though Capt. Lou loves to bust my chops all the time my MVP Award went to him for catching the 3 biggest fluke of the trip including pool winner that went around 7 lbs. Will most likely head up to fluke fish in late July targeting bigger fluke in deeper water and then blackfish in late Oct.