Striped Bass

Also known as striper, linesider, rockfish.

Southern New England's marquee inshore gamefish — an anadromous predator that migrates between coastal estuaries and the open ocean, prized for its size, hard fight and year-in, year-out availability from shore and boat.

When they run

April–November; peak mid-May–June (spring run) and September–October (fall run), with a summer holdover fishery around Block Island and the bays.

How to catch them

Live-lining eels or menhaden
Trolling tube-and-worm / wire line in the rips
Casting topwater plugs
Chunk/bottom fishing
Fly fishing

Bait & lures

Live eelsLive/chunk menhaden (bunker)Sea wormsPencil poppersSoft-plastic swim shadsBucktails

Where to find them

Rips and current edges, rocky reefs and boulder fields, drop-offs, breachways, salt ponds and the surf — structure near tidal flow.

All six grounds; Block Island and the sound rips are notable big-fish areas.

Block Island Narragansett Bay Buzzards Bay Vineyard & Nantucket Sound Fishers Island Sound & the East End Long Island Sound

Catch reports from cruisers

No catch reports for Striped Bass yet. Landed one in these waters? Add the first — real reports only, moderated before they appear.

Augusto fishing notes are a starting point, not a guarantee — fish move with the water and the season. Nothing here is a substitute for current state regulations or local knowledge.