“What do I need to bring with me to catch fish when I come out to Block Island?” is a question we at Block Island Fishworks Bait and Tackle address on a daily basis. It’s a great question. Given the variety of habitat, as well the variety of finned quarry, lure type and angling technique are almost infinitely varied.
Perhaps the most alluring aspect of Block Island is the myriad of structure, current, and species available to the shore and inshore boat angler. In both cases one may expect to catch stripers, bluefish, fluke, sea bass, porgy/scup, tautog, false albacore, Atlantic bonito, and squid. The most important thing to consider when putting together your effective island angling arsenal is being able to cover the water column from top to bottom with a lure profile that matches the prevalent forage types. Sand eels, silverside/spearing, juvenile scup, mackerel, squid, and snapper bluefish, make up the forage base for hungry fish around Block to dine upon. The following is a quick summary of what to include in your lure and rigging selection, without needing a U-Haul van to lug the gear out island.
Starting high up in the water column, you need to be equipped with a noisy surface lure. These include pencil poppers, spook lures, and traditional poppers. Favorite local topwater colors are bone, blue and white and yellow over white and are used to maximum effect in daylight and light change scenarios. The number one lure to work the upper level of water column from sunset to sunrise is the needlefish. You cannot fish Block Island without needlefish in the lineup. Black or ‘blurple’ parrot, and olive over white are top producing colors. To get a little deeper in the column go to a darter or lipped swimmer, preferably a floating model. The metal lipped old school Danny’s fished slow, or a big plastic lipped version (especially ones with rattles), are staples of an effective Block Island lure selection. Black, ‘school bus’, and ‘wonder bread’ are popular swimmer colors. To effectively cover the lower level of the water column, from both beach and boat, one absolutely should have bucktail jigs, soft plastic jigs, and metal spoon type jigs. Block Island surfcasters have a white or black bucktail jig in the bag at all times, usually tipped with a pork rind or soft plastic. Light tackle anglers from the boat find the soft plastic on a 3/4oz jighead as the number one producer. Sand eel, rainbow trout, and albino are must have color options. The versatility of this lure makes it a valuable asset which you should not leave home without.
Here are the top five lures for Block Island:
- Black Bomber Magnum Long A
- Super Strike Needlefish 7” in Parrot
- Shimano Orca 2oz in Ghost
- White Bucktail with a white 5-7” split tail pork rind
- Hurley Cape Cod Sand Eel, matching the jig head to the conditions.
To effectively fish the inshore Block Island ground you don’t need every type of lure created just a selection to cover the water column thoroughly, and most importantly, CONFIDENTLY. If you put the time in with these recommendations you will most certainly bend a rod on Block Island.
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