Striped bass push back to life as Narragansett Bay's fall run ramps up

What's biting

What's next

Expect the pattern to keep sliding toward fall as nights cool further. Per Saltwater Edge Blog (RI)'s own forecast, the next leg of the striped bass bite is tied to colder overnight temperatures and northerly winds, both typical for late September in Narragansett Bay.

Overnight low tide falls near 12:15 AM with the flood building toward high water around 6:40-6:49 AM, per NOAA CO-OPS stations 8452660 and 8452944 — a workable early window for surfcasters fishing eels or plugs after dark, a technique The Fisherman — Rhode Island credits to Quonnie Bait and Tackle for recent bass. Weekend planning should center on that pre-dawn push and the following high tide, since surface activity from mixed striped bass and bluefish has been showing during daylight along the beaches per the same report.

Tautog hasn't turned on yet in earnest. The Fisherman — Rhode Island has Frances Fleet holding off targeting them until October, so that bite is still a few weeks out.

Context

This is on-schedule for late September in Narragansett Bay: baitfish pushing out of the salt ponds and estuaries typically pulls striped bass, bluefish and false albacore onto the oceanfront through early October, while bottom fishing for fluke and black sea bass tapers as boats shift toward tautog later in the fall. A waxing gibbous moon this week generally sharpens tidal swings, which tends to concentrate bait and predators around the same structure and timing windows noted above.