As befitting “shark week”, Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters has been pestered by “jaws” while targeting tuna. Porbeagles have been taking down the baits, but thanks to circle hooks are released quickly and without fanfare. There are football tuna within 2 1/2 miles of the shoreline, but typically are leery as they usually are close to the coast. Miles from shore, there are big schools of bite-sized pogies that whales are taking advantage of. Should the forage push into shore, the bass bite should get explosive. Scads of sand eels are holding slot and up striped bass in the North River with the incoming tide bringing the bait and bass upstream while the outgoing tide flushes everything towards the mouth of the river. "on the water"

Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters is putting patrons onto an interesting mix of species also as both haddock and stripers have been cooperating for the crew. Stone Ledge continues to be great for gadoids, while the best bass fishing vacillates between Minot Ledge and the mouth of the North River, with the latter fishing best as cooler water is ushered in on the flood. Mackerel remain an easy find and are the bait of choice for the bass. As for tuna, the best bluefin fishing remains east of Stellwagen, but with the volume of bait inshore and steadily rising water temperatures, Block Island bluefin are expected to move up soon. Pete from Belsan’s Bait and Tackle in Scituate described the mackerel population as “can’t miss!” The unusually large population of sand eels at the Spit is holding slots. For larger fish, trolling X-Raps east of Sunken Ledge has been effective. Blues remain a no-show. "on the water"

Captain Mark Rowell of Legit Fish Charters and crew were in the midst of jigging up mackerel just inside state waters when they saw the fins. A school of stripers up to 51” was also there looking for a mack snack. As is often the case when in open water, the fish were fussy, but the captain came stealthily prepared with 20-pound fluorocarbon leaders at the ready. That’s pretty flimsy stuff for fish of that size, but the captain said that the new bow-to-stern Daiwa gear he’s packing was more than up to the task. "on the Water"