Some very large bass have been taken on the reefs of Long Island Sound, he says.

That's where divers are spearing monster bass, according to Don.

"The action was hot right out of the box and it stayed that way until the engines started signaling the end of the day." they said. Among the catch were several jumbo fluke.

Mike and Tony Tilleli each caught a limit of large fluke, including six jumbos.

The hot rig was a hi-lo set-up.

Sea bass and scup are also biting along the beaches.

Together, the top three fish in yesterday's Bluewater Meet weighed over 170 pounds

Freediver John Murphy held his breath to spear this 63-pound bass

Connecticut breath-hold diver John Murphy, a longtime member of the Rhode Island Freediving Club, speared a 63-pound striper. He was diving in 45 feet of water on the reefs of South County Thursday, reports Jay Moore, president of the club.

Yesterday, during the club's annual Bluewater Meet, three of the competing athletes speared bass over 50 pounds.

John Murphy has been spearfishing for 30 years and has been a dominant competitor in New England, said Jay. John is a five-time North Atlantic Champion, three-time All-American and the 2003 United States Underwater Athlete of the Year. He has two National Team Championships as well as one individual first place, second place, and third place finish. He has a second place and two third place team finishes in the U.S. Nationals He is also a two-time winnerof the Rhode Island Bluewater Meet.

After yesterday's meet, Jay Moore reported:

The results:

Peter Papathanasiou 59.6
Dave Hochman 57.0
Marco Resendes 54.0
John Warnock 47.2
Faye Swenson 41.0
Jon Lounsbury 35.8
Matt Swenson 29.0
Justin Allen 26.8
Gabe Mathias 25.0
Andrew Ford 18.8
Anson Smith 17.4
Kevin Sheets 16.4
Ryan Grauden 12.6
Chris Parkins 12.6

Competitors can shore dive and drive from spot to spot, use a boat or a kayak. All fishing is done while breath-hold diving in Rhode Island waters. Each competitor is allowed to weigh in one fish. The competitor with the largest fish wins.

Kenny Landry, first mate aboard the charter boat L'il Toot, with a Block Island bass

"Striped bass fishing at Block Island has been red hot recently as massive schools of sand eels have moved in, and the bass have been feeding heavily on them," writes Peter Beuth, first mate aboard the charter boat CDevil II. "The guys at Merrimack Building Supply came out on a corporate charter and were rewarded with an excellent day of striper fishing and superb weather. The fishing is great, and many more great days lie ahead."

The Eelman this morning

Bill "Eelman" Nolan fished with Steve McKenna today and caught several fish between 18 and 41 pounds. The largest weighed 41.3 pounds, Bill's heaviest bass this season.

They were fishing in the lower Bay, he said. The upper Bay is too crowded for him.

"It didn't matter where I went or what color I used," he said. "There were fish everywhere. I think the key was the incoming tide."

Ed was wading. On his first cast, he caught a 30-inch bass.

"I was worried that it would be a jinx, but it wasn't," he said. "I think I caught a fish on every cast after that, and they were all bass, no bluefish."

Dave Pickering with a 10-pounder yesterday

“Carp fishing is red-hot right now as the fish are in a post-spawn feeding period,” writes Dave Pickering. “The mulberry ‘hatch’ is also on and the carp are feeding big time on them. My son, Jon, and I have been hitting our mulberry spots along the Blackstone River every morning in the last week. We get from 5 to 7 fish in a couple of hours with the average carp around 10 pounds. However, we landed a huge mirror carp this morning on a mulberry. The fish weighed in the low twenties, one of the largest mirrors we have ever caught. The thunderstorms and heavy rains of the last week have knocked down tons of berries and that has resulted in fantastic fishing.”

From the Wood River, fly fisherman Ed Lombardo reports:

"The good news is that the Hex still came off on time at 8:45 p.m. and it emerged in good numbers. A lot of duns and some spinners. The bad news is that the fish only came up for a matter of, oh, five minutes.

"I believe that the river will not be right for a good three to four days. The weather forecast is more rain and thunder storms starting again today. This will put a damper on the Wood for a while. I think that the river will not be right until Friday or Saturday nights.

"The two fish that we managed to hookup, took a spinner."

This morning's catch

"Here's a picture of Jim and Reenee Casapulla from New Jersey," writes Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat, Can't Imagine. Today, we went fishing at Poppasquash Point and caught a lot of nice fish. Reenee caught her first ever striper. It weighed 23 pounds."

Greg and Jerry McGrath yesterday

Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat Can't Imagine, is concentrating on schools of menhaden between Bristol and Prudence Island. He sent this picture of Greg McGrath and his dad Jerry on Greg's birthday yesterday. They caught about 20 bass, Billy saud, and the biggest was 36 inches long. It weighed 19 pounds.

"Freshwater has been brisk to say the least," reports Anthony Palumbo.

"I went to Wordens Pond on Saturday and Sunday and did great. They were hitting on topwater Scumfrogs when fished along the shoreline right into the tall grass. As usual they were also taking worms in basically any form. I fished them wacky, Texas, and even drop shot. When it seemed to slow a bit I threw a Shakey head and they ate those up. I caught about 10 fish with the largest at 5 pouns 2 ounces and the smallest around the 1 pound.

"All fishing was done from 8 a.m. to around 3 p.m. both days.

"I also fished Johnson's Pond from the Zekes Bridge side last Friday and did well hitting the docks with tubes and wacky worms. All but one were 2 pounds or under with the one weighing 3 pounds, 4 ounces. I went under the bridge towards Big River with no luck."

“We had a plan to fish the entire eastern end of Long Island Sound,” Anderson said. “We immediately shot across the Sound and fished one side of Plum Island, then fished Plum Gut on the other. After that we went to Mattatuck, on the New York side; from there we went to Horton Point before crossing Long Island Sound. We also fished Hatchett Reef and Valiant Rock.”

Team Little Grey Gull caught its second big fish near Valiant Rock in its last 45 minutes of fishing. “There were about 30 or 40 boats fishing there, and we caught a fish right out from under them,” Anderson said.

The team, which consists of Frank Kiernan of Madison, Conn., Keith Salisbury of Westbrook, Conn., and Scott Kesselman of Greenwich, Conn., fished with teasers on wire line and very small and light Parachute jigs, so they flip more in the water.

“We had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun during the day,” Anderson said. “We did not think that we were going to win the tournament when we weighed in second or third and were put on the leaderboard. What we didn’t realize was what a difficult day everyone had. Most of the bass are still up in the rivers or in the western end of the Sound and have not migrated yet—usually, they will already be there. I’d say in the next week to 10 days, they will definitely be up in the east end—they’re not going to go to summer like that.”

In accordance with tournament regulations, both fish fell within a 28- to 34-inch slot limit and were successfully weighed and released in good condition.

Teams, ranging in size from two to four anglers each, compete for a guaranteed top award of $10,000 cash in each event and as much as $20,000 cash based on boat and engine bonuses from Hydra-Sports, Seaswirl, Wellcraft, Evinrude and Yamaha. The winning team is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight of two striped bass falling within the 28- to 34-inch slot limit.

The next FLW Striper Series tournament will be held at Bass River Marina in West Dennis, Mass., Aug. 9.

Entry fees are $450 per team for all entries received prior to the day of registration for each tournament. The entry fee for entries received on registration day for a tournament or on-site during tournament registration is $500 per team. Teams may register online at FLWOutdoors.com or by calling (270) 252-1000.

Kirk Kessler caught this 33-pounder this morning

"At Poppasquash Point this morning, we got at least 20 nice fish," said Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat Can't Imagine. "Schools of pogies everywhere. Kirk Kessler from Utah caught a 33-pound bass. What a fat fish!"

"Capt. Rich on the 7 a.m. boat has been crushing big fluke every day with the smallest pool fish around 8 pounds, and winner usually 10 pounds or better. Fish in the 4- to 6-pound range are commonplace with anglers often having several fish of that size in their limit catches...

"The take has been almost all fluke with just a few nice sea bass, scup and bluefish in the mix.

"All terminal gear has been working well with the Spro jigs and bucktails hot for some anglers, and just a tandem bait rig with squid and spearing producing size and numbers for others.

"Mylar flies and spinners have also been hot at times.

"The fishing just really does not get any better and the body of fluke seems to be staggering."

The fish weighed 97 pounds.

"There were tons of blue sharks there, and some threshers," she said.

Earlier in the week, her brother, Matt Conti, said yellowfin tuna had been spotted near Southwest Ledge.