Big news: MFCC podcast host Kevin Collins has teamed up with longtime MFCC member Eddy Kooyomjian of Monomoy Tackle on a new podcast series. Full episodes are available over at MonomoyTackle.com, but we wanted MFCC to get the same insider intel and captain insights right here too!
Striper Fishing in Newport, RI
Captain Jay Cianciolo is a third-generation captain who grew up charter and commercial fishing all around Cape Cod. He still splits his time with his family's operation, Laura Jay Charters in Sandwich, but he has also built his own guiding service, Fish Newport RI Fishing Charters in Newport, Rhode Island.
During Episode 8 of the Monomoy Saltwater Journal, Kevin Collins and Eddy Kooyomjoian caught Jay about an hour and a half off the water, in the middle of what he called some of the most insane topwater fishing of his life during Rhode Island's famous fall run.
A Season That Started Early and Never Quit
Jay's first trip of 2026 was on May 3rd. It was a warmup run with three other Newport captains before the charter season kicked off that week. Normally that first week of May means a lot of schoolies. This year they found topwater bass between 36 and 44 inches right outside his home harbor. The big fish showed up early, they were hungry, and Jay described them as easy to fool.
The Narragansett Bay spring run was a bit different from the usual script. Menhaden never showed in any real numbers. The bass fed on river herring instead, but that wasn't enough to sustain them. The fish that normally spend the spring in the bay dumped out off Newport earlier than usual. The second half of May and all of June, normally a transitional stretch, fished far better than it typically does.
Summer was steady. Big fish held on the structure off Newport all season. The warm-water doldrums that usually slow things down only showed up for about two days mid-summer. Now, the fall run was in full swing, with the last four days producing so many topwater fish that Jay had lost count.
The June Sand Eel Bite and Diamond Jigs
The most surprising stretch of Jay's season came in June. Tiny sand eels showed up offshore, south of Newport in 70 to 90 feet of water, where he says you almost never find bass. The fish were stacked up under birds and were extremely picky. They would barely look at topwater plugs.
Then Jay looked closely at what they were eating, and it clicked. Anyone who remembers the old Chatham diamond jig bite knows what came next. Only about three boats out there knew how to fish it, all of them run by guys who used to fish on the Cape. Every day for the entire month of June they went out and hammered fish, with four or five on at a time. Jay had never dropped a diamond jig off Newport before, and he called it one of the most fun months he's ever had omn the water.
Squid Everywhere, Mackerel for a Moment
We've talked a lot this year about the squid explosion in Cape Cod waters, and Jay confirmed that it reached Newport too. He saw squid from Montauk all the way up to Boston. On trips out to Block Island in June, squid were piled on the surface with giant bass gorging on them. Squid-imitating soft plastics got clobbered.
Mackerel are a different story. Jay says Newport generally doesn't get them, which is probably the biggest bait difference from Cape Cod Bay, where he's done a ton of live-mackerel fishing in his life. But in August, for somewhere between ten days and two weeks, mackerel showed up right off Jamestown, RI. He filled the livewell each morning, gave customers something fun to start the day, and live-lined them. He also slow trolled them down by Elbow Ledge for some nice fish. One highlight was a 48-inch bass caught in six feet of water on a live mackerel, with the fish smashing on top the whole time it was being reeled in.
Where Are the Pogies? Jay's Three Theories
Eddy fished Rhode Island years ago, and the Providence River in May and June used to be loaded with pogies. So he asked Jay why they've been missing? Menhaden haven't shown up in decent numbers for the last two seasons. Jay offered three possible explanations and thinks the answer is probably some mix of them:
- Natural cycles. Menhaden go through highs and lows, and we may simply be in a low.
- The reduction fishery. Heavy harvest in the mid-Atlantic may be leaving fewer fish to reach New England.
- Cleaner water. Some lobstermen and quahoggers have told Jay that the Save the Bay cleanup, as good as it has been, may have removed so much plankton that the bay no longer feeds filter-feeding pogies. A Newport lobsterman with a fisheries science degree holds this theory, and Jay says it sounds plausible, though he admits he doesn't know the science himself.
Personally, Jay is hoping it's just the fickle nature of menhaden and that they come back in better number next year.
Newport vs. Cape Cod Bay
Jay knows both areas extremely well. Cape Cod Bay is his backyard. In the bay you can find fish in the middle of nowhere, in 60 to 90 feet of water, with no obvious reason for them to be there except that the bait is. Newport is far more structure-oriented. He fishes places like Breton Reef and Seal Rock, where the fish relate directly to the rocks and reefs. He calls it a little more technical than the bay.
It's also more demanding on the helm. He's fishing tight to rocks and reefs, with big swells and crashing whitewater, and boulder fields that call for careful driving. It's a blast to fish, but you need to know where you're going.
The trolling game shows the difference too. Jay doesn't carry a wire line rod in Newport. Trying to troll there the way you would on Billingsgate Shoal would mean hanging up on the bottom constantly.
Brown Sharks and Fish Glued to the Bottom
Jay's most unusual observation was about Breton Reef itself. For seven or eight years he's made a living on the east side of the reef, but this year he barely saw fish there. They were about a half mile away, locked onto a single piece of structure near Seal Rock, and they stayed there for roughly nine weeks.
Jay blames brown sharks, which showed up in huge numbers this season. The bass seemed penned in and wouldn't roam with the tide, and anglers across Newport lost big fish to sharks, often reeling up a giant head and half a fish. On the sounder, the schools were pinned so tight to the bottom that they looked like false bottom. Jay says that if you know how to read your machine, you know they're there.
Getting them to eat took patience. Boat pressure made the fish sulk, so Jay often returned in the afternoon, once traffic had thinned out, and did well then. Even in a strange year, the fish ended up in familiar places. As Jay put it, it's never an exact science, but there's more consistency from year to year than you'd think.
Tube and Worm & Top Water
Jay mixes methods through the day. Early mornings are for topwater. Once the sun gets up and the surface bite shuts off, he breaks out tube and worm. Some of his biggest fish of the year come on tubes. He cut his teeth on the technique at Scorton Ledge in Cape Cod Bay, and Newport's miles of structure feel to him like a seven-mile stretch of Scorton. He stresses that it isn't about dragging plastic around. You have to hunt with it and work the tubes around the structure in relation to the current.
His setup is built to be sporting:
- A Jig World Black Widow 150 blank with spiral wraps, light but with plenty of backing
- A Saltiga 40 lever drag reel, since he admits he's a bit of a gear snob
- Braid backing, with only five colors of lead core because the water is so shallow
For topwater, Jay has been throwing the Doc since the days when it was a closely guarded secret, and it's still his go-to. This year he also picked up glide baits. He says they're amazing, though pricey and hard to find, and he's a fan of the less expensive Chop Block soft plastic version. He says a glide bait from Monomoy Tackle would get his attention in a hurry!
Tuna and Tog
Jay is passionate about tuna, but a busy striper charter schedule meant fewer tuna days than usual. He did get a few fish at the Narragansett beach bite in September, which was not as strong as in past years. Giant fishing off Block Island in July was better than the fall, with boats even working down by the windmills.
Then there's tog. Jay thinks Newport may be the best place on the East Coast to chase tautog, with boats coming from the Cape and even New York for it. He waits until striped bass wrap up, then fishes the ocean side, where he's more comfortable than in the bay. Some captains Jay knows are getting into the practice of releasing the big females, a conservation move Jay applauds because it helps protect the fishery before regulators have to step in.
Booking a Trip with Captain Jay
Jay expected about two more weeks of great fall run striped bass fishing before things slow in November and the focus turns to a red hot tautog fishery. He has some openings left this year, and next-year bookings are already coming in, including from technical anglers planning around the moon calendar. You can find him at fishnewportri.com.
Tight Lines & Take Care!