Saturday, October 26, 2013

Attempting to Answer Reader Question about Scup Fishing


A reader asked a couple questions in the comments spot on my last blog post. The questions were “Are scup still around and where are some places to fish for them?”

Let me start by saying I am far from an expert on scup fishing. I only fish for them a couple times a year.

For the first question, whether scup are still around, the short answer is I don’t know. The longer answer is I checked fishing reports from The Fisherman Magazine and www.onthewater.com. I couldn’t find much of anything about scup from shore. A few of the charter boats and headboats were catching scup last week. With the really cold nights, I don’t know if fishing will slow or not. My advice is to call a tackle shop near where you fish and ask if scup are still biting.

As for where to catch them, I can be more help. I saltwater fish in Rhode Island almost exclusively.  Scup seem to be everywhere. Some of the more famous places are the East Wall  and West Wall. A lot of people fish for them in Narragansett. Besides the East Wall, the avenues can be good hot spots. I personally saw a bunch of scup caught at Black Point last month. Watch Hill will cost you a lot of terminal tackle, but scup are there.

In Narragansett Bay, places like Rocky Point in Warwick and Colt State Park in Bristol are popular. A couple weeks ago some teenagers had half a bucket full of scup at the Barrington River Bridge along the East Bay bikepath. One place I have done well is under the Mount Hope Bridge in Bristol. One day I’d have a fish on before it hit the bottom. I have also seen scup caught from the Conimicut Point Beach, but that spot can be crowded.

I don’t saltwater fish in Massachusetts very much. The only spot I know produces regularly is the west end of the Cape Cod Canal. I’ve seen a lot of scup caught at the Maritime Academy.

I hope this helps. Scup seem to be everywhere when they are “in season”. I just don’t know for sure if they are still around, good luck. Sorry I didn't get this out before the start of the weekend.

 

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