From the Providence Journal
R.I. anglers are striking it rich with Black Salty
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, May 12, 2006
By Tom Meade
BRISTOL -- The Black Salty, a baitfish from a farm in Arkansas, may become a hot commodity on Narragansett Bay and Long Island Sound this summer. Monday morning, four dozen Black Salty minnows enticed more than 50 striped bass to strike in the waters off Providence Point.
The bass were all over the water's calm surface, feeding on mantis shrimp, said Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat Can't Imagine. He was demonstrating the Black Salty to David Henault, owner of Ocean State Tackle stores in Providence and Bristol. Jeff Soriano, Ocean State Tackle's Web site designer, also was there for a preview of the fish Silvia plans to distribute to bait shops.
"This ain't fair," said Henault as every single Black Salty in the baitwell lured a strike. Some of the minnows caught more than one fish.
Typically, Rhode Islanders fish with live herring this time of year, but there is a ban on catching herring here and in Connecticut and Massachusetts because the herring population appears to be crashing.
"Now you don't have to worry about live bait," said Silvia, "because the Black Salty comes from a fish farm."
The Black Salty isn't black at all. At sunrise, it looked silver with a touch of rose or orange.
I.F. Anderson Farms of Lonoke, Ark., developed the breed of baitfish to withstand saltwater exposure for up to two hours. On his charter boat, Silvia keeps the bait in an aerated livewell with fresh water. (If your water comes from a municipal source, you have to add tablet to neutralize the chlorine, Silvia said.)
He never got to demonstrate how long the baitfish would endure the salt water, however, because bass gobbled the bait almost as soon as each Black Salty hit the water.
There were thousands of stripers rolling on the calm surface off Providence Point and the cut between Prudence and Patience Islands. The fish were feeding on mantis shrimp, said Silvia.
The baitfish he was using were small -- about 4 1/2 inches long -- because he had given away the larger ones he would normally use for stripers. It didn't matter. Bass belted the smaller fish, anyway.
The key is to use as light a line as possible, said Silvia. On two of his rods, Silvia used a quarter-ounce egg sinker to get the bait to the bottom. On two others, there was no weight at all, only a fluorocarbon leader tied directly to the line, connected by a Bristol Knot to a Spider Clinch. "The lighter you go," said Silvia, "the more action you're going to have."
Soriano, fishing his bait right next to the boat, saw several bass bite.
None of the stripers was long enough to keep -- the largest of them being around 25 inches -- but almost all of them had sea lice on them, indicating that they had recently entered the Bay. After Mother's Day, larger bass generally arrive in the waters around Prudence, Patience and Conanicut Islands, said Silvia.
That's when he plans to use "magnum" Black Salty minnows, grown to 8 inches long. He'll use smaller ones for fluke and black seabass. In other states, anglers have used the minnows to catch cobia, redfish, croaker and other gamefish.
The Black Salty is illegal in Massachusetts, Silvia said. Larry Bozka, a spokesman for the fish farm, says it's meant to be used as a saltwater bait in Rhode Island.
Silvia and his partner, Dom Petrarca, plan to distribute the minnows to saltwater-fishing shops throughout Rhode Island. He expects the first stores to have the fish in stock next week. They are Ocean State Tackle in Providence and Bristol, Riverside Marine in Tiverton, Sam's Bait & Tackle in Middletown, Snug Harbor Marina in South Kingstown and Wildwood Outfitters in Wakefield. Retail prices have not been set yet; Henault estimated that a 6 1/2- to 8-inch magnum minnow will cost somewhere between $1.25 and $1.75.
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