Clay Head is on the east side of Block Island and starts at the beginning of the cove north of Old Harbor and runs to the west toward Mansion Beach. This area is extremely rocky bottom and can be dangerous in close where the rocks are close to the surface. Out to 50 feet deep the bottom is intermittently rocky and smooth. Many scup live along theis bottom hiding in the rocks and striped bass and other predators will cruise along this area targeting the scup. Recent years have seen huge numbers of sand eels around the island and they too can be found in this area, some spawning in old harbor and within the salt pond of new harbor. There are also Tautog here along these rocky bottoms. Trolling wire with parachutes and umbrella rigs and drifting with soft plastic baits can be very productive here. We have also caught some nice tautog using crabs as well as gigantic scup using soft plastic baits with stinger hooks in the tail.
Clay Head Satallite Photo - notice rocks in water.