Chef Jon Goes Fishing

Chef Jon recently took The Rhode Show on a completely different type of ride – he let them adventure out with him on a recent fishing trip in Narragansett Bay. The team was not only impressed with the boat’s catch (8 large striped bass!) but also with his knowledge and love of the sea. Whether he’s toiling in the Castle Hill garden or getting up at dawn to find fish for dinner, Chef Jon truly lives his culinary philosophy. When we say he’s dedicated to serving fresh, local seafood, we mean it!

Watch the video below for all the action, and read on for The Rhode Show article.

While the sun rises over a tranquil Mount Hope Bay, the action underneath is anything but. It is striped bass season in Rhode Island and for local fisherman, it doesn’t get much better than this.

“The season we are in here is big time stripe bass. Beautiful fish. Twelve to 15 pound range fish are the ones we want to take home. Those are the best for grilling or roasting in the oven,” said one of The Rhode Show’s resident chefs, Jonathan Cambra of Newport Restaurant Group .

“The passion of bringing it to the plate, that’s really what it is, the catching the fish and being out here early morning, understanding the water, the bay, and our ocean,” added Cambra.

On this trip Chef Jon took to the water with long time friend and Charter Captain Billy Silvia of ‘Can’t Imagine Sport Fishing. The two men have fished Narragansett Bay for years.

“I’m 35 years old. I’ve been fishing them since I was a little guy and I really got back into the past 10 years because of the conservation of the regulation of the stripe bass,” said Cambra.

And it doesn’t take long to see the conservation efforts at work. The morning of the outing on the water, live pogies do the trick. It’s one beautiful fish after another. All well over the regulation size 28 inches.

“It really makes it for a fun, filled experience. It’s not all about pulling it into the boat. It’s about the challenge of getting it into the boat the right way, not beating the fish up, feeling the fish, understanding what it is doing in the water, and hopefully you can bring it in at the end.” We need to not forget where our food is coming from.”

Cambra has some advice for fellow fishermen out there.

“Narragansett Bay really brings us some special fish and our duty is to do the best with that fish, take care of it, ice it down, get it back into the land.”