Disappointing Columbus Day Weekend

In the past this has been a hot weekend of striper fishing in RI for those working folks who have a three day weekend. Not so this year. I fished very hard on Friday, Saturday and Sunday putting in a lot of time at some very good locations before and after dark. I managed two large bluefish and half a dozen schoolies and that was it. I saw a lot of guys out and about looking for fish in those three days. Based on past years, they were all expecting good fishing that just was not there. The biggest striper I saw was a 32 inch keeper.
There is still little bait around and the stripers are scarce. There are a few here and there but no big numbers on the mainland shore. You also can't find any birds working over bait, even way out. The small pods of mullet that we saw a week ago are gone. There are no large schools of rain bait like we had last year at this time. Large menhaden are few and far between.
I think the lack of stripers should raise concern about the health of the fishery. Fishing should be a whole lot better than what it is.