Way Off

I caught this schoolie this evening off the beach.
Schoolies are chasing small pods of bay anchovies
that pop up here and there along the oceanfront.
Keepers and bluefish are scarce.

There has been a slight uptick in the shore fishing this week, but the bottom line is that the fishing thus far in September is way, way off.  In fact, I will tell you that this is one of the poorest Septembers that I have ever seen in recent memory. Between myself and my two youngest sons, we are fishing every day of the week.  We are fishing both daytime and nighttime and cover the south shore beachfront as well as the rocky shores of Gansett.  Here is what is going on:
*Bait continues to be a big problem.  There are  small pods of bay anchovies here and there, but their numbers are way off. These pods have been hanging out well past casting range for the most part.  Every once in a while the bait comes close to shore, like yesterday when my son Jon landed 16 schoolies in a little over an hour in one small area.  Today, it didn't happen.
*Keeper bass are scarce from shore.  Most of the stripers around are schoolies.  They are generally small, averaging about 20 inches, but their numbers are off compared to past Septembers.
*Bluefish are scarce.  Hey, not much bait, not much blues.  Pretty simple.
*False albacore are nowhere to be found.  I'm writing them off.  A big slug of them does not suddenly happen in October. Their numbers generally build during September and we are at zero right now. Without a lot of bait, there will be few or no albies.
*There are rumors around about mullet in some of the breachways. If you can find them, you have a good shot at larger fish.  I have not seen any yet.