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Schoolies have been tight
to the shore in the NE wind
and rough water. |
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Schoolies have been plentiful,
but keeper bass have been scarce. |
The ocean has been really stirred up in the last week, but it has delivered very good numbers of fish to the shore. We've had a strong and persistent northeast wind that has sent big waves and a lot of white water pounding the east facing shorelines. If you could find clean and fishable water, the fishing was hot. Most of the shoreline along 'Gansett faces east and I have worked that area for the last five days. Birds have been diving along here all week in various spots chasing down small bait (bay anchovies) and lots of stripers were right up against the shore feeding. I fished for the last five days and caught and released a load of schoolies, but surprisingly, I could only manage one lone small keeper after dark last night. Keeper bass have really been in short supply. Equally surprising has been the total lack of bluefish. I have only landed one small bluefish from shore this whole fall. It has been decades since I have seen so few bluefish. I have no idea what is going on.
The wind switched direction today and the ocean calmed right down. The fishing calmed down with it, and the big numbers of schoolies seem to have disappeared at least temporarily. Still, there were birds diving here and there today way out, a sign that there is still bait in the area.
