Last year I vowed I would never return to this place. I could not stand the crowds, and we had some nasty encounters with some unpleasant fishermen. Yet, everytime we went there last year we caught fish. So, when my son, Ben, asked if I wanted to go on Father's Day, I said, "What the heck, let's give it a try. Maybe we'll find some fish away from the crowds." And, that is just what we did.
First off, I can tell you there was more bait in one little stretch of the Canal than I have seen all year in RI. The edge of the water was a ten to fifteen foot swath of black with small bait that seemed to move slowly against the currents. And schools of it kept coming and coming for hours. Further out, sometimes WAY out, sporadic fish were breaking here and there. Some of them were decent size. But, they were fussy since they were feeding on the small bait. I saw no mackerel. One guy next to us could cast a Guppy pencil popper more than halfway across the canal, and he was getting occasional hits and fish. At one point, the fish moved in close and I was able to get a 30 inch keeper (see photo) on a jig. I also saw other fish landed around us when the fish came in close. Surprisingly, it was not crowed where we were and the fishermen who were there were polite, friendly and respectful.
So, here is a place where keepers are caught with regularity in the middle of the day. Nothing like this exists from shore here in RI. It is also a place where the bait always seems to be around. Once again, nothing like this in RI from shore. Yup, a different world at the Canal. I might even make a trip back there in the coming weeks.
