Gators on the Prowl

Jon Pickering holds a gator bluefish that
was caught last night.  It was one of ten
big blues that we caught along with multiple
keeper bass.

The Daiwa SP Minnow
accounted for most of
last night's fish.

Our fabulous September fishing just keeps rolling on delivering one surprise after another.  In the last two weeks I have seen acres of small blues, big schools of albies and more keeper bass than I expected.  But, the latest twist this week was the big number of alligator bluefish.  I'm talking blues in the 12-15 lb. range. They are around in a wide area of the oceanfront.  I have not seen blues like this in years, maybe decades!
I fished last night with my son, Jon.  We landed ten of these monster bluefish along with numerous keeper bass and some schoolies.  It was one of the best nights of fishing I have experienced this year.  We got all our fish on Daiwa SP minnows.  I was using a pearl colored one while he was using a mackerel model.
All of this fishing activity is being fueled by massive amounts of bait.  This week I have seen big schools of peanut bunker, adult menhaden and bay anchovies.  All of that bait has set up some of the best September fishing for multiple species that I have ever seen along the RI shoreline.