It's that bad.....

After Sunday's poor outing, I told myself I would not head down for at least a few days.  Well, I couldn't resist heading down yesterday.  Everything was in place for a great day....prime time, storm coming, a little rough water and a dark day. That had to bring some fish around.
As it turned out yesterday turned out to be the worst day of the fall for me.  I started in Westerly and hit the waters around Weekapaug Breachway and the beach.  From there I fished the Fire District Beach.  Later, I checked out East Beach and Quonny and then fished Charlestown.  From there I headed north to Green Hill and Matunuck.  From there I went to some Gansett spots after dark.  So, I really covered the oceanfront.  And, I fished for about 8 straight hours to the point that I have a sore arm today.  It wasn't until well after dark that I landed one lone hickory shad.  Yup, it was that bad.  This is the first time this fall that I failed to catch a striper or a bluefish on a given outing.
Forget catching, I never saw a thing.  No birds, no bait, no fish breaking.  In all I saw maybe 4 fishermen all day.  I seems like many are tossing in the towel and hanging it up for the season. Yup, it's that bad.
Jump forward to today.  My son, Ben, had the day off from work so he headed down to the oceanfront against my recommendation to come carp fishing in freshwater with me.  He reports catching two hickory shad along one of the south shore beaches. He did see some small bait and some hickory shad jumping but no stripers or blues.  There were also scant few guys out fishing on this holiday. In past years, Veterans' Day brought out big numbers of fishermen. Yup, it was bad again.
So, at this point, I am almost ready to cash it in.  I will be sitting on the sidelines waiting to hear some good news from some of my friends who live along the shore.  In the absence of any good news, I will stick with freshwater fishing for now.  Yup, it's that bad.