Friday, July 7, 2017

Great Sunset, Not so Great Fishing

It continues to be a poor early summer for me.  This past week I fished both the Bay and the oceanfront and came away with a big BLANK. I saw a good number of fishermen out and about and they all reported slow fishing also.  Many are especially complaining about the lack of keepers in the surf, a problem all year here in RI, that seems to be even worse in the summer surf.
I did see a lot of bait around.  In the Bay, I found adult menhaden right up against the shore in multiple locations, but there was nothing after them.  I couldn't even find a schoolie or a sea robin willing to hit.  Water in the Bay continues to be murky and discolored. There is a noticeable lack of small bait in the Upper Bay. Last year at this time the Bay was choking with peanut bunker and blues and stripers were on the rampage. Not so this year.  At the oceanfront I did see some birds working way out. There are numerous reports about small sandeels around and I'm guessing that is what they were feeding on.  If you can find this bait close to shore, I would say you have a shot at finding schoolies.
While the fishing sucked two nights ago, the sunset was spectacular. So, all was not lost.
Beautiful...hard to believe there was not striper in this water.