Several days back I went down to one of my spots along the RI oceanfront. Immediately, I discovered the place was alive with fish, something I hadn't seen since the springtime. I saw birds working way out. I saw schools of chub mackerel waving up the water way out. In closer schools of hickory shad were everywhere jumping for small bait. And, stripers were in the white water in close also feasting on the small bait. The fish were fussy but I landed a good number on a float and jig.
The next day, my brother was out in his new boat cruising around. He drove the boat from Warwick to Galilee, a good distance. He said he ran into school after school of stripers on the surface busting for small bait in a stretch from the Jamestown Bridge all the way to Galilee. He also saw schools of chub mackerel.
I went down last evening in that crappy weather. When I arrived at my location, I saw several big schools of fish way out breaking on the surface with birds also working on the bait. Before dark all the schools of fish seemed to merge into a massive school the size of a football field. It looked like a big October blitz, and it was all stripers. I caught quite a few stripers on a jig though the fish were fussy. The bass went from 20 inch schoolies all the way up to small slot limit keepers.
The bait that is attracting all these fish is small, so small you can't really see it. I suspect it is either tiny bay anchovies or very small peanut bunker. Whatever it is, there is a massive amount, and the fish have found it.
