Too much of a good thing has sent a lot of fish packing. We've had very rough water and persistent, strong northeast winds since that massive storm on Tuesday. As often happens, the best fishing usually occurs at the start of these storms. That was the case on Tuesday as I had really good fishing. That good fishing continued on Wednesday of this week, but since then it has gone steadily downhill and for good reason. Along sandy stretches, the rough surf has brought in a lot of weed and sand especially in close to shore. Even along rocky areas the water is now weedy in places.
Today I fished an area to the north along the oceanfront. My son, Ben, was fishing many miles to the south of me. We had a big area of the south shore covered and fished multiple spots. I did a lot of casting and managed to pull just a few fish out of the white water. They were the only fish I saw caught today. Ben got nothing. We both saw some bird activity, but it was way out past the roiled water in close. The fishing was disappointing.
Traditionally, October has been the best fall month of the year here in RI. Not this year. September's fishing was far better and more consistent. Even August fished better than October. The inconsistency of this year's October fishing can be tied directly to excessive stormy weather.
There's still a good amount of time left to our striper fishing. The water and the weather are warm. Here's hoping November delivers the best of fall striper fishing.
