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| Look closely and you can see sea lice on the body of this spring schoolie. Lice are a good indicator that the striper is a fresh, migrating fish. |
The wait is just about over. I would guess that the RI south shore oceanfront will light up with migrating stripers within the next week. We've got favorable warm weather on the way, favorable winds (W, SW and NW), and a predicted good surf. All the ingredients are in place to push the migrating stripers right to our door step. I've always said that April 15 is the starting date, give or take a few days, and we are just about there.
I already know of some fish that have already been caught in the last few days along the oceanfront. But, what are these? They could be holdovers leaving their winter locations. They could also be "scouts", those early fish that move ahead of the main body of fish. A good indicator of new, migrating fish would be sea lice on their bodies. I saw a photo of one of these fish and no sea lice. Still, there are some migrating fish that have no lice, so who knows.
In my mind, the migrations begins for me on the first day that I can catch more than one striper. That day is coming soon. I will be trying just about every day in the next week.
