First Migrating Fish of the Year- An OVERSLOT!

 

First migrating fish of the year
for me proves to be an
OVERSLOT.  It was landed 
on a Slug-go.

I was into some big fish this evening.  My first fish of the night blasted my nine inch Slug-go.  That fish proved to be an overslot in the 36 to 38 inch range.  Next cast- a slot fish of 30 inches. A few casts later- another 30 inch fish. Twenty minutes later, I lose another big fish. Clearly, I was into something hot tonight. It's about time!

No doubt, there are some large fish around if you can find them. I've been reading on social media about many of these large fish being caught in RI waters.  Interestingly, there is a lack of schoolies or smaller fish.  No surprise here as the spawns of the last 5 years have been poor.

This is real early for these big stripers to be around. I saw no bait where I was fishing and no bird activity but the fish were just there prowling around. I guess it's a matter of getting out and casting and putting in your time, and good things will happen.

POOR

 

Here's one that I landed last week
in the backwaters. I'm guessing it might
have been a holdover.

The striper season is off to a very poor start.  The weather has been cold, especially at night, and the winds have not been favorable for the migration to get underway.  And, there are no fish in the areas where they should be at this time.

I know of no fish that have been landed along the oceanfront, and I certainly know a lot of good fishermen who have been trying the usual early spring hotspots.  I landed a few fish over a week ago in the backwaters.  I'm guessing they may have been holdovers since there was no lice on them.

This is late for the migrating fish, but we have seen these late starts.  It may have been decades ago, but I have seen April starts that happened in the closing days of the month.  Maybe this will be one of those years.

I've been trying along the oceanfront and my son Jon has been hitting a lot of early season hotspots in the Bay.  Neither one of us have caught anything in these locations.  Heck, I can count the fishermen on one hand that I have seen out trying, and that should tell you a lot.

Photo of the Day- "First One for 2026!"

 

I landed my first striper for 2026 today. I actually landed 2 fish
tonight and had multiple hits to begin my new striper season.
Both fish fell for a white Albie Snax, one of my hottest
lures last year.