Move to Freshwater Results in Record Fish

What many of my readers don't know is that I am also an avid freshwater fisherman.  In fact, I freshwater fish just about every morning and then fish saltwater in the afternoon/evening and nighttime.  In recent years, I have been fascinated with carp fishing, and I have really targeted these monsters of freshwater, and I learned the very complicated and non traditional European techniques to catch them.  In today's crappy weather, I decided to put in some serious time in freshwater since I had all the right conditions to have a successful day of carp fishing.

Well, the results were astounding.  I landed 10 fish with most in the high teens and twenties (we're talking pounds), but my real prize was the biggest carp ever caught in RI, a monster 36 lb. common.  In fact, this fish is the largest freshwater fish ever caught in the state, surpassing a 35 lb. record pike.  The carp would have certainly smashed the official state record (32 lbs., 8 oz.) if I had it officially weighed.  The only way that would have worked is if I either killed the fish or brought it to an tackle shop with an official scale.  It would have been near impossible to keep a fish this size alive in a cooler for a long period of time.  So, I weighed the fish on my very accurate Berkeley Digital Scale, took a few pics, and proudly watched the beast swim away.  Beautiful!

The fish will be recognized by the Carp Anglers Group (CAG) as the RI state record since all that group requires is a weighing, a photo and a witness, and I have all three. This is my fourth thirty pound plus carp that I have landed this year.  I wish I could say that about stripers!
If you are interested in learning about carp fishing, check out my very popular carp fishing blog at http://www.ricarpfishing.blogspot.com/

All Good Things Must Come to an End.......

And, the hot fishing will end tomorrow.  This last five days have brought one of the best runs of stripers I have ever seen in November.  My sons and I have been out just about every day, and we have landed 200 stipers in just the last four days!  In these days of decreased striper numbers, these are astronomical numbers.

Beware, though, things are changing,  Today saw decreased numbers of fish and a building sea.  There were rollers as high as 7 or 8 feet crashing onto the south shore sands. The weather forecast for tomorrow is stormy with rough water, strong winds and heavy rains.  In addition, there is a tropical storm churning in the Atlantic south of us heading northward.  This predicted rough water in the next two days will move many of these fish away from our shores.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that the weather is supposed to turn more tranquil and warm next week, hopefully setting up more good fishing.  In addition, the water is warm for this time of year, suggesting an extended season if the weather and water continue to be warm. If November fishing ended tomorrow, I would have to say it was a very good month.  However, I do expect to be catching many more stripers in the coming weeks.

Glut of Fish Continues...Schoolies, Keeper Bass, Bluefish and Shad!

We are in the midst of one of the best November streaks in recent years and there seems to be no end in sight.  Today I fished the daytime along the south shore with my son, Ben, and we caught all kinds of fish.  There were schoolies, keeper bass, bluefish and hickory shad. We must have landed about 50 fish with most being taken on Cocahoes mounted on jigheads. Ben, who was fishing with teasers, had a couple of triple headers! I also landed a keeper bass, something I haven't been able to do in over a week now. Besides great fishing, it was a gorgeous day along the oceanfront  with temperatures around seventy degrees and little wind.  Just a great day all around.

Mother Lode has Arrived

If you are looking for numbers of fish, this is the best it is going to get.  Suddenly, there are all kinds of fish around.  Today I met my two sons, Ben and Jon, at the south shore and along Gansett.  We fished together for the afternoon and evening and landed over 75 fish!  These included mostly stripers, but we also had about a half dozen hickory shad and a lone bluefish.  There was also all kinds of activity.  I saw gannets slamming down on the water for big bait, terns diving for smaller bait and even pockets of small bait spraying out of the water with occasional fish breaking. As has been the case most of the fall, a Cocahoe mounted on a jighead did most of the damage.  We also got a few fish on shrimp fly teasers.

With the warm and tranquil weather along with southwest winds predicted for the next few days, I see no reason why this bonanza will not continue.  If you are looking for big numbers of schoolies, it is happening right now. 

Cocahoe+Teasers=Schoolies+Hickory Shad

Today was one of my biggest schoolie hits of the year. Fishing at both Gansett plus the south shore, I landed 35 schoolies and 4 large hickory shad.  The key to catching all these fish was the use of a double teaser rig (shrimp fly teasers) with a Cocahoe on a jighead at the lure end of the rig.  This is about the hottest set up you can use for late season schoolies and hickory shad.  Today was typical of what you find in the late season.  There was nothing showing, but the fish were around and active.  With the absence of baitfish, the shrimp fly teasers are deadly since a lot of time these predators are grubbing along the bottom and the teasers are just the type of thing these fish will jump on.  I had three triple headers today, two double headers and the rest were single fish.  I caught about half my fish on the teasers and the other half on the Cocahoe. With the southwest wind forecast for the next few days, I suspect this hot fishing for schoolies and shad should continue.

Parade of Monster Fish Continues

Some huge fish continue to be caught along the RI oceanfront this fall.  In the last month I know of at least a half dozen stripers from 45-50 inches that have been landed.  Last night the parade of monster fish continued as a well known RI striper surfcaster fishing right next to me landed this 40 + pound fish.  To his credit and his commitment to conservation, he released the fish after I took the picture. 

A Move to the South Shore and Back on Track

It's November and my time to abandon Narragansett and head for greener pastures along the south shore beaches.  I did just that yesterday and it put me back into fish.  Yesterday I hit a number of high percentage spots and came away with 9 stripers and 2 hickory shad.  Most of the stripers were schoolies but I had one keeper of about 32 inches (see pic, right) on a big bucktail jig.  Yes, I practice what I preach....see previous posts. Most of the schoolies (see pic, left) that I caught were taken on a Cocahoe off a float (4 fish) and teasers (4 fish).  In addition, I had two other "big" fish on that I lost.  November usually signals that time for me to start seriously fishing the south shore oceanfront, and it paid off yesterday. We're back in business.