Shore Fishing in Bay Busts Open

Yesterday I went fishing for stripers at the ocean.  I was there four and a half hours and landed 9 fish.  Today I fished the upper Bay from shore and had 9 schoolies in ten minutes!  Yes, I found some real hot fishing today from shore in the Bay and landed a total of 22 schoolies.  These were all decent fish that ran from 16-24 inches, far bigger on average than I have seen along the oceanfront.  They were all caught on albino Zoom flukes mounted on a lightweight jighead.  At the same time I was getting them in the upper Bay a friend of mine was fishing a mid bay location and he reports seeing schoolies landed there this evening.  Clearly, the stripers are all over the Bay right now.  It is just a matter of moving around, doing a lot of casting and finding the good numbers of fish.

Getting Bigger and Spreading Out

I fished the oceanfront today in some very good conditions.  I landed nine stripers, but the big news is that I had one fish that was a near keeper (see photo) that I landed on a bucktail jig.  I also saw other near keepers taken.  It is obvious that larger fish are starting to mix in with the small schoolies that have dominated the scene recently.  I have also heard reliable reports of several keepers taken in the last week. The other good news is that the fish are spreading out. Many spots along the oceanfront are now producing, and I believe fish can be caught just about anywhere right now. Spring fishing along the oceanfront is now in full swing!

Schoolie Fishing in the Bay Heats UP

My brother and I got out this morning in the upper Bay as we took the boat out on its first voyage of 2012.  Yes, we found good numbers of schoolies.  Together we landed about 15 fish, all new ones I suspect judging by their small size and bright colors.  The hot ticket was Zoom flukes mounted on small jigheads and fished with light gear.  The fish tended to be bunched up.  If you found one, you caught several.   I've heard rumors of fish around in the Bay for the last week but these are the first I have actually seen and caught. This is the earliest I have ever caught migrating stripers in the upper Bay. It's starting here too!

Bucktail Jig Scores Big Time

I went to the oceanfront yesterday and fished a popular early season location for schoolies.  I was greeted by a wicked southwest wind that was blowing in my face along with a charged up surf.  I started off with the ole reliable Cocahoe and teaser rig.  Nothing doing as I could barely heave the offering in the 25 knot winds.  The problem with a teaser rig is that it gets caught up in the wind and does not cast well in these conditions.  So, I took off the teaser rig and went with just the Cocahoe and jig.  No hits.  Once again, I could barely cast this into the wind as the plastic tends to not cast that well into the wind.  In addtion, the plastic on a jighead does not scratch the bottom in rough conditions as the plastic makes the offering somewhat buoyant.  Meanwhile, a picket fence of over twenty fishermen now took up positions along this location and they were just about all using plastic and catching only a fish here and there.  So, not much doing.  At this point, I snapped on a bucktail jig and that did the trick.  The bucktail jig casts well into the wind and it digs the bottom, keeping the lure in the zone.  My homemade 3/8 oz. flathead jig with a plastic curly tail (3-inch Bass Pro Triple Ripple) nailed 20 schoolies in a couple of hours.  I would say those numbers were about as many as the rest of the fishermen caught altogether.  We tend to forget about bucktail jigs in the spring, but they are just as effective as they were 25 years ago when there were no plastics around.  And, in the right conditions like last night, they were the most effective lures you could use. 

On the Scoreboard

I went to the oceanfront fishing today and picked up my first schoolies of the spring season.  These were small fish in the 10-18 inch range, typical of what has been caught down there in the last week.  I caught 7 fish today and interestingly I got my first  fish of the new season (see photo at left) on a shrimp fly teaser.  I was using a double teaser rig with shrimp fly teasers (see photo at right) with a Cocahoe on a jighead for my jig.  Of the seven fish I landed today, 4 took the teaser and 3 fish took the Cocahoe.  Teasers are very effective at this time of year and should be part of your spring arsenal.

Check Out US Harbors

For those of you who visit the website www.usharbors.com  you will notice that many of my blog posts appear on their site under the RI Harbors thread.  I have agreed to let them use my material.  This is a TERRIFIC site and has just about all the data and information that a striper fisherman is looking for.  It has extensive information on tides (many locations in your area) and a lot of weather information on wind speed, temperature, weather predictions, etc.  In addition, the site runs informational articles that have to do with fishing, boating, history stuff, sailing, etc.  The link to the RI information is http://ri.usharbors.com/  I'm on the site just about every day.....a fantastic resourse for RI fishermen and for those who enjoy the Bay and the oceanfront.  Check it out!

Packing the April Surf Bag

My surf bag is packed and I am ready to go.  I just need the right conditions and I am off to the south shore. I thought my readers might just be interested in exactly what I pack into the April surf bag.  The emphasis here is on schoolies and jig fishing.  Here goes:
1.  Bags of plastic.....Zoom flukes for the bay, Cocahoes for the oceanfront and curly tails for the bucktail jigs.
2.  Bucktail jigs in the 1/4-3/4 oz. size range (in curly tail bag).
3.  Box with jigheads for all the plastic.  Heads run 1/4-3/4 oz.
4.  Two floats for the float and jig rigs.
5.  Two jointed swimmers- a Bomber and a Red Fin
6.  Three poppers- 2 small ones for the bay and a one ouncer for the ocean (meant for late April)
7.  Three needelfish plugs- 2 small ones and one large (meant for late April)
8.  Skinny plastic Hogys and Slug Gos in different sizes (meant for late April)
9.  Leader wallet packed with extra mono leaders and shrimp teaser rigs
10. Tools- pliers and scissors
11. Film container with extra snaps and swivels.
Yes, it all fits in the surf bag! And, yes, I am ready to go!