Milestone: Blog Reaches Quarter of a MILLION Hits

The blog reached a quarter of a million hits today.  Those numbers are astronomical, and they are certainly a testament to the interest in striped bass fishing here in RI. The interest has been especially high this summer, a summer in which striper fishing has been especially poor. Hmm, I'm guessing that many fishermen out there are looking for information or hints of good fishing.  Rest assured, it's coming as soon as we get rid of this warm weather and the water begins to cool. There's a lot of bait around, the key to luring migrating and hungry stripers close to shore in the fall.  It is only a matter of time.  Stay tuned to the blog as I plan to continue bringing you real and honest fishing reports, info on the hot plugs and artificials that are working, info on other fish that are biting and places to fish here in RI and southern New England.

Bottom Feeders Abundant; NO Blues or Stripers

I got out yesterday in my brother's boat in the daytime.  We fished and scouted around the oceanfront from Narragansett to Green Hill.  We found no big pods of bait, no bluefish and no stripers.  We saw small, snapper blues occasionally hitting small bait, but that was about it for the fish that were visible.  However, there were good numbers of fish along the bottom with black sea bass, fluke and scup around in good numbers.  However, most of these fish were throwbacks as we only got one keeeper fluke, several legal black sea bass and several keeper scup.
The fish that were most plentiful were fluke as they were under small pods of tiny bait that were being hit by snapper blues. Between four guys in the boat, we landed about 35 fluke.  The hot ticket to catching these fish were bucktail jigs spiced with either curly tails or squid strips. Unfortunately, most of these fish were 14-16 inches with one lone fish going 18 1/2 inches. All but one had to be released. You see, here in RI we have these ridiculous regs that allow commercial guys to keep 14 inch fluke while the recreational fishermen have a length limit of 18 1/2 inches. Doesn't make any sense to me.

Back to Marginal Fishing

I got out last night fishing for stripers along the deeper and cooler waters of Jamestown.  I fished with a friend of mine for two hours after dark and came away with one schoolie that measured about 23 inches (see photo). The fish hit a black, skinny Hogy. That was the only hit either one of us had.
Welcome back to marginal August fishing.  I didn't fish the south shore because my brother is there on vacation and reports poor fishing.  This past Saturday a front came through with thunderstorms, wind and rough water  and since then the fishing has gone downhill.  The bait schools seem to have dissipated and the big numbers of small bluefish are gone.  My brother got out in his boat on two days and came away with a couple of black sea bass and a couple of small fluke.  So, it looks like it's back to marginal fishing that is so typical in August.

Glut of Bait Attracting All Kinds of Fish

I hit the oceanfront again yesterday.  Unlike the previous day, the water was calm due to a north wind, and any bait that was around was very visible.  Upon arriving at the beach, I scanned the surfline.  What I saw looked like a thick black line that paralleled the shore.  It was all bait, massive numbers of bay anchovies, that seemed as wide as a two lane road.  In addition, there were dark patches of bait here and there way out that were about the size of a school gym.  The bait way out was being attacked sporadically by roving pods of bluefish.  Sometimes you'd see several schools of blues working in different locations.
In my previous post, I told about millions of bluefish I found two days ago.  Well, big numbers of blues were still around yesterday as my son, Jon, and I landed 40 of them on poppers (see photo of jon landing a fish at right).  But, there are increasing numbers of other fish all being lured close to shore by the bait.  In places the bottom seems to be paved with undersized fluke.  We landed 20 of those on bucktail jigs when the blues weren't breaking.  At one point Jon landed fluke on six casts in a row.  We also caught good numbers of sea robins while fishing for fluke.  I also did see several keeper bass tear through bait schools that were almost at my feet.  The stripers, though, seemed to be loners and not interested in hitting anything as they keyed on this tiny half inch to an inch baitfish (see photo of bait at left).
So, we are in a rare dead of summer glut of fish right now.  While stripers continue to be in short supply, bluefish and fluke are around in astronomical numbers. So, I am taking what's available and having a great time with it!

MILLIONS of Bluefish

I hit the biggest bluefish blitz of all time that I have ever seen in July yesterday.  Bluefish by millions were rampaging through bait along a popular RI south shore beachfront.  They were out far, in close, and in the wash. At times they were on the side, in front and even in back of swimmers that were in the water.  I saw schools the size of football fields just boiling in a froth, devouring massive schools of bay anchovies.  This went on for the three hours I fished in the evening.  I spoke with other fishermen who claim this has been going on for the past THREE DAYS non-stop.
By the end of the evening I landed over 15 bluefish that ran from 3-5 lbs.  These aggressive fish would slam any artificial that was thrown their way with poppers catching most of my fish.  The schools were so thick that if you threw a lure into the froth of boiling fish, you would be cut off immediately.  There were that many.  I could have caught tons more if I chose to run down the beach chasing the schools that were moving along.  Instead, when there were no blues breaking in front of me, I snapped on a bucktail jig and landed one fluke after another as they, too, were along the bottom chasing bait.  I landed over a dozen fluke doing this.
In the past, July has not been a big bluefish month.  It's starting real early this year.  What I saw yesterday only confirms what I have been saying all along that this will be a real big year for blues.  However, in all the mayhem I saw yesterday, not one striper was caught.

Bluefish Popping up All Over

Bluefish are now dominating the fishing scene along the oceanfront from RI waters to the Cape.  Two nights ago my son Ben was fishing the east end of the Cape Cod Canal.  There were no stripers but Ben reports pods of bluefish smashing the surface after bait,  He did catch a couple on a pencil popper.  That same night two friends of mine were fishing at Beavertail at Jamestown. They report catching a bluefish and having skinny plastic cut and chopped by blues.  The next day my brother Steve was fishing along the RI south shore from his boat.  He reports blues tearing through schools of rain bait off the Matunuck shoreline.  He caught quite a few fish in the 5-8 lb. range.  Get the picture.  The blues are showing in all parts of southern New England and fishermen from shore as well as boats are catching them.  It is shaping up to be a big year for bluefish.  There are lots of them around right now feasting on an abundance of bait and we're a month away from September, a month that usually sees the upsurge in bluefish action.

My Favorite Surf Fishing Outfit

Whether it's at the fishing seminars I do or when talking to someone about my magazine articles, the topic that always comes up is "What outfit are you using in most locations?".  I will tell you that no one outfit cuts it in all locations.  I really have three outfits I use.... a light outfit, a medium set up and a heavy duty one.  However, if I had to choose one outfit that I use  90% of the time and that works well in most places it would have to be that medium outfit.

This outfit happens to be my favorite set up of all time.  My reel is a Van Stall (VS) 150 bail-less reel (retail- $699).  This powerful and pricey reel weighs in at a mere 12 oz. yet can handle anything that swims within a cast of shore.  My rod is a St. Croix Mojo 8 ft. surf rod (retail- $170).  This one piece spinning rod weighs a mere 8.8 oz. making my whole set up about 20 oz. in weight.  The rod is unique in that it has high guides that have small rings, advertised as suited for braided line.  Yes, it does seem like wind knots are few and far between with this rod.  I might also add that the rod is intended for handling plugs that range from 3/4 to 3 oz., quite a range for this small stick.  The rod is stiff, a plus when casting large plugs or fighting good sized fish.  The line I am using is Power Pro 30 lb. test braid.

I've landed stripers from schoolies  up to big keepers of 46 inches with this outfit and have taken tons of large bluefish and false albacore.  I also use it to jig for fluke and black sea bass from shore and from the boat.  With its light weight I can fish for hours on end without tiring.  While it lacks that ability to make a very long cast (not ideal for the Cape Cod Canal),  it has the beef and castability to tackle most surf spots in southern New England. If I had to choose one outfit to use, this would be it.