Hurricane Would Deal Major Blow to Fishing

It seems like a nasty weather event is going to happen late this weekend or early next week.  If we are lucky, it will just be a northeaster.  However, a hurricane or even hurricane waves would deal a severe blow to our fall fishing.  I was just looking at the long range NOAA forecast at http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/coastal/an/anz235.txt  They are calling for increasing waves and wind this weekend with the big blow coming early next week. The coastal forecast is calling for seas up to 18 feet on Tuesday and Wednesday with stormy conditions.  YIKES.  Problem here is that this comes at a time when a lot of fish, baitfish as well as predators, are migrating along our shores. In the past large storms in late October/early November have really messed up the fishing, sometimes killing it for the season. I don't think that will happen this year because it is too early in the fall.  Realize, too, what 18 foot hurricane waves will do.  They will bring sand, silt, debris and weed along with coastal erosion.  Such conditions often take upwards of a week to clear up.  Losing a week of fishing at this time would really hurt since we maybe have only four to five weeks left.  So, let's hope for the best and hope this storm tracks way, way out and leaves us alone.

Daytime Action Slows at Oceanfront; Nighttime Produces

I had been getting a lot of schoolies in the upper Bay in the daytime, but yesterday I was looking for something bigger.  I had a lot of time so I decided to get back to fishing the oceanfront.  I slugged it out there for several hours in the afternoon hitting at least 6 different spots.  It was incredibly dead.  There was no bait, no bird action and few fishermen.  The few fishermen looking around reported that fishing has been poor since last week's big blow.

Things perked up for me after dark.  In one location, I had a lone fish, but it was a keeper of 28-29 inches (see photo).  I got it on a Daiwa Salt Pro Minnow.  It was my only hit, but I was satisfied.  I then moved to a quiet backwater spot and found a bunch of schoolies even though none were breaking as there was no bait around. They were just hugging the bottom.  These were all small fish in the 12-18 inch range but they were quite feisty on light tackle.  A small bucktail jig was catching most of them (see photo).

 Realize, the fishing along the oceanfront has slowed considerably in the daytime due to the sudden lack of bait.  The big schools of bay anchovies are gone. They often disappear at this time of year.  The mullet seem to be gone as they, too, disappear at this time. The albies are also gone as they are mainly a September/early Oct. fish.  Everyone seems to be expecting the herring to arrive soon like they did last year bringing large stripers and big blues, but I can tell you that is no sure bet. So, we are in a lull right now.  We are still over a month away was from the end of the season, but it's a matter of waiting for more bait and migrating fish to arrive.   

Big Waves, Stormy Conditions Shut Down Oceanfront

I've always said there is a fine line between conditions that are just right and conditions that are too rough and dangerous.  Well, we have crossed over to the rough and  dangerous as big waves are battering the coast making fishing impossible.  It has caused our good fishing to die in the last two days along the oceanfront.  On Thursday, there were tropical storm waves hitting the shore from a storm way out at sea.  According to one of my friends, he was watching in awe as waves were going right over the East Wall at Pt. Judith.  Today, we had a southeast wind battering the shoreline with gusts over thirty knots, making for near impossible conditions to fish.  Strong winds with small craft advisories are predicted for tomorrow.

For anyone who wants to fish this weekend, here's your best bet.  Along the oceanfront, concentrate on the backwaters.  I'm talking the backs of the breachways and the coastal ponds.  These are places that will be fishable, especially on the outgoing water though there might be sand in the water.  Note that these spots are not great for large fish and play host to mostly schoolies, small keepers and hickory shad.  Another option would be to fish the Bay, especially in mid and upper Bay locations.  I've been catching good numbers of schoolies all week long in the Bay (see pic of fish I landed on Thurs.).  Just about all of it is fishable even in stormy weather, but once again, the Bay from shore is generally schoolie territory at this time of year.

Schoolies EVERYWHERE

In the past week, my two sons and I have landed over 200 schoolies.  Jon and Ben caught most of their fish in Narragansett.  I have taken about half my fish in Gansett and the other half of them in the Upper Bay.  We are catching them in the daytime as well as after dark. Most are falling for some type of jig (Cocahoe on jighead or bucktail jig).  Meanwhile, other fishermen are calling me to report they are getting schoolies in spots along the mid Bay. Still others are reporting hot action along the far south shore beaches.  You can surmise schoolies are just about everywhere that bait exists.  And, they are around in huge numbers.

I don't know where all these fish are coming from.  Up until this fall it had been a fair to poor year for schoolies. The spring run was short lived and summer fishing was poor.  With that young-of-the-year index being low for the last five years, everyone was saying this would be a lean year for schoolies.  It has been the complete opposite this fall.

While these schoolies are great fun on light tackle, I would like to tangle with a big fish once in a while.  That has not been happening in the last week, a time period that has been good for big fish in the past.   Of those 200 stripers we  landed in the last week, only one fish was a keeper and that seemed to be an oddball in a pile of schoolies.

Plan B

Whenever I go striper fishing, I ALWAYS have a back-up plan just in case my spots are not producing.  I like to hit an area in which I can fish several locations, ideally hitting each spot on the prime tide for that spot.  As many of you know, I like to fish the Narragansett area a lot at this time of year.  The spots there are so close together that I can hit many locations in a few hours of fishing.  I never remain in one spot if the fish are not there.  Usually half an hour of casting will tell me if anything is around.  In addition to hitting many spots in an area, I also have a completely different game plan in my mind if the area is not producing.
Today, for example, Gansett was dead.....no birds, no bait, no fish.  I tried multiple locations and was able to catch just two schoolies in some white water.  These were the only fish I saw caught in the Gansett area in five hours.  Time for Plan B.  I decided to completely ditch Gansett and head for the Bay on my way home.  Good move since I ended up catching 17 schoolies in a couple of hours there (see photo of fish at right). I can't tell you how many times Plan B has delivered fish for me this fall. 
So, my advice to novice striper fishermen is to have a plan before you head out, plan to hit multiple spots in a certain area and  have a back-up plan in a completely different area if things don't work out. You'll probably burn some gas, but it more than likely will lead to fish.

Schoolies, Small Blues Dominate Fishing Scene

I have been out fishing every day this week and have noticed a quite change in what is going on.  Schoolies and small blues are now dominating the RI fishing scene from shore and seem to be in tight pockets where there is bait. The large schools of bay anchovies that were everywhere a few weeks ago seem to be gone.  There are now small pods of them here and there that are still attracting these good numbers of schoolies and blues.  The numbers of false albacore have fallen off big time.  I have seen a few individual fish breaking way out, but there have been no numbers in recent days along the Narragansett shoreline and no fish caught from shore to my knowledge.  Traditionally, albies tend to leave in mid to late October.  The larger stripers are also not around like they were a couple of weeks ago.  In the last three days of fishing I have landed exactly 87 stripers but only one fish was a keeper (see photo at left) and that good size fish was a loner mixed in with a pile of schoolies. My son Ben who has been hammering keepers this fall has landed 40 stripers in the last two outings and not one fish was a keeper.  Note that both of us have been fishing some very high percentage  "big fish" spots and putting in some time after dark. Still, it's almost all schoolies.

My son Matt and I hit the south shore on Monday and we found small schools of marauding bluefish moving up and down the beaches.  We landed about a dozen fish on bucktail jigs. Many of the reports from this week are also reporting schools of blues in the 2-5 lb. range along the south shore beaches.  Without the big bait (herring or menhaden) it is unlikely we  will see an abundance of big bass or large bluefish.  Herring traditionally migrate along the south shore in early to mid November. Large menhaden and peanut bunker are have been in short supply in recent years.

Large Numbers of Schoolies in Nasty Weather

We are catching some big numbers of schoolies in this rough and nasty rainy weather of the last two days.  Yesterday my son Ben fished the oceanfront in very rough conditions.  After trying several spots, he found a place in which the stripers had bay anchovies corralled in a cove.  He told me he had a fish on just about every cast using a Cocahoe on a jighead.  After an hour or so, he landed 35 schoolies. Most of these fish were in the 20-25 inch range with no keepers.  Surprisingly, there were no blues or albies. Today, I stayed in the upper Bay.  I also checked several spots and finally I found a load of fish feeding on small bait.  My catch for the afternoon was 22 schoolies.  I got them all on 3/8 oz. flathead bucktail jigs with curly tails.  Unlike yesterday, they would not take a surface plug today. Most of my fish today were in the 15-22 inch range (see photo).  They were fun to catch on the light tackle (small rod, small reel, 10 lb. test mono)  I was using.
So, suddenly there are a lot of schoolies around along both the Bay and the oceanfront.  Fishing continues to be very good, but you have to really look around to find the fish. They are concentrated in tight areas where there is a lot of bait.