A Glut of Slots

 

Here's a slot limit keeper that was
landed on a Jumpin Minnow this week.
There have been big numbers of slot
limit fish around in the last few weeks.

There has been no shortage of slot limit keepers in the last couple of weeks along the RI shoreline.  My son Jon and I have been getting big numbers of stripers from shore.  Roughly 30 to 40 % of them have been slot limit keepers of 28 to 32 inches.  The rest have been hefty schoolies from 24 to 28 inches. There have been massive schools of them on the surface feeding on vast schools of peanut bunker.

So, where's the decline or the shortage of stripers?  In the spring many of the experts were predicting gloom and doom for the stripers in 2021. Some went so far as to say they were disappearing.  But, here in RI it has been big numbers of stripers of all sizes from the start of the season to now.  The spring saw a glut of smaller fish under 20 inches.  In late spring and early summer, Narragansett Bay and the oceanfront had big numbers of slots and over the slot fish which were generally after adult menhaden. In the last month, it has been lights out for large schoolies and slot fish with occasional over the slot larger fish mixed in. 

It shows no sign of letting up, and I believe we are heading for a lights out fall run of good size fish along the oceanfront. No shortage of stripers here in RI! We've got the numbers and we've got the sizes!

Photos of the Day....Mayhem

 

Bottom: Birds are diving, stripers are busting and peanut bunker are swimming for their
lives.  Striper mayhem along the oceanfront.
Top: The after affects of the blitz has left thousands of peanut bunker stranded.

Kindness at the Cape Cod Canal

 I'm sure many of you have seen that You Tube video circulating about 2 guys fighting at the Cape Cod Canal recently. There have been other incidents reported this year and last which depict the very worst in fishing humanity and ethics.  While these knuckleheads get much of the attention, I have to tell you that I've always found the Ditch a very pleasant place to fish.  I will also admit I fish mostly in the daytime and avoid that early morning frenzy.  Most of the problems seem to arise from sleep deprived early morning fishermen that go from fishing should to shoulder to yelling in one another's face. There is a much kinder and gentler crowd that fishes there in the daytime. 

Today and yesterday I was down there.  At one point today I was about to fish a spot that was steep and challenging at best.  I mentioned to one young man who was fishing nearby that "Those rocks look real treacherous. Sure difficult to get a fish up here." He turned to me and said that if I wanted to fish there, he would be happy to go down and unhook any fish I caught.  

At another point today I was riding my bike looking for fish.  I came upon two older guys fishing.  One shouted, "Hey, the fish are here."  I told him I didn't want to crowd him, but he said plenty of room here.  So, I went about 20 yards from this guy and proceeded to catch a few fish.

At another point today I was talking with a couple of younger guys.  We compared notes about where we caught fish the last couple of days.  They offered some generous info as to where they had landed some fish.

I could also tell you countless other stories about other fishermen I have met at the Canal recently.  Some are daytrippers, some are out-of-staters and some are resident fishermen.  The common thread....all quite friendly and pleasant. 

Snagging Stripers....Is it Legal?

 A new, nasty trend is developing along the oceanfront.  This week I saw quite a few people attempting to snag stripers.  Some were using weighted snaggers like you'd use to snag pogies.  Others has this hideous rig with a sinker at the terminal end and two large trebles connected to dropper loops further up. These guys were tossing their snagging rigs into large schools of fussy stripers that were on the surface.  Sadly, I did see some fish caught.

With all the talk about circle hooks and conservation these days, you would think that snagging stripers would be illegal.  I saw one conservation minded angler get  in the face of one of the snagging fishermen and told him in no uncertain terms to cut this out or he would call the DEM.

But, is this practice legal or illegal?  At the least, most of us would agree it is highly unethical. So, I called DEM enforcement.  To my surprise, the answer was "we don't know, we'll have to look into it." Wow, not what I expected to hear.

In these days of striper decline and conservation and all kinds of laws directed at preserving the fish we have, you' d think banning the snagging of them would be no brainer. If it's not illegal, it should be!

Big Blues Enter the Fray

 

Big blues have joined the fray
looking for tons of small 
baitfish along the oceanfront.,

Add big bluefish to the species of fish that are attacking the hordes of bait that have moved in along the RI oceanfront.  Yesterday I found a mix of decent sized stripers as well as big bluefish.  These blues were running 8 to 12 lbs., and they were very aggressive. I was using a pencil popper to get way out.  The blues would blast the plug, sometimes hitting it numerous times before they would get hooked. They were also crazy on the fight.

The has been a wild week along the oceanfront.  I've seen big schools of chub mackerel, loads of hickory shad at times, incredible numbers of stripers from schoolies to slot limit keepers and now big bluefish.  There are even rumors of bonito showing and being caught. Its the wildest fishing I have ever seen in late July from shore.  All of it is being fueled by massive amounts of small bait that are moving along the shore. We are seeing schools of small peanut bunker as well as schools of small bay achovies. 

The pencil popper was a hot plug yesterday
as the fish were in a zone way out. It accounted 
for good numbers of big bluefish and some stripers.

Photos of the Day

 

Here's a slot limit keeper that nailed the float and
fly today. Action continues to be hot and heavy.

Loaded with stripers again today but the bait has
changed.  Today it was masses of small peanut bunker
The peanuts attracted huge numbers of stripers in
the 20 to 30 inch range.

Float 'n' Fly Scores Big

The stripers were feeding on huge
schools of baby achovies that
have moved in along the oceanfront
in the last few days.

 I found big numbers of fussy stripers again last evening.  These fish were feasting on big schools of small bay anchovies. When stripers are feeding on this half inch bait, they can be mighty fussy.   But, on this night I was quite prepared for the fussy fish.

You might remember I posted a number of articles last fall when I ran into the same thing along the south shore.  At the time, it was the wooden egg float with a fly that killed the fish when little else was working. So, before leaving home, I made sure I had the eggs and flies in my surf bag. 

Right away I snapped on my wooden egg float with a pink Deceiver

The wooden egg float and fly (pink
Deceiver) proved to be deadly tonight.
It is one of your best bets when stripers
are feeding on tiny bait.

fly trailing off a three foot leader.  It worked wonders as I had a hit or a fish just about every cast when the fish showed in front of me.  These fish were all hefty schoolies in the 20 to 27 inch range, a size range we haven't seen much of this season. They were around in massive numbers on this night.  At one point I scanned out into the ocean and could count 5 large schools of stripers working the surface.

The calendar says we are in July yet the fishing seems like the middle of October. These are some of the biggest numbers of fish I have ever seen in July. Keep in mind these are fussy stripers keying on very small bait, and you will have to go small in order to catch them.  Nothing better than a float 'n' fly in this situation.

This is one of many stripers landed on the
float 'n' fly.  The fish are running 20 to 27
inches with an occasional small slot in the mix.