First Migrating Fish of the Year- An OVERSLOT!

 

First migrating fish of the year
for me proves to be an
OVERSLOT.  It was landed 
on a Slug-go.

I was into some big fish this evening.  My first fish of the night blasted my nine inch Slug-go.  That fish proved to be an overslot in the 36 to 38 inch range.  Next cast- a slot fish of 30 inches. A few casts later- another 30 inch fish. Twenty minutes later, I lose another big fish. Clearly, I was into something hot tonight. It's about time!

No doubt, there are some large fish around if you can find them. I've been reading on social media about many of these large fish being caught in RI waters.  Interestingly, there is a lack of schoolies or smaller fish.  No surprise here as the spawns of the last 5 years have been poor.

This is real early for these big stripers to be around. I saw no bait where I was fishing and no bird activity but the fish were just there prowling around. I guess it's a matter of getting out and casting and putting in your time, and good things will happen.

POOR

 

Here's one that I landed last week
in the backwaters. I'm guessing it might
have been a holdover.

The striper season is off to a very poor start.  The weather has been cold, especially at night, and the winds have not been favorable for the migration to get underway.  And, there are no fish in the areas where they should be at this time.

I know of no fish that have been landed along the oceanfront, and I certainly know a lot of good fishermen who have been trying the usual early spring hotspots.  I landed a few fish over a week ago in the backwaters.  I'm guessing they may have been holdovers since there was no lice on them.

This is late for the migrating fish, but we have seen these late starts.  It may have been decades ago, but I have seen April starts that happened in the closing days of the month.  Maybe this will be one of those years.

I've been trying along the oceanfront and my son Jon has been hitting a lot of early season hotspots in the Bay.  Neither one of us have caught anything in these locations.  Heck, I can count the fishermen on one hand that I have seen out trying, and that should tell you a lot.

Photo of the Day- "First One for 2026!"

 

I landed my first striper for 2026 today. I actually landed 2 fish
tonight and had multiple hits to begin my new striper season.
Both fish fell for a white Albie Snax, one of my hottest
lures last year.

One Month From Now

 

It's coming roughly one month from now!

It's coming.  In about one month from now we will begin to see the first of the migrating stripers along the south shore oceanfront of RI. I expect we will see the fish at about the same time as we've seen them in recent years.  Yes, it's been a cold winter this year, but I've seen cold winters and warm winters in the past, and it all has little effect on when the first ones arrive. They always seem to get here around the same time.

Here is a rundown of when I have caught my first ones in the last five years:

2025- April 15

2024- April 15

2023- April 18

2022- April 15

2021- April 19

Note that I started trying before these dates above, but April 15 seems to be the ticket, give or take a few days. On all those dates above I know I had migrating fish since all of them had sea lice, a dead give-away that these were migrating fish. Of all those dates above, the most interesting was in 2023.  That date, April 18, on my first 7 casts with a one ounce bucktail jig, I landed 7 stripers, all slot fish. With the low numbers of schoolies around these days, don't be surprised if your first one of the year is a slot fish.

Here is one other common theme of all those first fish of the year.  They were all caught on jigs. Some hit the bucktail, some went for a Cocahoe on a jighead and in recent years the NLBN paddle tails have been hot. All these first ones were taken right off the bottom, the main strike zone where you will find the first ones.

Highlight of the Day- A Huge Perch

 This yellow perch is about as big as they get.  My son Jon and I got out on the ice today.  We were just jigging, and it was all yellow perch. I got this big one on a small Kastmaster tipped with a plastic maggot. 

We continue to see the thickest ice in a decade especially away from the coast. Looks like the ice fishing is going into March this year!

Ice fishing remains hot in RI and nearby MA.  This huge 
perch that I jigged up today was the highlight of the day.

Catch of the Day!

 My son, Ben, holds up the catch of the day as he jigged up this beautiful largemouth bass through the ice today.  It was a banner day as we jigged up 8 largemouths along with numerous perch, sunfish and crappie. They were all caught on small gold Kastmasters tipped with either a plastic mealworm or a Gulp maggot.

By the way- over 12 inches of ice, the most we've seen in decades!

 

Next Seminar Stop- Springfield Sportsmens Show

 My next stop on my winter seminar trail is the Springfield Sportsmens show at the Big E in Springfield, MA.  I will be there on Saturday, Feb. 21.  This show is billed as the biggest pure outdoor show in the northeast. There are a lot of fishing related booths and exhibits for freshwater and saltwater fishing enthusiasts.  But, there are also a lot of other outdoor features like hunting, camping, taxidermists, kayaks, boats and more. It's a very well attended and popular outdoor show that has been running for a long time.

I will be doing my "Situational Striper Fishing" seminar which is all new for 2026.  It will feature various situations striper fishermen encounter and how you fish those situations for best results. The seminar is mostly about shore fishing but I do also have segments on kayak fishing for stripers.  I did this seminar a couple of weeks ago, and it was very well received. I will be doing my first seminar at 1:00 and I will be doing it again at 4:00.

For more information on the show and seminar schedules, check out the website HERE