From the Boat....Hot as the Weather!

Ben hoists a 45 in. striper that hit a
 Daiwa SP Swimmer.

Boat fishing for stripers here in RI continues to be very good in this hot weather, especially along the oceanfront. My son Ben and my brother Steve went out yesterday in the middle of the daytime.  Unfortunately, I didn't accompany them since I am on the DL with a bad back.  The trick at this time of year seems to be to get into some deeper water, find a pile of bait and you will find likely find stripers and bluefish feeding on them.  That's just what these guys did yesterday.
They got in a deep water (40-60 feet) location where keeper stripers and bluefish were busting here and there for sandeels. The fishfinder also showed a lot of fish at all levels of the water column. These fish were fussy, but they had the best success with just drifting and casting swimmers (Daiwa SP Minnows).  Their score for yesterday afternoon/evening was a whopping 15 keeper bass along with 2 big bluefish. They also had a number of other hits, fish on and lost, and fish follows to the boat.  The keeper bass averaged 32-36 inches, but Ben did land a 45 inch fish.  Hard to believe, but this was all happening right in the middle of the day in mid July! Wow!