Good Bets Not Paying Off

This 16 inch schoolie was the lone fish taken in the last two
evenings/nights of fishing.  Larger fish are just not around.

When I look back at my logs of the last ten years I notice that at this time of year certain spots used to produce a good number of keepers.  Those were places in the lower Bay and at the mouth of the Bay.  Most of these spots were deep water spots in which the water stayed cool even in the dog days of summer.  Places like the rocks of Newport, the ledges along Jamestown and rocky areas in Gansett all held good numbers of keeper bass.  Add the Cape Cod Canal to that list and those were good spots to take a keeper or two on a summer night.
But, not this year.  I fished the Canal on Sunday evening with my sons, Ben and Matt.  We got nothing, saw nothing. There was no bait, no fish breaking, no birds and very few guys fishing.  All those reports you are seeing this week about the big fish in the Canal is old news.  It all happened prior to July 4th. Last night I hit a good spot in Jamestown that was almost a sure bet a few short years ago.  Well, I did manage to get one schoolie right at dark. The fish was about 16 inches and hit a 12 inch Hogy.  I had two other small bangs, small schoolies I assume.
So, I guess it doesn't matter whether you are in a good spot or not these days.  If the larger fish are not around from shore, you are just not going to catch them.  And, that's the bottom line!