Thursday, July 20, 2017

Lots of People, Lots of Weed and Few Fish

The sub par fishing along the RI oceanfront just continues.  With a downturn in Canal fishing, I thought I would get back to fishing the RI oceanfront last evening.  It was not good.
First off, the oceanfront is a mob scene.  I never saw so many people on a weekday summer day as I saw yesterday.  Last night, well after dark, the two huge public parking lots at Narragansett Beach were still about 75 % full and there was not a parking spot on the road for well over a mile.  In addition, just about every access point along Ocean Rd. in Narragansett was loaded with cars with little or no parking.
I tried the surf along Pt. Judith, a spot that rarely sees a fisherman at this time of year.  Forget it, as it was totally choked up with red weed.  Weed is a growing problem in the summertime along RI's oceanfront.  I'm guessing all this rain and runoff along with hot weather is fueling this weed growth.
With the Pt. Judith option gone, I headed to the rocky areas with a wind at my back. It was calm, conditions I don't like. but I had no choice. I plugged away for well over an hour before and after dark.  I landed one lone 15 inch striper on a jointed Red Fin swimmer, had another one on, and had two other small hits. That's RI shore fishing in a nutshell...a few small ones around right at dark.
I saw almost no one out fishing.  Everyone you talk to these days is bummed out about the lack of large fish around, and because of that, few are fishing. We seem to be in a major decline here in RI when it comes to bigger fish from shore.  I know they get them at Block Island from the boats and I know they are in the Canal, but the RI surf seems to have few keepers around these days.