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| Little Rhody offers fishermen a lot of small schoolies. This one, landed tonight, was taken on a Rebel Jumpin Minnow. There has been a real shortage of keepers from shore this summer here in RI. |
The Canal has been like a wonderful dream. It is loaded with big fish, and there are lots of them. I saw hundreds of fish taken this week and they were just about ALL keepers. These were not small keepers. The majority of the fish went over 36 inches. In the mix were some real monsters in the 40 lb. plus range, with news of a fifty or two taken just about every day. Most days fish were busting for schools of mackerel under a noon day sun, and there was an army of guys hauling out plugs to them. It's all attracted a load of fishermen with some days seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of fishermen standing shoulder to shoulder for miles. Best day for me this week was 8 keepers up to 30+ pounds. It was as good as it gets when it comes to catching big fish.
Now, back to reality here in "Little" Rhody. I got out this evening and fished the Bay. There was lots of small bait which looked like both bay anchovies and small peanut bunker. But, there was little after them. I did manage to get a couple of schoolies on a Jumpin Minnow right at dark when a few small fish started breaking. Like it's been all summer long, these were small schoolies, maybe 15 inches. I saw no one else fishing, pretty much like it's been all summer long.
Here in RI we have been cursed with an abundance of small schoolies this summer with very few keepers around from shore. In the last two months my biggest striper has been a mere 24 inches from RI waters. I have been fishing both the Bay and the oceanfront.
Hopefully, fall fishing for bigger fish will improve as those migrating Cape Cod Canal fish move southward by our shores.
