RI Albies Few and Far Between; Stripers Abundant

The water has been super rough in the last week.
It's not good for the albies, but the
stripers love it. Look for safe spots
fo fish where you have clean, white
water.

Albies have been for the most part a no show so far in RI waters.  While I have not seen any jumping and have not seen one landed yet from shore, I do know of a few taken as reported by reliable sources.  But, overall, it's been a disappointment so far.
I have to lay some blame on the extremely rough and dirty water for the lack of albies.  We've had this kicked up surf and big winds for over a week now. Those conditions have resulted in sandy and weedy water in lots of spots.  It has kept shore fishing activity to a minimum and has kept most boaters in port. It has also broken up the schools of bait that were around a couple of weeks ago.  I've never seen big numbers of albies in very rough water so I am not expecting much until the water calms down.  Still, I know there are very good numbers just to the north of us towards Buzzards Bay and the Falmouth shore.  Hopefully, they will come our way.
Based on past logs, we should see good numbers of albies in the coming week if they show.  In the past that time period from Sept 10-Sept. 17 has brought big time action.  If they are not here by next weekend, all bets are off for a big year here in RI.
Meanwhile, the striper fishing for me has been excellent.  I have been out just about every day in the last ten days and I have found very good numbers, even blitz like action, on several days.  If you can find safe and fishable white water that is clean, you have a good shot at catching stripers.  Most of these fish have been hefty schoolies in the 20-25 inch range but I have even had small keepers in the mix. The float and jig has accounted for most of the catches.  Make sure to add a plastic curly tail to your jig.  It makes a big difference!