Photo of the Day....End to a PHENOMENAL Evening

Jon Pickering hoists a good size schoolie to end a fantastic
evening of fishing.  Jon and I together landed over 100
schoolies in a few hours of fishing.  The fishing this week
has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Video of the Day.....Today's Wild Striper Blitz

Blues on the Increase

The Rebel Jumpin Minnow has been
effective for both large bluefish and
stripers this week.

We haven't seen them all year, but we are seeing them now.  The blues are back! Those massive schools of peanut bunker moving along the oceanfront have attracted a lot of attention from both stripers and bluefish this week.  This week my son Jon and I have landed some blues that have mixed in with the massive numbers of feeding stripers.  These are all good size bluefish ranging from 5 to 10 lbs. I have heard of bigger ones landed, but can not confirm this.
The blues are hitting the same stuff as the stripers. A problem comes when using a jig that is so effective on the bass.  The blues are cutting the jigs right off.  Tie on a wire leader and you turn off the stripers.  I have gone with hard plugs when the stripers and blues are mixed. The Rebel Jumpin Minnow has been a hot number although I have seen others using large poppers and catching blues on that.  The Jumpin Minnow has also been effective on stripers. Try crimping down those trebles for easier release.

Photo of the Day....A Rare RI Keeper

It was another big night of fishing along the RI oceanfront.
I landed dozens of schoolies and this one "rare" RI  keeper.
All the action was on a Cocahoe mounted to a 3/4 oz jighead.

Video of the Day.....Another Wild August Blitz!

Big Time August Blitz

Schools of peanut bunker
seem to be everywhere
along the oceanfront.  This
bait touched off a big blitz
tonight in the NE wind.

This schoolie hit a small Cocahoe that was
fish off a float.  The float and jig was really
hot tonight.

I hit one of the biggest August blitzes of stripers I have ever seen along the RI oceanfront tonight. The northeast wind brought lots of white water along with masses of peanut bunker to the shore where I was fishing. Feeding on the peanuts were tons of stripers. It was wild with so many birds diving for bait in front of me I was worried I was going to hook a bird.  At one point under the birds there were thousands of schoolies in a frenzy after the schools of small peanut bunker.
Using a float and jig (tried a small Cocahoe as well as a bucktail at the jig end) I was able to catch fish after fish.  These were all schoolies in the 18 to 25 inch range. These were bigger fish than I have been seeing along the oceanfront in the last month.  I also had two decent fish on (small keepers?).  One broke me off on a rock and the other straightened out the hook. Now, that's a good sign that some decent fish are prowling RI waters.
August is usually a dead time from shore along the RI oceanfront, but this year is different.  There's a ton of bait around and loads of schoolies. That combination has kept things hopping along the oceanfront.  In addition, pods of bonito are roaming around. It's fishing more like October rather than August. Looks like it is shaping up to be a banner fall here in RI!

The Albie Hype.....Starting Early

We are less than a month away from albie
fishing. While there may be some bonito
around right now, the albies are basically
a September fish.  Note, this is a photo from
last year.

Already I saw a report this past week about albies and bonito off the RI shoreline. Really? I can believe the bonito, but no way there are albies around now. The hype starts early every year in mid to late August, and much of those early reports of albies are fake news. One issue is that many fishermen simply don't know the difference between an albie and a bonito.  I know that some bonito have been caught already, but realize many fishermen use the words bonito and albies interchangeably and that's how this gets into a report.  In addition, many fishermen in boats see fish breaking at this time of year. They are certain they are seeing albies. Most likely they are bluefish. Still others looking for some headlines will post an old photo of an albie caught years ago and claim they caught it this year.  You've got to love social media!
Here are a few FACTS about albies that I have gathered over the years:
*They most likely will appear in big numbers along the RI shore from Sept. 10th to Sept. 15th.  They will show in Vineyard Sound in big numbers about a week earlier, so look at those reports to get an idea as to when it will happen here.
*In all the years I have been fishing, there is only one year in which I landed an albie in August, and that was at the very end of the month.  It is rare to find them around here in August.
*I can count on one hand the number of bonito I have landed from shore.  Several of those came in August while I was targeting stripers and blues. I've had better luck with bonito from the boat, but still they are rare.
*If you look back over the last 40 years, about a third of those years saw good numbers of albies, a third saw a few and a third of those years had none.
* Recent years have been very good for albies here in RI and most fishermen new to the sport think this is a sure bet.  I am guessing that between the warm water and the good amount of bait around this year, we should see good numbers of albies, but you never know.
*The start of the action will be the best.  When these fish first arrive, they will hit the shore in big numbers and they will be super active.  The first arrivals will be the easiest to catch on a variety of lures.

Best Three Days of All Time for Big Fish

This 7 1/2 inche fast sinker has been
very effective this week.

This fish that I just
grabbed with the Boga
measured 45 inches. It was
caught on the plug on
the left. The fish was
released.

I'm having an epic week of fishing catching one keeper after another from shore. In fact, these past few days have been the best three days of big fish fishing that I have ever experienced with keeper bass. I've landed and released well over 50 keepers in the last three days along with a few schoolies.  These have not been small keepers either.  I measured several fish over 40 inches with the biggest going a whopping 45 inches. I got two this size.  One 45 incher had a big head and a massive gut.  I'm guessing that fish was over 40 lbs.
 Yes, I am fishing the same place that most people in New England are fishing these days.  I'll let you figure that one out.
I have gotten all these fish this week on two plugs. The 9 inch Sebile magic swimmer in a ghostescent color has been the killer and has taken most of the keepers of the week including one 45 inch fish.  The other plug that has worked well has been a fast sinking  7 1/2 inchSebile Magic Swimmer in a blueback color.  That also caught fish up to 45 inches. The Sebiles have been the hot ticket with no other plug coming even close as far as effectiveness.

This cow also measured 45 inches.  It had a large head
and a big body.  It hit a nine inch Sebile Magic Swimmer.
It was released.

Photo of the Day....Sebile Magic Swimmer Strikes Again

Another keeper comes ashore today.  The Sebile Magic Swimmer
was working its magic once again today as my son Jon and I
banked ten keepers on this hot plug.

Photo of the Day......Catch of a Lifetime!

How's this for the catch of a lifetime! Ben Pickering ties
the knot this weekend with his girlfriend Amanda.

Magical and Nearly Impossible to Find!

This plug, a 9-inch Sebile Magic
Swimmer has been my hottest plug in
the last two weeks. They are near
impossible to find in tackle shops.

I have been targeting big fish for the last month.  And, yes, I have been fishing the same place that just about everyone in New England has been fishing from shore.
The hottest plug going for me and many others has been the Sebile Magic Swimmer. I am using the biggest one made, a monster, 9-inch, 4 1/2 ounce model. This thing is a slow sinker that crawls shoreward with a slow, alluring wiggle that seems to attract fish and elicit some of the most savage hits you will ever see. I am using the Ghostescent color, the color of choice for most anglers.

This photo has played out many times in the
last two weeks as stripers really key on this
hot plug.

This plug has become so popular that just about everyone from tackle shops to online vendors have sold out. The tackle shops tell me these are in such demand that they can't even reorder them from the Sebile company.  Two weeks ago I bought one from Red Top Bait and Tackle.  I went back two days later to get a couple of spares, and they had none left on the shelves. The guy at the counter said they put out the last two boxes of them in the morning and they were gone within two hours! Yikes, that's how hot these things are. Bass Pro, Cabelas  and Tackle Direct are all out.
So, I had just one in my bag.  I fished a couple of days ago and landed one decent keeper and a couple of big schoolies on the plug when nothing else was working.  Later while casting blindly since no fish were showing, the plug was on its way to shore when a huge, and I mean huge, striper blasted it not more than twenty feet from the where I was standing. I got a real good look a the fish and it was by far, the biggest fish I had hooked this year.  The beast tore off and headed straight for the bottom.  I could do nothing but watch as the line melted away from the reel.  Suddenly, the fish had me stuck on the bottom, I suspect it wrapped around a rock. Seconds later the line parted, my fish of the year was gone and my magical plug was history.
As soon as I got home, I scoured the Internet and found a store halfway across the country that had some of these plugs. So, this time I ordered a bunch, and I can't wait until they arrive.

Photo of the Day....Another Biggie Falls for an SP Minnow!

Another large striiper has fallen for a green mac colored SP Minnow.
 This has been a great week of catching large stripers for me.