An EPIC August

It was an August with the most keepers I have ever landed
this month from shore.

By far, it was the best August fishing I have ever experienced for stripers. For me, it was a month filled with loads of big keeper fish as well as countless numbers of schoolies. August was simply fabulous from start to finish, and it shows all signs of continuing into September.
If you were to ask me before the season started what the worst month of the year would be, I would have said "August". In the past, striper fishing from shore would bottom out in the beginning of August and would remain fair at best through the end of the month. In past years, there would be an uptick near the end of the month, but I'm talking a few fish here and there. Not this year.
I landed nearly 300 stripers from shore in August.  Of that total, I had close to 100 keepers. I expected to catch good numbers of keepers based on last year's  and this year's fishing in the only spot in New England that has any numbers of keepers. But, I found way, way more than even I expected. There were days in which I stared in awe as school after school of huge stripers would blitz the shore in the middle of the daytime.

Fishing for schoolies has been epic here in RI.  Huge amounts
of bait have triggered blitz after blitz along the oceanfront.
There have even been some small keepers in the mix.

The 200 schoolies I landed from shore was completely unexpected, and nearly all of these fish came from RI waters. Who would guess that there would be these numbers in the hottest summer on record with water temperatures along the oceanfront pushing into the 70's? Bait and loads of it (peanut bunker and bay achovies) lured millions of schoolies to the oceanfront with blitzes that looked like October rampages. For two weeks straight, I was able to find massive amounts of bait that triggered a blitz somewhere along the oceanfront in the middle of the daytime under (at times) a 90 degree August sun. This would be unheard of in past years.
So, now we move onto September with even more potential if that is possible. I've fished the last few days, and I can tell you that things are still red hot. Bluefish and even some bonito are in the mix. While there are no albies around just yet, I am guessing they are coming in the next couple of weeks, and then we will seem even more pandemonium. Get ready for an epic September.