Water Warms Up, Fishing Cools Down

Water temperatures today were running in the mid 70 degree range in Narragansett Bay.  It's a bit cooler at the ocean. This hot weather of the last week has steadily heated up the water.  The result is that the fishing has steadily gone downhill for stripers and blues, especially from shore. In my last three outings I've gotten only two schoolies, way off compared to what I had been getting prior to the warm-up.
Those in boats are faring better these days.  I've heard of some good catches in the Bay in the last week from boats, but recent days have been slow for them also.
Your best bet right now from shore in RI is to fish along deep water dropoffs along the oceanfront where the water is cooler. Best times will be the cooler times of the day....at night or early mornings.
My own strategy to deal with the declining fishing in RI will be to move to greener pastures. It's that time of the year for me to load my bike onto the truck, pack the heavy gear and head north rather than south.

Photo of the Day

The sunset was spectacular; the fishing was not!

Biggest Surprise So Far

Here's a decent blue taken recently from Gansett Bay.
They have been abundant.

It's not schoolies.  Everyone predicted a ton of these and that has happened. We've got everything from the hefty varieties of 24 to 26 inches to the micros of 10 to 14 inches and everything in between.
It's not keepers.  Everyone was predicting they would be in short supply, especially the bigger fish over 35 inches. That's why we have a slot limit. A big RI striper from shore these days is 30 inches. Just not a lot of bigger fish around from shore.
But, ah, the bluefish.  Nobody thought we would see an abundance of these.  That's why the bag limit went down to only 3 fish per day.  But, to everyone's surprise, these fish have been really abundant so far this year in Narragansett Bay. They have generally been running from 4 to 7 lbs., but there are some biggies around too.  I'm talking big ones over 10 lbs. Some recent evenings I've fished it has been hit after hit of aggressive blues. They have especially liked my Rebel Jumpin Minnow or my Yo-Zuri Hydro Pencil. But, to be honest, on some nights they are so aggressive they would hit a cigar with a hook attached to it. I've gotten big numbers from shore, boat and kayak.
With the blues so abundant, I've gotten word of some fishermen piling bluefish like cord wood in the trunk of their cars.  Not surprising since this business of keeping undersized fish or more than the bag limit was rampant last year in Gansett Bay. Here we go again this year. The law is 3 blues per day for all those who want to follow the law.

Buzzards Bay....Nothing Like it in NE!

The place is loaded with
large black sea bass.

Buzzards Bay also has a good striper
population.  This biggie hit a Slu-go
in one of the shallow water coves.

Buzzards Bay in June has to be the most unique and productive spot in all of New England for a variety of fish.  We hit this spot yesterday from the boat and as usual, it was very good for a variety of fish. 
Buzzards Bay is the black sea bass capital of the east coast at this time of year, and it didn't disappoint yesterday.  We had all we wanted as we had fish after fish on many drifts. And, most were over the 15 inch keeper mark with some real bruisers mixed in. We also got quite a few scup in the mix.  My brother Steve was getting his fish vertical jigging bucktail jigs spiced with curly tails. I was getting mine jigging a Kastmaster XL.
When we got tired of the black sea bass, we went exploring along many of the coves and outflows for stripers and bluefish.  We found good numbers, catching several keeper stripers and quite a few blues to 6 lbs. While the bass loved my white Slug-gos, the blues chopped them mercilessly.  I then went with a Sebile Magic swimmer which seemed to work with equal effectiveness.
Buzzards Bay should continue to produce until the water warms up. Good fishing generally holds up well there until late June.

NEWSFLASH- CAPE COD CANAL CLOSED TO COMMERCIAL STRIPER FISHING

In a stunning development, the Cape Cod Canal was closed today to commercial striper fishing. This is a place that saw a lot of shore commercial fishermen targeting stripers in the last few years because it was one of the few shore spots that had lots of big fish. This move had been rumored since March, but most of us doubted it would happen.
The complete story can be found HERE. Note that the comments at the end of the story are quite heated on both sides as this is sure to touch off a firestorm between commercial fishermen and recreational fishermen with property owners in the mix. Lots of passion on all sides.

Big Happenings

This good size blue was landed on Sunday
from the boat.  There are good numbers of
them in the Bay.

The last few days have produced some of the best fishing for us this year in terms of numbers and sizes.  We've gotten them from the boat, from the kayak and from shore. It's all been happening for us in Narragansett Bay.  There are not fish all over so you might have to do some looking, but once you find a big pocket of them, it can be lights out.

This 32 inch bass  was one of 15
fish from 28 to 42 inches that Jon landed
from the kayak in "skinny" water.

On Sunday we went out in my brother's boat. We found tons and tons of big menhaden but no big fish after them.  So, plan 2- hit some skinny water and plug for bass and blues.  That worked big time as we landed 40 blues and 10 bass, mostly on bone colored Rebel Jumpin Minnows.  The bass were hefty schoolies all around 24 to 26 inches.  The blues went 4-7 lbs., but some were larger. Right now, there are big numbers of blues in many locations in the Bay.
On Monday and Tuesday I fished from shore. It was big numbers of small schoolies with an occasional hefty one landed.  All the action was on Zoom flukes on a half ounce jighead.
My son Jon had the highlight reel of the week.  He fished Monday and Tuesday from the kayak. He had a whopping 15 stripers from 28 to 42 inches. He also had several hefty schoolies.  That 42 inch one (measured) was the biggest in the family this year. It was a white 7 1/2 inch Slug-Go that caught most of the fish.
So, things can be hot right now, but as I said, you might have to do some looking and you might have to have a little luck. The fish are around.