Fall Abundance in August

 

The blues are back in good numbers in places.
They are keying on schools of peanut bunker
along the oceanfront and in the Bay. I got this
one from shore two nights ago.

I've been fishing every evening in the past week.  It has been the best fishing in RI since the heydays of this past spring migrations.  Huge amounts of small peanut bunker have entered both the Bay and the oceanfront in the last week, and that has set off some wild, pre-fall fishing for stripers, bluefish and "funny" mackerel.

In the beginning of the week, I concentrated on the oceanfront in the rough conditions. The wind and surf delivered big numbers of schoolies in the 20 to 27 inch range. At times, loads of fish were breaking on the surface feeding on the small bunker. I could also see big schools of chub and bullet mackerel tearing through schools of bait way out.  Later in the week, I concentrated my efforts in the Bay from shore.  There I found big schools of bait being attacked by schoolies in close and bluefish out far.   For the first time since spring I saw roving schools of bluefish slashing on the surface through schools of bait.

The only thing lacking this week was larger stripers. The bigger fish I landed were just shy of keeper size. Shore guys have been complaining about the lack of bigger fish (fish over 35 inches) so far this year.  I think that trend will continue and you will be lucky catch a striper over 35 inches from shore this year in RI . That's just the way things are.