Rough and Clean, a Winning Formula

 

I found good numbers of schoolies
in the rough and clean water
last night.  The float and jig did
the trick.

I got back in the swing of things after a hectic weekend last week when my son Chris got married. I didn't fish saltwater for about 5 days but I got back in business this week.  I fished the Canal midweek and that was a bust. So poor so far this June, and way off compared to past years in June.  Heck, I never even ran into a single fisherman plugging in the five hours I was there! But, I am confident that the fishing will pick up there.

Last night I headed to the RI oceanfront.  I had my fingers crossed that I would find clean water.  I knew it was rough from the wind reports and the surf cams. I was looking for rough and clean, and I found it.  It didn't take long before my float and jig was hit and I was onto a fish.  I hooked and landed several more.  They were all lurking in the white and rough water.  These were all 20 inch schoolies, but they very feisty in the churned up water.

For me, the big fish (anything over 30 inches) have been a disappointment so far. I know there are a few good ones being landed by persistent fishermen who have been slugging it out all night.  But, these big fish from shore are few and far between these days, and will take a major effort and some luck to catch one. 

Taking a Page from the Striper Playbook

 

My biggest carp in the nationwide Spring
Big 4 Tournament weighed 38 lbs., 2 oz.
My four fish total was 135 lbs., good 
for 3rd place overrall.

As many of you know, I fish a lot in freshwater for giant carp. In the last three months, I have been involved in a major nationwide carp fishing tournament sponsored by the Carp Anglers Group. This event, called the Spring Big 4, featured 75 of the best carp fishermen in the US. The idea was to catch and enter your four biggest carp in that time period from March 15 to June 15. My four biggest were all fish over 30 lbs., a difficult thing to achieve here in New England. The exact weights of my entries were 38/2, 34/8, 32, and 30/6 for a total of 135 lbs. I ended up in 3rd place overall, the best finish by a New England carp fisherman this year.

I took a page from my striper playbook and used this idea to land two of those fish over 30 lbs.  We all know that large plugs tend to catch large stripers (just think about the Canal).  So, halfway through the tournament, I began to use large boilies from Carp Maxx.  For those who don't know what a boilie is, they are large commercially prepared scented baits. The ones I were using were 24 mm across. That did the trick as many of the post spawn carp were hungry and looking for that bigger offering. In the last two weeks of the event, I used boilies to land over a dozen carp over 20 lbs. and two carp over 30 lbs.

For those who have never fished for carp, you might be surprised to find they have a lot in common with stripers.  They are big, hard fighting fish, they are advantageous feeders who love to feed on lousy, stormy days, they will seek the cover of structure, dropoffs and moving water, and the biggest ones are wary and hard to catch at times.

Blues Still Very Active

 

Here's a bluefish making its way to shore.
They are still around in good number in many 
places.

We are in that time period when shore fishing here in RI for stripers has become a late nighttime game.  However, if you are looking for some great action, we still have a pile of bluefish around, and they are quite active in the daylight.

This has been a banner spring for blues, particularly good size ones.  They have been along the oceanfront and in the Bay in better than expected numbers. I got out last evening in a hotspot in the Bay.  Yes, they were there. Groups of them were chasing down schools of big menhaden.  Using a homemade wooden popper, I landed a half dozen of them.  They were super charged up, pulling drag and sometimes leaping out of the water like tarpon.  They sure can be exciting!

So, if you are looking for some early summer action from shore in the daylight, bluefish just might fill your needs. Take advantage of it, because it's hard to predict just how long the action will last.  Usually it's done once the water really warms up, but picks up again in early fall.

Photo of the Day....Hefty Schoolie from the 'Yak

 

It was a poor week from shore for me, but I found
good numbers of stripers from the kayak this evening.
The fish are around, but you really have to look
for them.

Weather Heats up, Fishing Cools Down

Big blues, so numerous for weeks,
seem to be slowing and moving on.
Striper fishing is also taking a hit in
the Bay in this warm weather

 For the first time this year, the water in parts of Narragansett Bay climbed up into the low 70's. On a NOAA site, I saw a reading of 71 degrees today at Conimicut.  We knew this was coming with the current heat wave we are experiencing. And, I expect those water temps to climb even more in the coming days. It wouldn't surprise me if we see mid 70's by Wednesday.

Every year about this time, the fishing in the Bay seems to go downhill with the warming waters. Larger bass will start to depart the Bay, and the better bets for striper fishing will be in the cooler and deeper water of the lower Bay and along the oceanfront. Cooler nights will also be more productive.

I even have seen a decrease in the number of bluefish in the last couple of days. The blues seem to be less numerous, and they have been smaller in the places I have been fishing. Even the blues will leave water that gets too warm for their liking.

In the next couple of weeks, my saltwater shore fishing will change dramatically.  It's getting near to that time where I will load the bike onto the truck, break out the heavy gear and head north rather than south.

Photo of the Day- "No blues but sure found a lot of stripers....."

 

In the last week, the Bay has been loaded with 
schoolies as well as slot limit keepers. This one
hit an unweighted Zoom Fluke twitched along
the surface.