Rare Hat Trick....Albie, Stripers and Blue on Same Day.....From Shore!

 It was a rare hat trick today, something I have rarely been able to do from shore over the years.  Today I landed my first albie of the year.  In addition, I landed big numbers of stripers up to keeper size along with a big blue. It was simply loaded in multiple spots I fished today.  Fish busting in big schools, birds diving and massive amounts of peanut bunker fueling the mayhem.  All very rare for Aug. 31 from shore. It seemed more like an October blitz type of day.  Just a preview of what's to come!

First albie of the year, a rare fish for August 31.

Add to the pile of fish, a big blue.

Big numbers of stripers were also around,
completing a rare Aug. hat trick!

Beware of Albie Reports

 The hype has already started. Just about every fishing report I have read today says "bonito and albies" are being caught as if these are the same fish.  They are not and a number of uninformed fishermen out there simply do not know the difference between the two species. They use the names albies and bonito interchangeably as if they are the same fish. 

Here's the REAL report from a guy who is out fishing seven days of the week.  I have not seen a bonito landed from shore yet in RI.  I know of no one who has caught one from a boat, though some reliable reports and photos are surfacing.  So, we can assume a few have been taken.  Note that I have not even seen any breaking on the surface in my travels in the past week. No one else that I know has seen any. So, chances of getting one from shore right now are nil.  From a boat, your chances are bit better though slim. 

As far as albies, a different hardtail species, there are none right now in RI. I don't know of a boater or a shore fisherman who has seen any or caught any.  It's simply too early here in RI. I like September 10th (give or take a few days) as the start of it if it happens here in RI.

Everyone assumes we will see good numbers of albies every year.  I don't know what basis they have to predict this as these fish are highly unpredictable.  These are pelagic fish that spend most of their lives way offshore in the depths of the ocean.  They might come to shore to feed briefly in the fall, mostly from early September to mid October.  But, there are years in which none have appeared.  Over the last 50 years, my logbooks will show that about a third of those years saw big numbers, a third of those years had none and a third of those years produced a few. I have no idea what will happen this year.

Back in Business

 In quick time, the ocean has cleaned up from Tropical Storm Henri, and the fishing is on again.  I went down yesterday and found good numbers of stripers. There are clean spots and some sandy areas along the oceanfront, and it was the clean and rough spots that were producing.  I also saw big schools of fish out far.  At one point I also saw a school of peanut bunker being harassed in close to shore.  It was the float and jig that caught all my fish yesterday.

Looks like the fishing is pretty much back to the way it was before the storm- lots of bait, lots of stripers and lots of action!

This is one of many schoolies that Jon and I 
caught yesterday.  The water has cleared and
calmed down considerably and the fish are back!

A Glut of Slots

 

Here's a slot limit keeper that was
landed on a Jumpin Minnow this week.
There have been big numbers of slot
limit fish around in the last few weeks.

There has been no shortage of slot limit keepers in the last couple of weeks along the RI shoreline.  My son Jon and I have been getting big numbers of stripers from shore.  Roughly 30 to 40 % of them have been slot limit keepers of 28 to 32 inches.  The rest have been hefty schoolies from 24 to 28 inches. There have been massive schools of them on the surface feeding on vast schools of peanut bunker.

So, where's the decline or the shortage of stripers?  In the spring many of the experts were predicting gloom and doom for the stripers in 2021. Some went so far as to say they were disappearing.  But, here in RI it has been big numbers of stripers of all sizes from the start of the season to now.  The spring saw a glut of smaller fish under 20 inches.  In late spring and early summer, Narragansett Bay and the oceanfront had big numbers of slots and over the slot fish which were generally after adult menhaden. In the last month, it has been lights out for large schoolies and slot fish with occasional over the slot larger fish mixed in. 

It shows no sign of letting up, and I believe we are heading for a lights out fall run of good size fish along the oceanfront. No shortage of stripers here in RI! We've got the numbers and we've got the sizes!

Photos of the Day....Mayhem

 

Bottom: Birds are diving, stripers are busting and peanut bunker are swimming for their
lives.  Striper mayhem along the oceanfront.
Top: The after affects of the blitz has left thousands of peanut bunker stranded.

Kindness at the Cape Cod Canal

 I'm sure many of you have seen that You Tube video circulating about 2 guys fighting at the Cape Cod Canal recently. There have been other incidents reported this year and last which depict the very worst in fishing humanity and ethics.  While these knuckleheads get much of the attention, I have to tell you that I've always found the Ditch a very pleasant place to fish.  I will also admit I fish mostly in the daytime and avoid that early morning frenzy.  Most of the problems seem to arise from sleep deprived early morning fishermen that go from fishing should to shoulder to yelling in one another's face. There is a much kinder and gentler crowd that fishes there in the daytime. 

Today and yesterday I was down there.  At one point today I was about to fish a spot that was steep and challenging at best.  I mentioned to one young man who was fishing nearby that "Those rocks look real treacherous. Sure difficult to get a fish up here." He turned to me and said that if I wanted to fish there, he would be happy to go down and unhook any fish I caught.  

At another point today I was riding my bike looking for fish.  I came upon two older guys fishing.  One shouted, "Hey, the fish are here."  I told him I didn't want to crowd him, but he said plenty of room here.  So, I went about 20 yards from this guy and proceeded to catch a few fish.

At another point today I was talking with a couple of younger guys.  We compared notes about where we caught fish the last couple of days.  They offered some generous info as to where they had landed some fish.

I could also tell you countless other stories about other fishermen I have met at the Canal recently.  Some are daytrippers, some are out-of-staters and some are resident fishermen.  The common thread....all quite friendly and pleasant. 

Snagging Stripers....Is it Legal?

 A new, nasty trend is developing along the oceanfront.  This week I saw quite a few people attempting to snag stripers.  Some were using weighted snaggers like you'd use to snag pogies.  Others has this hideous rig with a sinker at the terminal end and two large trebles connected to dropper loops further up. These guys were tossing their snagging rigs into large schools of fussy stripers that were on the surface.  Sadly, I did see some fish caught.

With all the talk about circle hooks and conservation these days, you would think that snagging stripers would be illegal.  I saw one conservation minded angler get  in the face of one of the snagging fishermen and told him in no uncertain terms to cut this out or he would call the DEM.

But, is this practice legal or illegal?  At the least, most of us would agree it is highly unethical. So, I called DEM enforcement.  To my surprise, the answer was "we don't know, we'll have to look into it." Wow, not what I expected to hear.

In these days of striper decline and conservation and all kinds of laws directed at preserving the fish we have, you' d think banning the snagging of them would be no brainer. If it's not illegal, it should be!