Roughness, Persistent NE Winds Send Fishing Downhill

 Too much of a good thing has sent a lot of fish packing.  We've had very rough water and persistent, strong northeast winds since that massive storm on Tuesday. As often happens, the best fishing usually occurs at the start of these storms.  That was the case on Tuesday as I had really good fishing.  That good fishing continued on Wednesday of this week, but since then it has gone steadily downhill and for good reason.  Along sandy stretches, the rough surf has brought in a lot of weed and sand especially in close to shore.  Even along rocky areas the water is now weedy in places. 

Today I fished an area to the north along the oceanfront.  My son, Ben, was fishing many miles to the south of me.  We had a big area of the south shore covered and fished multiple spots.  I did a lot of casting and managed to pull just a few fish out of the white water. They were the only fish I saw caught today.  Ben got nothing.  We both saw some bird activity, but it was way out past the roiled water in close. The fishing was disappointing.

Traditionally, October has been the best fall month of the year here in RI. Not this year.  September's fishing was far better and more consistent.  Even August fished better than October. The inconsistency of this year's October fishing can be tied directly to excessive stormy weather. 

There's still a good amount of time left to our striper fishing.  The water and the weather are warm.  Here's hoping November delivers the best of fall striper fishing.

Photo of the Day.....On the Float and Jig

 

The water was rough and white again
today and the fishing was very good again.
The egg float and  bucktail jig caught
all the fish once again.  Jigs have been
real hot all fall.

Massive Waves Batter Coast; Great Striper Fishing in White Water

 Yes, I did fish today in this nasty northeaster. Huge waves were battering the coast along with strong winds and rain. The waves were as bad as any hurricane waves I've ever seen.  Check out the video below of the East Wall.

I almost drove home, but I figured I was down the oceanfront so why not try fishing.  I found a location where I was somewhat sheltered from the wind but the place still had a lot of white water. On the very first cast I had a schoolie so I knew it was going to be good.  I landed schoolie after schoolie on my float and bucktail jig as the fish were in close, thick in the white water.  These were on the smaller side, running 20 to 22 inches. Some were puking up small bay anchovies though I saw nothing breaking.  Birds were diving about two casts away from shore so I knew there was bait in the area.

The roughness of the next day or so is sure to move fish. I'm hoping that we don't see sandy or dirty water once this storm moves on.  It could put a crimp in the good fishing that was just getting into gear prior to the storm.

Fishing Hot and Cold

Last week's fishing was red hot for me.
It's a different story in the last few 
days as the bait and fish have moved on.

 Last week there was real hot fishing; this week not so good.  The stripers seem to be on the move following massive bait schools. Find the bait and you almost surely find a lot of bass. No bait....it's nearly impossible to pick up a loner striper. Today I burned a lot of that $3.40 gas as I hit many far south beachfront and breachway locations and worked my way northward.  I found nothing.  It was the first time in months that I did not even get a hit.  I saw no bait, no birds working and no fish.  I made a lot of casts hoping for a loner, but it just wasn't happening. 

October, so far, has been an on and off deal.  Interestingly, September offered far better and more consistent fishing. I still think the best fall fishing will happen in November so long as we don't see any severe weather events. We'll see.

Bay Anchovies....The Bait that is Setting off the Blitzes!

 

Passing Cold Front Heats Up Fishing

Here's a good size striper coming ashore with
my bucktail jig in its jaw.  Jigs were hot again
today.

 It took one passing cold front and one cold night to light up the fishing once again.  Today I was into blitz-like action all afternoon and evening as schools of stripers were tearing into schools of bay anchovies along a mile stretch of shoreline.  It was similar to the action we had back in September.  Hopefully today's action has started the fishing on a fall track.

I landed good numbers of stripers although the fish were fussy. Most of the fish were in the 24 to 28 inch range.  I had at least a couple of slot limit fish. Just like I mentioned in the last post, bucktail jigs were hot.  Cast to breaking fish, let the jig sink below the feeders and pump it in. It worked as good or better than anything else I saw today as many fishermen were using topwater plugs with limited success.

I sense this is the start of a fall run.  Barring any sort of severe stormy weather, we should see great and steady action for the next month as migrating bait and masses of stripers move southward.

It was mayhem today as schools of stripers were tearing 
through masses of small bait while birds hit the bait from above.

Big Buck Comes Through AGAIN!

 

The hot lure today was a homemade
bucktail jig (one oz.) spiced with
a four inch triple ripple tail.

It's been a frustrating week of fishing.  No question, the saltwater fishing has gone downhill since those big waves pounded the shore last weekend.  It sent a lot of the bait packing and the predators dispersed, making for inconsistent fishing. All week it has been a pick for me with a couple of fish here and there with no keepers until this evening.

I went out this afternoon and could find nothing anywhere at first, not even any fishermen.  Real dead. But, I finally located a small bunch of fussy stripers feeding on tiny bay anchovies. These seemed to be small schoolies feeding on top.  I went through much of my bag of tricks for fussy fish  Float and jig.....no good. Float and fly.....no takers. Jointed swimmer.....no good.  Yo-Zuri Hydro Pencil- ah, finally a schoolie took it. But, my success was short lived as fish continued breaking, but not hitting my offering. 

I know from past experiences with fussy fish that sometimes, the bigger fish are lurking below the surface feeding small bass.  So, I snapped on a one ounce bucktail jig spiced with a four inch curly tail and casted it to a small pod of breaking bass.  I let the jig sink below the surface feeding fish and began a jigging retrieve, when suddenly,  BANG, I was onto my first keeper of the evening.  I used the same technique to nail three more fish, my second slot limit keeper and two others hefty schoolies. 

Once again, the bucktail jig produced.  It has been one of my most productive lures to use all year in various situations.

Hitting it BIG in the Kayak

 

The Rebel Jumpin' Minnow was
a hot plug today.  It works great 
when aggressive stripers are hitting
peanut bunker.

The last few days have been ideal to fish from a kayak.  It's been light northwest winds along with calm seas. In addition to these ideal conditions, there has been a lot of stripers around both in the Bay and along the oceanfront.

So, today I decided to go out in the kayak, and I'm glad I did.  I went with my son Jon and we found small pods of good size stripers slamming peanut bunker in the location we fished.  I used a Rebel Jumpin' Minnow in a bone color and that did the trick with the aggressive stripers.  It seems to me like the cooler nights have lowered the water temperatures, and that has gotten the stripers in a super charged feeding mood. It's a sure sign that fall is here.

Jon and I landed good numbers of stripers today from the kayak with many of them slot limit fish and even some biggies over the slot limit. 

This past week has been a super week of striper fishing for me with over 30 slot limit keepers and over slots in the last five days.  In addition, I've had a lot of hefty schoolies from 25 to 27 inches. The action is as good as it gets right now.

This is the biggest fish, an over slot, that I landed today from
the kayak.  We had several fish this size range along with others 
from hefty schoolies to slot limit keepers.