Photo of the Day....."Late Season Surprise"

 

Surprise, surprise, they are still around!
I found good numbers of fish this evening
and they were taking bucktail jigs. Stripers are still moving
along the RI oceanfront and along the backwaters.
You just have to spend some time looking to
find them.

Happy Thanksgiving

 To all my loyal readers......Wishing you and Your Families Happy Thanksgiving.

Here in RI we are truly blessed with one of the most scenic and beautiful oceanfronts found anywhere in the world.  Add to that some of the best striped bass fishing along the East Coast.  If you're a fisherman, you are truly fortunate.

Winding Down

 

Here's a fish I landed a few nights
ago on a bucktail jig. The striper 
fishing has really slowed down in
the last week.

In the last 4 or 5 days, the fishing along the oceanfront has been marginal at best with a few fish here and a few fish there. Activity level is way down also with very few fishermen out looking. I'm not sure whether it's the high gas prices or the lack or fish or maybe a combination of both.

In normal years we see things heading downhill around Thanksgiving.  Well, we are almost there so no surprise at the lack of fish. Those that live right by the shore might continue to catch some fish into December with fish few and far between, but the consistency is gone.

Those big storms of late October and early November had a devastating effect on the fishing this late fall.  While water temperatures are still around average or maybe even a little warmer than average, the bait appears to be gone. This reminds me of the year Hurrincane Sandy hit back in 2016.  It hit in late October and early November and the fishing never really recovered afterwards. Fishing this November had its moments, but overall it was way below expectations.

If you are still looking to fish, holdovers are probably your best bet right now. Good luck trying to find them.

Back in Business

 

This is one of many schoolies from
14 to 25 inches that I landed today.
I got them all on jigs.
The fishing is back after a dismal
stretch of weather.

Finally, fishable water! And, surprise, surprise, the fish were there!  I found very good numbers of schoolies in a couple of different spots today. I even saw birds working way out in one place along with a few gannets dive-bombing onto bait.  So, slowly, fishing is returning to normal after a dismal and very stormy few days.

The one glaring take-away from today was that there was just about no one fishing. Most places I went to were very fishable, but no one was there. Maybe it was the cold weather or the fact that the fishing has sucked in recent days.  Whatever, I can tell you it's way too early to hang up the gear. The fish are still around in good numbers. We have a solid couple of weeks left to the season, maybe more.

Inconsistent

 

The fishing was lean today with
only a few fish around.  November 
fishing has been inconsistent.

November fishing seems to be following the same pattern we saw in October. In a word, inconsistent. It is nowhere near what we experienced last year when there were blitz days after blitz days for much of the month of November along the RI south shore. This year there have been a few good days but there have also been a lot of dead days also so far in November. Severe weather has played a factor in the inconsistent fishing.

I fished multiple spots today. Most places had very little.  I saw nothing....no bait, no birds, no fish and very few fishermen. I did manage a couple of schoolies in one location in the daylight.  I also landed a schoolie and a slot fish after dark in another location.  All were taken on bucktail jigs. In the last couple of weeks, all the larger fish that I've landed (slots and above) have come after dark except for one fish. This should come as no surprise since your best bet at landing something decent will come at night.

I figure we have about 3 weeks left of good fishing. I think we will see at least one more push of lots of fish and bait that hopefully lasts many days. Maybe a run of ocean herring will come along and light things up. Fishing changes fast at this time of year so you just have to keep looking and plugging away.

Photo of the Day......Simply Beautiful!

 

Fishing was not great this evening but the sunset was spectacular!

One Heck of a Week

 It's been one heck of a week of striper fishing as I have run into blitz after blitz of stripers this week along RI's south shore oceanfront.  By day, it's been tons of schoolies.  After dark has delivered slots and even above slot limit fish. The fish are on the move, and the migration is in full swing right now. Below is a video of clips I pieced together of some of this week's action.

Photo of the Day.....Striper Mayhem

 It was all stripers today as pure mayhem erupted in the spot I was fishing.  With the cooler nights, stripers and bait are on the move setting some wild blitzes along the RI oceanfront in the last few days!

Hickory Shad Gone Wild!

 It's been a big fall for hickory shad as they are around in record numbers this year.  They seem to pop up everywhere in big numbers where there is small bait.  They are great fighters on light tackle.  Small jigs and teaser flies will get them. Check out these shad going crazy.

Weather Calms Down; Fishing Lights Up

 It was back to blitz-like conditions today as I found big numbers of stripers and hickory shad feeding on acres and acres of bay anchovies. At times the water was black with bait moving southward and the predators were hitting them from below while the birds were hitting the bait from above. I landed big numbers of schoolies today up to 25 inches.  The hot lure was a half ounce homemade bucktail jig spiced with a white, Bass Pro, triple ripple curly tail. This hot action cones after a week of very rough water and windy conditions that messed up the water and slowed the fishing considerably.  Looks like we are back in business with a stretch of storm free weather coming up.