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| Slot limit stripers were around in very good numbers this years. Shore fishing and kayak fishing was very productive. |
This past year was another banner year for stripers here in RI. Just like last year, they were the highlight of the 2021 season. Regardless of all the negative press we hear from the armchair warriors and the constant barrage of doom and gloom, those who were out fishing know this was a great year for stripers of all sizes here in RI. Bluefish, on the other hand, were a disappointment again. Albies were also a disappointment. Hickory shad hit our shores in record numbers.
Stripers:
Schoolies
(12 to 28 inch fish)-
While I started catching holdover schoolies in March, I found the first
migrating fish along the oceanfront on April 19th, just about on
schedule. From that point to early May, it was a glut of smaller fish from 10
to 20 inches with occasional 25 inch fish. If you wanted to put in the time,
hundred fish days were not unusual. I found similar numbers of schoolies close
to home in the Bay where I was scoring big time from my kayak. Those big
numbers of schoolies would continue right through summer and into the fall,
although the stripers in the summer and early fall tended to be much larger. I
got nearly all my schoolies on jigs with the bucktail along with a curly tail
being the best producer all year. It
also made for safe and easy catch and release. Grade for schoolies-A
Slot
Limit Stripers (28 to 34 inch fish)- Here’s a startling statistic from my logbook. Back in 2020, one striper in 200 that I
landed was a slot. This year from May
until late fall, one fish in 5 was a slot.
We had massive numbers of 22 to 26 inch stripers back in 2020. They came back this year as slots over 28 inches.
The kayak put me into big numbers of these slots in the late spring/summertime
in the Bay. Along the oceanfront, that
time period from mid August to late September was unexpectedly good with almost
daily blitzes of slot limit stripers chasing down massive schools of peanut
bunker along the oceanfront and in parts of the Bay. Grade for slots- A
From schoolies to over slot stripers, it was a
banner year of fishing here in RI
Over
slots (35 + inches)-In
recent years these fish were in short supply.
Not in 2021. I found good numbers of over slot fish from late spring
into late fall. Narragansett Bay was red
hot in late spring/early summer as large numbers of big stripers were chasing
down big schools of large menhaden. When you see 200 boats in the upper Bay on
Memorial Day, you know things are hot. Big stripers were never easy to catch
even in the heydays of striper fishing.
This year, if you put in your time, you could find stripers over 40 inches
from shore, boat or kayak. Grade for over slots- B+
There were big blues around
in the early going but as the
season moved on it was poor.
Fall fishing for bluefish was
especially poor.
Bluefish-
In the early going (May into June) there were lots of them along the
oceanfront and in the Bay. I had many
days from the kayak with 10 to 20 big blues in the 8 to 15 lb. range. Shore fishing was also very good. But, once the warm weather, warm water hit,
they were gone. They never returned in
any numbers and the fall was particularly disappointing. From September through
November, I landed exactly 2 bluefish. I
saw almost no others caught. Grade for blues- C
Albies- There is no predicting what will go
on with these fish as they randomly move into shallow water from the depths of
the ocean in late summer. This year started off early as I got my first one on
August 31. That first week of September produced good numbers. But, it got very inconsistent very fast.
There were spurts of limited action, but it was often nothing for days and even
weeks. Big storms may have played a role in moving them out. Overall, it was a disappointing
year. I also never saw a single bonito landed from shore. Grade for albies-
C-
Hickory
Shad- They were
around in record numbers along the oceanfront.
At times, especially in the fall, there were massive numbers of these
chasing down small bay anchovies and just boiling up the water in a frenzy. While the oceanfront had them in good numbers,
the backwaters, rivers and ponds along the oceanfront were the prime places to
use light tackle and fly fishing gear to catch them. On many evenings I would get a mix of
stripers and shad as the shad would aggressively go after good size bucktail
jigs. Grade for hickory shad- A
I ran into this so, so many times this year from August until
late November. It was often a glut of stripers of all sizes!
2021 was a banner year of striper fishing in RI.
