Best Bets for Holiday Weekend

 

I landed this monster blue on a Rebel Jumpin'
Minnow from my kayak this evening. Blues are
around in good numbers and they are big. I think
they are your best bet this holiday weekend.

I'm guessing that many of you will be doing some fishing this Memorial Day weekend. I've been out and about for the last seven days, fishing from shore and kayak so I think I have a pretty good idea of what is going on. Here's some of the best bets in order:

#1- Bluefish- I have landed them this week from both shore and the kayak.... all while fishing in Narragansett Bay.  It's a topwater show with Rebel Jumpin' Minnows, Yo-Zuri Hydro Pencils and pencil poppers catching most of my fish.  I've had the best luck in rough water with a stiff wind in my face.  The blues are running good size with most of them going 7 to 10 lbs., but I've also gotten many bigger ones in the teens.  They are also along the oceanfront but not as thick as you will find in the Bay. It can be a hit or miss deal so plan on hitting multiple spots if one place does not work out.  Boaters have a big advantage since they can move around to find the blues.

#2- Larger stripers under schools of menhaden- The menhaden are in sporadic small schools in many areas of the Bay.  It's a matter of finding them.  Most likely slot fish and over slots are under them or near them.  My son, Jon, was out in the kayak one morning this week and he landed good numbers of stripers up to 40 inches long. He went out the next day and did nothing....no pogies, no bass. I also saw guys chunking in the Bay and getting slots. There have also been some bigger bass along the oceanfront, especially for those putting in a good amount of time after dark. Once again, boaters have the advantage here.

#3- Schoolies- I have been getting some here and there, but no big numbers.  I fished several evenings this week in good water targeting stripers of any size.  I never got skunked but the best I could get was only 4 schoolies.  This has been a sub par year for stripers so far in RI and I'm not too sure things will improve that much this weekend.  Still, they are around, but not in great numbers.

Blue Dogs Running

The blue dogs were on the rampage
this evening.  Big numbers are 
cruising around if you can find 
them.

Tonight I left the kayak in the garage and pulled the waders out and headed for the surf. I went looking for stripers but found a bonanza of bluefish. For two hours I had a hit or a fish on just about every cast of my Yo-Zuri Hydro Pencil. It was simply LOADED!

These blues were all decent size.  They were running 6 to 10 lbs. They were super active and sometimes would chase down that hydro pencil smashing it several times before getting hooked. Man, bluefish can really put on a real show!

Last year it was just about this time of the year that big numbers of blues hit both the oceanfront and the Bay.  I have known they've been around for the last 4 or 5 days, but I just have not hit it right until tonight.  While there are some blues at the oceanfront, the Bay is probably your best bet to catch a blue. The Bay is also your best bet to catch a striper right now. Overall, the Bay is far outfishing the oceanfront this spring.

Photo of the Day.....Back in the Yak Again Tonight!

 

It was another solid evening of fishing from the
kayak tonight.  The yak has put me into some decent
fishing in the last couple of days!

Big Night from the Yaks

 

We had decent action from the kayak this evening.
Jon got all his fish on a Rebel Jumpin' Minnow.

All spring it has been a case of finding the fish, as they seem to really be on the move.  We finally had some decent weather to fish from the kayaks tonight so my son Jon and I headed out for an evening of fishing.  We did some paddling and pedaling around, but finally we found big numbers of stripers. 

They were fussy as we had tons of follows with occasional takers.  Still, we managed to hook and get over 30 fish to the kayaks in a couple of hours of fishing. Jon got all his on a Rebel Jumpin' Minnow, a plug that he has great success on, and he can catch when no one else can. Maybe the way he works it? I had no luck on the Minnow so I used an unweighted Zoom Fluke with a single swimbait hook. I was using the pearl with a chartreuse tail. Twitching it enticingly below the surface did the trick.

The fish tonight were all sizes from 14 inches up to small slots.  Most of the fish averaged 20 to 24 inches.

This has been a spring in which the fish are not everywhere. It has been a hit or miss game for me. Sometimes it just takes a lot of looking around and casting. I'm also fishing many places based on past successes as noted in my logbooks. 

I had good success using an unweighted Zoom Fluke.
The single hook made for easy catch and release.

Topwater Really Producing; Bay is the Place

This hefty schoolie, landed this evening has a
Rebel Jumpin' Minnow (bone color) stuck in
its jaw.  The Jumpin' Minnow has been a hot plug.

 I've been out just about every evening in the last week.  I'm fishing only in the Bay from shore, and I have had good success. The hot lures right now are just about anything topwater.  Earlier in the week the Slug-go was hot for larger schoolies and slots.  Tonight it was the Rebel Jumpin' Minnow that lured good numbers of schoolies. That was the ONLY artificial they would hit.  I've also gotten stripers of all sizes on pencil poppers and regular poppers this week. Jigs, so hot in the early going, have taken a backseat to topwater offerings.

I'm not sure what is going on along the oceanfront since most of the fishermen I know have turned to the Bay from both shore and boat. The fish are widespread in the Bay since I have fished many different spots this week (tide dependent places) that have been tens of miles apart.  It seems like there are stripers just about everywhere I have gone.

Earlier in the week, the Slug-go was hot.  Here a slot fish
comes ashore that was landed on a white Slug-go.

Banner Night on the Slug

 I hit a banner evening of fishing tonight in the Bay.  I've thrown in the towel on the oceanfront fishing, and have been fishing the Bay for the past week.  While I was getting a few fish here and there in the Bay, tonight was a different story with some very good numbers while fishing a Slug-go.  

I've written many times about fishing the Slug-go.  I think it is easily one of my top 5 lures.  If there's a striper around, it will more than likely hit the Slug-go or at least give it a follow.  They just can't resist the darting and dipping action.

I was using a 7 1/2 inch white Slug-go tonight.  That size is my favorite in Narragansett Bay.  I rig it with a size 5/0 wide gap worm hook. I don't weight it. I twitch the rod tip to give it action while reeling slowly and stop it every once in a while.  I get many hits on the stop.

All of tonight's fish were decent with a combination of equal numbers of hefty schoolies and slots. 

The 7 1/2 inch white Slug-go delivered good numbers of
stripers this evening in the Bay including this slot fish.

Photo of the Day....Striper at Sunset

 

The last rays of today's setting sun reflect off the sides of this striper.
It was landed in the Bay along with a few others this evening. 
Right now, the Bay is the best bet for stripers.

What's REALLY Going On?

 Striper fishing here in RI is poor, no other way to say it.  We are off to one of the worst starts in decades. There just have not been a lot of migrating fish around this spring.  There are some, but the numbers are WAY OFF compared to recent years. Just for a comparison, I went back and checked my logs. Note that these are the results for migrating fish only from April 15 to May 7.  I am not counting the holdovers.  Back in 2020, I landed 123 bass at this point. In 2021,  a banner spring, I had 365 fish. This year, 2022, I've gotten a mere 40 stripers.  Note that I have gone just about the same number of times in those years in many of the same locations that have produced in the past.

The strange thing about this year is that I am catching fish on just about every outing with very few blanks.  Yet, the numbers are not there.  It's been a couple of fish here, a few there. They have been all sizes with no consistency.  The other day in the kayak I had a 14 inch fish, a 22 inch fish and a 35 inch fish!

It's easy to point to the usual problems this year- poor weather, unfavorable winds, cold water, lots of weed- yet the fact remains that the fish have been migrating along the south shore since April 15. I'm not hopeful that we are going to see big numbers in the next couple of weeks. But, I am hoping that schools of menhaden enter the Bay and larger fish are on them, just like what happened last year. If it happens it will occur in late May or early June.

Fishing pressure has not been what it has been in other years. I think the poor fishing combined with high gas prices and poor weather has less fishermen out there trying. 

Action Shifting to the Bay

 I got out today in my Old Town Sportsman 10-6 PDL kayak.  The action has been marginal at best along the oceanfront this week with a lot of weed and unfavorable winds. So, I decided to try the Bay.  My son, Jon, had a big day yesterday with 14 bass (6 of them slots), so I kind of got tipped off as to where they were.

It took me no more than 15 minutes and I had a slot fish (over? maybe). I landed a few more smaller ones and had a lot of hits.  They were fussy in the calm water I was fishing tonight, but there were good numbers of fish around. I even managed to spook quite a few fished as I pedaled along.

The hot lure was an unweighted super Zoom fluke threaded  onto a swimbait hook.  I like the white ones with a chartreuse tail.  This lure can be trolled or casted and twitched ashore.

Here is a schoolie that I landed tonight from the kayak.