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| The NLBN paddle tails were hot lures in the early going last year. |
For the next month it will be a waiting game until we see the first migrating stripers arrive here in RI. It's been a warm winter but that does not necessarily translate into an early season. Stripers are just like migrating birds- they come north at just about the same time every year regardless of the weather. I like that time period from April 15 to April 20 to deliver the first big wave of fish. You might see a few early season "scouts" before then. In the past few years, here are the dates that I caught my first stripers along the south shore of RI: April 19, 2021, April 15, 2022 and April 18, 2023. Note that I tried several times with no success before catching my first ones each year.
Usually, small fish, schoolies, make up the bulk of the fish in April. However, we all know there is a shortage of small ones around, and I suspect that we are going to see good numbers of decent fish, slots, in the early going. Last year, my first 5 fish of the new year were all slots. That could very well happen again this year.
In general, Narragansett Bay tends to produce about a week after the first fish are landed along the oceanfront. I will hit my bay spots beginning at the end of April. Surprisingly, there are years in which we see more stripers in the Bay during the first month of fishing than along the oceanfront. That's because the Bay waters heat up much faster and they attract more early season bait.
The start is often a simple affair in terms of lures. Pack a lot of jigs- bucktails, plastic bodies with jigheads and even floats and jigs. Last year I landed many early season keepers on bucktail jigs. I also did real well in the early going on white NLBN paddle tails.