Last week I hit some great fishing, but the last two outings have been poor. Things change fast at this time of year, and what was around a week ago is often not around a few days later. The last two days have produced exactly one schoolie and one hickory shad in a number of places fished. There are also other signs that the fishing is nearing the end. Today I saw good amounts of bait, but no stripers on it, a sign that most of the predators have left. Also, I know that holdovers are entering their winter over places, another sign that the fishing is coming to an end. Finally, there are fewer and fewer fishermen trying, another ominous sign.
In past years, the fishing has generally ended for me in the last week of November. Some years, especially in very warm years, I can stretch it out till the first week in December. If you look at the weather that's coming, it will be frigid around here the first week in December, so that will be out.
Veteran fishermen will tell you that stripers have been caught right into December here in RI And, I will admit that you might find an occasional small blitz along the south shore in December or a few late migrators, but the consistency is gone. Add to that the fact that there are fewer stripers around these days.
I think we have a few more days, maybe a week left to catch those last few fish, but sadly to say, it's just about over for our migrating stripers.
