"Ace in the Hole" Delivers

 I

I've landed good numbers of bluefish this week
in the Bay where the water has been fishable.

n the last few days it has been way too rough and dangerous for me to fish the oceanfront.  But, I haven't missed a day as I turned to my ace in the hole when the oceanfront is unfishable. The waters from the mid Bay to the upper Bay have been calm, clean and fishable in  all this roughness. I've been fishing up a storm in this area where it has been LOADED with huge schools of peanut bunker.  That has attracted good numbers of small bluefish and occasional stripers.  At times this week, I have seen numbers of bluefish just blasting through the peanut bunker as if they were on an October binge. I've been getting my fish on bucktail jigs, paddle tails and Rebel Jumpin Minnows. 

Between the bait and the cooling water temperatures, it has caused the fish to become much more active. A hint of fall is in the air and hopefully a sign of things to come.

Wind, Rough Water Light it Up AGAIN

 

They were around yesterday in the rough water.

It's been a familiar theme for me since the early summer. Rough and stormy weather have delivered the good fishing. Calm waters and it has been poor. 

I got out yesterday along the oceanfront. It was super windy and rough.  There was a lot of white water in any location where the wind was coming at you.  I saw no bait and birds, and there were no fish breaking.  Yet the stripers were in many of the white water pockets that I fished.  And, I caught good numbers of them in multiple spots.

My hot lure of choice was an egg float and a half ounce bucktail jig spiced with a curly tail.  This is a killer in this type of water yet few use it.  I saw a few other people fishing using big poppers and big Kastmasters.  They caught nothing.

The hot ticket in the rough water was
an egg float with a half ounce
bucktail jig trailing off.

All of yesterday's fish were schoolies in the 20 to 25 inch range.  I haven't seen many fish in this size range this year and was surprised there was not a slot in the mix.

With real rough water coming, I'm guessing there will be good windows of opportunity to catch in the coming days.  Proceed with caution though since there is a fine line between good fishing water and too dangerous to fish conditions.

They're Back! Blues Arrive in Increasing Numbers

 

There are decent numbers of bluefish
around in Narragansett Bay.  They are
chasing down huge schools of 
peanut bunker.

In the last week I caught more bluefish from shore than I've caught the whole rest of the year.  They've arrived in Narragansett Bay chasing down huge schools of peanut bunker.  These are generally small, averaging 3 to 5 lbs., but I have seen some big breaks from larger blues.

With so much bait around, they can be difficult to catch.  You'll see a big school of bait raining on the surface and you might see a blue or two spray them up.  I have not seen big numbers of blitzing fish yet, but it's coming.

These blues can also be fussy.  They love my expensive NLBN paddle tails, dead ringers for peanut bunker. Instead of going through one paddle tail after another, I have been opting to go with small, half ounce bucktail jigs with a plastic grub tail.  It's not as effective as the paddle tails but still works, and it's durable.  They have turned their noses up on poppers so far, but I'm guessing that will change too.

All my focus has been on fishing the Bay in the last week or so where the action has been good for blues and an occasional schoolie.  The oceanfront is still a dead zone except for that occasional big striper caught late at night on eels.

Back in Business

 

Back in business with a couple of hefty schoolies
from the Yak this evening.

I've been catching in the last few days.  I found the Mother Lode of peanut bunker and there have been bluefish and stripers on them. It's not crazy, but it looks like the start of some better fishing. It's about time! 

Yesterday I fished from shore and landed three bluefish.  These were small ones of 4 to 5 lbs, but very feisty.  Today I went out in the kayak and landed a couple of decent sized schoolies. Both outings saw huge schools of peanut bunker hugging the shoreline with occasional predators spraying them up.  

I'm guessing my first fall blitz is coming soon if we can get some cooler weather

Glad Someone is Catching!

 

Hailey Pickering, age 6, hoists a good
size sunfish.

I took the grandkids fishing in freshwater yesterday. We fished a very productive and easy to access pond called Jabob's Pond in Norwell, MA, which was right near their house.  They had a blast catching bluegills and sunfish using mealworms which I bought at Petco since I could not dig any earthworms in this dryness. After catching dozens of fish, I had to practically pry them away from the spot when it was time to head home.

If you have younger kids or grandkids who want to get into fishing, the easiest route is to target bluegills and sunfish in an easy to fish location.  It will keep their attention and the action can be non-stop! 

Troy Pickering, age 4, just landed a
good size bluegill!

By the way, my grandkids use light, regular spinning outfits. Far more trouble free than a push button reel. And, both kids who are 4 and 6 years old, can cast on their own.

As the Magazine Article says, " Summer Storms Light up the Surf"

 

My latest magazine article is titled, 
"Summer Storms Light up the Surf".
I was living this story in the last
two days!

My latest article in The Fisherman magazine just came out in the August edition.  It's titled "Summer Storms Light up the Surf".  I've been living this article in the past two days. In the article I write about how summer storminess dramatically improves the surf fishing for stripers. There can be nothing around for days, even weeks, and a cool summer northeaster comes along and bingo, the fishing improves.

That's just what happened in the last few days for me.  I was out both yesterday and today fishing some rough water in the northeast winds.  In spots where I hadn't caught anything in weeks, the fish appeared in the turbulent white water. I landed good numbers of schoolies up to near slot size using a combination or artificials. Bucktail jigs (alone and off the egg float) and albie snax were the hot lures. Nearly all the fish were taken in pockets of white water close to shore. Note that nothing was showing, no bait, no fish breaking, but they were there.  So, there are some fish around if you make an effort to find them.  Few fishermen were out trying as I could count the other fishermen I encountered in two days on one hand.

By the way, I really put that Varivas braided line I've been writing about to the test. I pulled some of my fish out of rugged, rocky, weed strewn areas with no problem. It also casted super well into the wind. I was also using the Varivas Fluorocarbon for my leaders and line trailing off my float.  It proved to be very tough stuff in the rocks.

I landed all schoolies fishing the white water pockets.

My blue Varivas braided line performed
super in the rocks and weed.  I was also using
Varivas fluoro for my leaders.