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| I landed all of yesterday's fish on the egg float and jig. There were massive numbers of stripers on the rampage in rough water. |
I have written many times of how fishing in the summer can suddenly come to life in stormy and rough water. Well, I had the conditions yesterday as a stiff easterly breeze mixed with showery rain charged the water up into a sea of white. And, it brought the fishing to life. While I struggled in the last month to land a fish here and there, I was getting them on just about every cast yesterday evening.
The fish were on a July rampage as if it was an October blitz. At one point there were birds diving everywhere in front of me, and the ocean exploded with schools of stripers the size of a football field breaking everywhere. Further out I saw a school of fork tailed fish, bonito I'm sure, racing on the surface like small torpedoes. It was wild for a July evening.
All these fish I landed were hefty schoolies in the 20 to 26 inch range, fish we have not seen a lot of in the last few months. I assumed they were on small bait bay anchovies or peanut bunker. I landed all my fish on a float and bucktail jig. The bucktail was spiced up with a triple ripple Bass Pro curly tail. I got most fish out far but I also landed several at my feet as they seemed to be everywhere the water was white.
I'm hoping we have turned the corner on this poor summer fishing here in RI. I do believe there has been an influx of small bait in the last few days along the oceanfront that have touched off bonito blitzes in various spots. Now, we are seeing some big numbers of stripers. Let's see if it continues!
