INCREDIBLE Evening from the Boat

 

Earlier in the week I made plans with my son Matt to go out
fishing on Thursday evening in the boat with the grandkids.  Only problem was once Thursday got here the weather forecast was calling for a 50% chance of rain. We decided to go anyways and bring the raincoats just in case.  Heck, if it got too wet, we'd just head in.

I told the kids I had a feeling that this would be a good night if it didn't rain.  Pressure dropping, storm on the way for later, light winds and calm water- all good indicators for action. I said, " I have a feeling we are going to catch some big ones tonight!" And, we joked about who was going to catch the biggest fish.

Well, it started off slowly but the action picked up dramatically about 7:00.  I saw a telltale sign of fish when I saw a jump in the distance.  We motored over to that location, and suddenly the fishfinder lit up. It indicated fish from top to bottom in 40 feet of water. We casted our 9 inch Slug-gos out and the Slug barely hit the water, and both Matt and I were on. These were hard fighting over slot fish.  For the next hour it was a hit or a fish on just every cast and all these fish were over slots.  The grandkids got into the act as they started fishing with minimal help.  They landed many fish that seemed to be as tall as them and struggled to hold them up for a photo. As darkness came in, the action petered out but not before we landed 15 to 20 big fish.  These were fish up to 40 inches longs.  The Slug-go which had a single hook up front was an easy catch and release lure and all the fish were safely released.  The grandkids loved  watching the fish swim away.

This was probably the best outing we ever had from Matt's boat for stripers. It was just an incredible night, just as I had predicted. It never rained except for a sprinkle. We also never saw another boat as we had this pile of fish all to ourselves,

 By the way, grandpa landed the biggest fish!

Photo of the Day- "Back in Business"

 

It's been a while (June) since I've landed a striper this
big. They are back as the shore fishing has picked up dramatically.
This fish was released in great shape.

Massive Schools of Microbait/ Big Numbers of Stripers Hit the Oceanfront

The Albie Snax was the only
artificial that would work
last evening. The stripers were
on micro bait about a half inch long.

In the last two evenings I've found huge amounts of bait and big numbers of stripers on them. There were birds diving, schools of fish breaking and individual fish here in there  I haven't seen this much surface activity since last fall.

The massive amounts of tiny bait, bay anchovies, has set off a feeding spree along the oceanfront. It's just what we have been waiting for months to happen, and it's here!

Be aware, though, these stripers are tough to fool when they are on small bait.  Last night I had schools of fish or individual fish breaking to cast to for 2 straight hours.  I ended up with 3 stripers and one more on.  Yes, poor results for the amount of fish I saw. My fish were all caught on Albie Snax fished on a deep, slow retrieve. I tried everything in my bag of tricks to imitate small bait- small bucktails, float and fly, Jumpin' Minnow and NLBN paddle tails.  Nothing would even get a sniff except the Snax. And, there were times that I threw the offerings into a pile of breaking fish. I can tell you no one else except my son Jon could catch a fish and there were a good number of guys trying.

While I left a few breaking fish at dark, my son Jon stayed.  He had live eels in the car.  He's had good success fishing eels at night in the past when the fish were fussy and on small bait. It happened again for him. In a couple of hours of tossing the eels, he landed 5 stripers OVER 40 inches apiece along with a breakoff. Those are the most large fish I have heard about from the surf in over 2 months.

This is one of 5 big fish over 40 inches that Jon
landed after dark on eels.

The striper action from shore is finally here and here big time. As long as the bait remains the action will continue to be good. Good luck trying to catch them! 

Turning the Corner

I believe this is the week in which we have turned the corner on shore fishing here in RI. For the most part, we saw a poor July. The happenings of the last week point to improved fishing as bait arrives, more species of fish follow and stripers come to life.

Here are some of the indictors that things are turning around and moving into a prefall pattern that we generally see in August. 

*More bait has arrived. Big schools of small bait, mostly silversides, have arrived in big numbers this week along the south shore oceanfront.  I've seen birds diving and fish breaking in my last three outings. Some fishermen also report small peanut bunker are around.

*Rough water has perked up the striper fishing. When it's been rough, it's been good. The stripers are around and I am guessing the striper fishing will be more consistent and better as August moves on. They are on the bait also.

*Bonito are around in ever increasing numbers. There have been some big catches in the last week from shore and boat as they are blitzing on the abundant silversides. You have to find them, though, and they are not all over the place yet.

*Even reports of some bluefish have surfaced.  They, too, are on the bait.

So, suddenly the fishing is looking better and better here in RI for shore fishermen.  With stormy weather predicted for this week, it should rough up the water and light up the fishing.

Look closely and you will see birds diving and a big fish
breaking in the lower right corner. I saw this scene over
and over again this week as shore fishing has picked
up considerably.