Seals in the Providence River Add to Misery

It was a day that should have been good. The conditions and tide were just right this afternoon and temperatures were in the forties with drizzle. In the past that would have led to banner winter fishing. Not this year.
The lousy winter fishing in the Providence River just got worse with the addition of seals. It's bad enough that I haven't gotten a hit in the last four outings, but now I have seals to contend with. And, we all know that seals have a very negative effect on any fish that may be around.
Today I saw two seals actively working the river right in the city about a fifty yards south of Heninway's Restaurant. One was a small gray one and the other was a large brown one. Not being a seal expert, I have no idea what kinds these were. I did see a big commotion as one seal was thrashing near the shore in an obvious attack. I'm sure he got a small striper.
This seal had far better luck today than I did as I blanked.....once again.

Worms Working

There are not that many stripers in the Providence River this winter. To make matters worse, it seems that the fish that are around are on the fussy side. The ole reliable Zoom flukes on a jighead are not working these days. Instead, these winter fish would prefer to hit a plastic worm fished on a jighead right along the bottom.

The few fish that I have taken in the last week after dark have all been caught on worms. The best worm to use is one with a long curly tail. You'll find these in stores under the name of "ribbon tail", "C tail", or "curl tail" to name a few. The dark colors such as black, brown and motor oil all work well. Mount them on quarter ounce jigs. Cast your offering out, let it sink to the bottom and reel in very slowly trying to keep the offering near the bottom. The hits are usually very subtle as the fish just mouth the offering.

ASA Eastern Fishing and Hunting Expo

I will be at the ASA Eastern Fishing and Hunting Expo at the DCU Center in Worcester on Fri., Feb. 12 (1:15) and Sat., Feb. 13 (3:30) doing striper fishing seminars. I will be doing my new striper show for 2010. It is called Striper Techniques from Shore and Boat and features lots of hot tips and new ideas for catching striped bass from shore, boat and kayak. The ideas come from my successes and patterns that produced in 2009. This is a digital Power Point show that I narrate. This year's show features a number of video clips as well as loads of pictures that are sure to enhance the show.
The ASA Eastern Fishing and Hunting Expo is one of the biggest and most popular shows in the Northeast. I features hundreds of exhibitors, outfitters and displays. It also features the latest in equipment from some of the biggest tackle manufacturers. For more information about the show, go to the link below:
http://www.sportshows.com/worc_main.html

Winter Fishing Off, Way Off

Well, the good times can't last forever. Up until this year, we had been on quite a run of winter fishing in the Providence River. But, this winter it has all slowed to a crawl. In past years I would average about a hundred fish a month in January. Not this year. With a decent effort ( at least a fifteen times fishing this month on the right tides and conditions), I have landed a grand total of 10 fish. The fish are not there in any numbers and the fishermen are not around either....that says a lot.
We shouldn't be surprised by this lack of fish. Fishing was fair to poor in the Upper Bay in the summer and late fall with the numbers of stripers way down. Additionally, the trend of the last five winters in the Providence River has been a downward spiral with decreasing numbers of stripers.
I don't believe the striper fishery is as healthy as many would lead you to believe. There was a noticeable lack of schoolies around in the Bay and along the RI oceanfront this year, and that does not bode well for the future.

Shrimp Teasers (Revisited)

Shrimp fly teasers are some of the very best teasers to use for srping schoolies. The wintertime is a great time to sit with the fly tying vice and make a bunch of these. They are tied with a hooks that range in size from #4 to 1/0. I use a Mustad 34007 hook. The body can be tied with olive, green, brown or grey chenille.The narrated video below shows as well as explains how it is done. This is a great teaser to use in the spring ahead of a small bucktail jig or a plastic bodied jig for schoolies.

You Tube Striper Videos

Many of the videos that have been featured in the past are now on You Tube. I will try to post a lot of how-to videos on that site as well as some technique related stuff. To access these videos, go to the You Tube site at http://www.youtube.com/ Once there, type in ristripedbass in the search box. All of the catalogued videos should appear. I've also put a link to the site on the information column at the left.

2009, Year in Review

Well, the striper fishing for me was a rollercoaster ride in 2009. It was an up and down year with lots of twists and turns.
Spring fishing was fair at best with poorer than expected numbers of schoolies in the upper Bay and along the oceanfront. Early boat fishing in the mid Bay was good for about a week in mid May with good numbers of large schoolies and small keeper bass chasing rain bait. Boat fishing was good for large keeper bass in Narragansett Bay in late May and early June until the pogy boats entered the Bay in June and cleaned out the pogies. That began one of the poorest stretches of striper fishing I have ever encountered with a very poor fishing continuing all summer. There was little bait along the oceanfront and the Bay and very few fish to be had. The season was salvaged in the fall as the fishing suddenly perked up in September and remained red hot into early November. There was one four week stretch in which I must have landed 700 stripers with scores of keeper fish while fishing along Narragansett and the south shore beaches. I have no idea where all these fish came from. Winter fishing in December in the Providence River was off compared to past years but there were decent numbers of keepers around.
If you would have asked me in the summer to sum up the season, I would have said poor. Thanks to the fall fishing, I would give the overall season a "good".
I put together a short video of some of my favorite pictures of the past season. Click on the YouTube video, sit back, turn up the volume and enjoy!