Keys to Recent Success

I have had limited success in the last two weeks of fishing. Oh, I'm not setting the surf fishing world on fire catching. I'm getting one to three stripers an outing, and I have only blanked one time. The keys to my success have been the same every time. Here they are:
1. I have been fishing mostly in the evening.....at dark into the early night.
2. Small, 1 oz. poppers have taken a few fish, especially right before dark.
3. Small Hogys in a bone color have taken all my fish after dark. Surprisingly, nothing on teasers.
4. For conditions, I have been fishing mostly moving water or a white water surf. I have tried to avoid fishing calm and clear water conditions.

McKenna OTW Article Right On

I have to comment on the excellent article by RI surf fishing expert Steve Mc Kenna that appears in the August issue of On the Water magazine. The article, titled Fake Out Summertime Stripers, outlines the best lures and plugs to use to catch summertime stripers. For example, Steve outlines using soft plastics, slender minnow swimmers, teasers, metal lipped swimmers and eel skinned plugs, a hit parade of some of the best fish catchers you can stuff into a surfbag. For beginners and veterans alike, it is a ton of valuable information about how to catch fish in the summer with lures and plugs. Steve, who is a friend of mine, draws on his years of expertise and experience to outline some of the best artificials to use at this time of year. He also outlines some of the best conditions to fish in summer which include targeting the new moon phase, fishing in stormy weather and nighttime fishing. The article is well worth the cost of the magazine if you are not a subscriber.

For more information visit http://www.onthewater.com/

Back in Business

It's been two weeks since I've posted on the site. Oh, I've been fishing. Problem was the computer. It was infected with a virus and was in the repair shop for quite a while, thus no posting. I wish they would make a computer like a fishing reel. Change the bad part and back in business. Instead, the computer is under constant threat of attack from spyware and viruses, even though you think it is protected with anti virus and Internet security software. So complicated compared to a reel!

Change in Location Leads to More Action

Last night I decided to change the location I was fishing. I was spending a lot of time in the Bay and catching little. So, I moved to the oceanfront where I found better fishing for stripers.

Realize things are not great down there either. I fished from evening into the night and landed three schoolies though I had a least a half dozen more hits. They were taking small Hogys fished off a float. I used the float because I needed to get a long cast in the place I was fishing. These fish were all clones. They measured about 20-22 inches and were very skinny. It's obvious from the way these fish looked that there is little bait around. I also found no fish breaking and no bait.

I suspect that the cooler water along the oceanfront (low 70's) means that you have fish that are more active than you find in the Bay where the water is running from the mid 70's to 80 degrees. With temperatures in the 90's for the next few days, the oceanfront is your best bet for fishing.

Not Good News

With a heat wave knocking on our door and water temperatures soaring into the seventies, we are in the dog days of summer. We are also in that period of time which seems to be the slowest of the year if you are a shore striper fisherman. The reports I have gotten from all over southern New England in the last two weeks paint a picture of some poor fishing.
I have been hitting the upper Bay several times a week. The news from that area is that I am catching a striper here and there. I am also getting blanked at times. There are good numbers of small blues around at times. I know of several guys who are fishing RI's south shore and Narragansett. They are getting a schoolie or two at times, but they are also getting blanked at times. Even the reports from the Cape Cod Canal from guys I know who have been there tell a tale of marginal fishing. Line up twenty guys who know what they are doing on the right tides and a few small keepers might be caught. It seems to be inconsistent from the reports I am getting.
Let me also say that there are not many fishermen out there. This could be due to the poor fishing or the increasing gas prices or maybe a combination of both.
I am predicting that this marginal fishing will continue through August and may not perk up until mid September when stripers start feeding up for the fall migration.

Warming Waters=Bluefish

The water in the mid and upper Bay was running 75-81 degrees this week according to a NOAA site that I visit often. That is warm, really warm, too warm for stripers. However, no problem for the bluefish. So, last night I hit a spot in the mid Bay and came away with the biggest bluefish hit I've experienced in two years. They were everywhere I was fishing and real active as they were chasing silversides and small sandeels. These breaking fish were aggressively hitting poppers, jigs and metal. By the end of the evening I had landed 18 of them and lost at least that many. They were on the small side for the most part, running 12-20 inches. Since there were lots of fish and a pile of bait in front of me, I figured I would stay after dark and try for stripers. I casted for close to an hour and landed just one lone schoolie, my only hit. It's shaping up to be a big bluefish summer. As long as the small bait sticks around, the bluefish action should remain good regardless of the warm water.

Dinner Plate Scup

Last night I went looking for stripers or blues in the Bay. I didn't find any, but what I did find was a load of good sized scup. These were unlike any I had ever found along the oceanfront. They were large, some nearly the size of dinner plates, and they were aggressive. They would readily attack plastics and jigs mounted with plastics ripping these offerings apart like piranhas attacking raw meat. I had run into these the previous night in shallow water and I decided to give the same spot another try. I also came armed with a rig I had devised. It looked like a double teaser rig only in place of the teasers I had tied in two, small #4 hooks on which I threaded one inch plastic grub tails (see photo). On the end of the rig I had mounted a quarter ounce jighead with a three inch plastic curly tail. It did the trick, sometimes accounting for double headers. By the end of the evening I had landed over 30 scup, many as large as small schoolies. They weren't stripers, but the action was terrific. In these days of reduced numbers of stripers, I'm planning on branching out and going after what's plentiful and available. Last night it was large scup.