Five Top Producers for the Next Month

We're heading into the home stretch.  There's about one good month of striper fishing left along the oceanfront and after that, it's a crap shoot.  Here's my line-up for the best artificials to use in the coming month to catch stripers here in RI.
1.  Some type of small jig.  I like a plastic Cocahoe minnow in white threaded onto a small (1/4 to 1/2 oz.) jighead when fish are on small bait.  I also like flathead bucktail jigs with curly tails when there is a mix of bass and blues.  You can use these jigs alone or off a wooden float. Great for schoolies in the daytime.
2.  Needlefish plug.  I've gotten away from poppers and use the needlefish much more these days, especially in rough water or with a wind in my face. Works well in daytime and at night.
3.  Skinny plastic.  It doesn't matter whether you use Hogys or Slug Gos.  Both work well.  I like a black color after dark and I like to use the new swimbait hooks. I don't weight my skinny plastic as weighting takes away from the movement. Best with a wind at your back.
4.  Plastic swimmers.  I like the Bombers in a six inch length.  Light colors or black back models work well. Good at night in skinny water.
5.  Big bucktail jigs with pork rind.  This is my go to lure in deep, moving water such as you'd find in some of the breachways.  The fish are on the bottom in day or night and a big buck of 1-2 oz. will get you there.
That's it.  No need to stock a ton of artificials. A few others to consider include metal (Kastmasters), poppers, Storm shads and large wooden surface swimmers.

Disappointing Day in NE Wind

I would have predicted this would have been a great day of fishing in this northeast wind and stormy weather.  But, I would have been wrong!  The northeast wind has led to fantastic fishing all fall along Narragansett, but it was not to be today.  I slugged it out all afternoon and evening and came away with five schoolies, only fair results for the time I put in.  Problem today was that there was too much of a good thing.  The ocean was already churned up and sandy from a big west wind for the past several days.  The vicious northeast wind just churned up the soup.  Most of the afternoon the wind was very strong and the rain was coming down in horizontal sheets.  You could not even face into the rain and wind as the rain was like needles stinging your face. The waves were choppy six to eight footers along Point Judith and the water was a sandy colored white.  It was simply too much.

The Crappier the Weather, the Better the Fishing

One pattern that has consistently emerged this fall is that real lousy weather has produced very good striper fishing.  I'm talking cloudiness or raining, a rough white water surf and lots of wind.  I love fishing in this type of weather and will always get down to the oceanfront  and try when the weather is lousy. I've hit numerous blitzes this fall in that type of weather.  Remember that striped bass are opportunistic feeders and there is no question that they are far move active and moving close to shore in lousy weather with rough conditions than in calm and tranquil conditions.  In addition, few fishermen will go out and fish in bad weather so I've had many blitzes to myself numerous times this fall with not another fisherman in sight. 

Big Time Hit Today...60 Stripers in Two Hours!

I met up with my two sons today in Gansett for some fishing.  It was discouraging at first as I could not find another fisherman anywhere within the six mile stretch from Gansett Beach to Pt. Judith.  With the fishing cooling off in the last few days, there was no one even trying.  Yet, the water and conditions were just right....the water was rough and clean and it was overcast and raining. I knew there were fish somewhere. After some searching I found the Mother Lode.  With stripers ripping through schools of rain bait, my sons, Ben and Jon, and I started casting into the frenzy.  With our float and Cocahoe rigs we landed one fish after another.  These were all schoolies with a few blues mixed in.  The schoolies were decent sized with the fish running 20-27 inches.  In less than two hours of fishing, we landed 60 stripers and 2 bluefish.  Not bad for a day in which everyone thought there was nothing around. Take a look at the video we shot of the action.

Biggest Fish in Years

What started out as a slow day ended with a monster fish.  Tonight I landed a huge striper of 46 inches after dark on this rainy and stormy night.  This fish  was probably my biggest fish in over a decade.  I suspect it was in the 40+ pound range.
The day did not start off well.  I had all the right conditions in Gansett with a stiff northeast wind and rough water, but very few fish.  I was only able to catch one schoolie in the daylight and I tried in a lot of places.  My luck changed after dark as I found a spot that had some schoolies and I quickly landed 5 fish.  Then the big fish blew up on my jointed Red Fin swimmer. It proved to be quite a struggle to land this fish in rough water and the fish pulled out a lot of line from my Van Staal 150 reel.  Fortunately the new VMC trebles I put on the plug recently held, and I got the brute ashore.  A quick measurement with my tape and she was released to fight again.  I have no pictures of the fish since I left the camera in the car figuring I wasn't going to catch anything.  Boy, was I wrong!

Hot Fishing Dies Out

I just knew it was too hot to last.  Last week's phenomenal fishing along Narragansett has faded into a memory.  It has gone from red hot to ice cold within a few days.  I went down yesterday and blanked.  I could not even find a fishermen who caught or saw a fish.  There were no birds diving, no breaking fish and no big schools of bait.  Heck, there weren't even many fishermen around, a bad sign.
My son, Ben, my scout down Gansett way, got out this evening and found nothing (very unusual for him).  Other fishermen I know fished earlier in the day and came up empty.  Clearly things are dead.
With the forecast calling for NE winds the next few days, who knows what will happen.  It's a matter of waiting until the next pile of bait comes along and almost for sure the stripers and blues will be in hot pursuit.

Go SMALL

Some of the biggest blitzes in the history of RI striper fishing have been taking place at Narragansett this week. There seems to be no end to this terrific run.  What is fueling these blitzes are vast schools of bay anchovies that are being driven ashore by hungry stripers, blues and false albacore.
Yet, while there appears to be a million bass in front of you at times, they are tough to catch.  That's because the conditions are calm, the water is clear and the bait is small and plentiful. 
I got a call from my son, Ben, today.  He excitedly told me he landed over 30 stripers (6 keepers) and 10 bluefish in a couple of hours of fishing.  However, none of the twenty or so fishermen around him seemed to be able to catch even one fish.  How did he do it?  He was using a very small freshwater plastic swimmer, casting close to shore and was reeling it in very slowly to keep it near the surface as the fish were on a rampage in only a couple of feet of water.  That small swimmer measured only a few inches and closely resembled the bay anchovies (see photo at right) that the fish were feeding on.  Those other guys who were blanking were probably using large pencil poppers, big wooden swimmers or large metal.  Come on guys, you know the deal is to try to match the hatch.

Bay anchovies are small, anywhere from a half inch to a couple of inches.  When they are around, some good imitators are small swimmers, three inch poppers, three inch Cocahoes (see photo at left), small bucktail jigs and even small Zoom flukes running off a float.  While the guys tossing the big wood and big plastic may get an occasional big fish, their hook up rate is often dismal or non existent when bay anchovies are present.  So, my word of advice right now is Go Small if you are looking to catch some fish.