Winding Down, but Still Fish

The good news is that there are still stripers and bluefish along the RI south shore.  The bad news is that there are a lot less of them compared to a week ago.  But, hey, it's Dec. 4 and normally things are over by now.

I got out today and fished all afternoon along the south shore.  I ended up landing 2 schoolies and 1 bluefish on Cocahoes (see pics).  It was a strange afternoon in which there were spurts of fish along the beach, but never lots of fish.  For instance, in about a half hour stretch, I saw about 10 blues landed and then no more bluefish for the rest of the day.  Same deal with stripers.  At one point six fish were landed in a ten minute period, then nothing.  Clearly there were small pods of fish moving along, but there were no big numbers.  So, our fantastic fall fishing is winding down, but there are still a few fish to be had if you want to put in the time.  Hey, it's Dec. 4.   I have no complaints.

Stripers, Blues and Shad in Dec.! CRAZY!

For anyone who might think our fabulous fall season is over, think again. We had a big storm on Tuesday night, and the fishing was poor for two days afterwards, leading many to think the season just might be over..  But, today the water calmed down, and the action lit up for us once again. My son, Matt, took a vacation day from work and we headed down to the south shore for some December surf fishing on this beautiful Friday afternoon. It turned out to be our best December day ever.  We landed a total of 13 stripers (all schoolies), 5 bluefish (yikes, in December) and 4 hickory shad.  In fact, Matt hit the trifecta, catching all three species (see photos). The bass and blues were taken on Cocahoes and the shad were caught on small bucktail jigs.  Ok, we did luck out as we caught all the blues and bass in a one and one half hour stretch in one of our prime spots. We hit a slug of fish that I think were moving by.  Realize most of the few people out fishing today reported catching very little.  So, things weren't crazy down there.  But, for the lucky Pickerings, 22 fish on Dec. 2 was certainly a day to remember. 

Last Two Days.....Not Good

The nasty storm that blew through on Tuesday night was not good.  In its wake, it left a big rolling surf and lots of sandy water which cancelled out any fishing for Wednesday.  Today things calmed down considerably and my son and several friends gave it a shot along the south shore.  They got nothing but one guy did see "a couple" of small schoolies caught but no sign of the abundant bluefish that were all over in the beginning of the week.  There were also very few fishermen around at mid day, a bad sign that suggests very little around in the morning. On a positive note, there were loads of gannets hitting the water off East Beach, a sure bet that herring are still around.  However, this bait and the birds never came close to shore today. No question, things are really winding down, but hey, it is December and we just had the best November fishing the RI south shore has ever seen. I'm still not ready to pack it in as I am hoping to find some more fish in the next few days.

Blues by Day; Keeper Bass After Dark

Our November to remember just keeps on rolling along.  Today started off as blue Tuesday with bluefish all over the place along the south shore.  At my first spot  I had a blue on the first cast and had a hit or a fish on every cast for at least half an hour.  I ended up getting twenty bluefish from 4-8 lbs. here on poppers.  My son, Ben, came down to join me and he landed a good number also (see photo). Other than a few schoolies in the early AM, no one seemed to be getting many stripers today and the ones that were caught were small.  That changed for me after dark.
I switched spots and switched lures to a rainbow trout colored nine inch Slug Go fished ahead of a black Deceiver teaser.  Right at dark I landed my first keeper of the night, a fish about 28 inches long on the teaser.  A few casts later, a much larger fish slammed my Slug Go, and that fish measured about 32 inches (see photo).  Next cast produced an even larger keeper on the Slug Go.  Twenty minutes later, I landed another good sized keeper. So, on this Nov. 29, I came away with 4 keepers, the most post Thanksgiving keepers I have ever been able to catch in one outing. It's been one heck of a November!

Ultralight Gear Saves the Day, Again

Yesterday was not a good fishing day for me.  I moved around a lot along the south shore in the daytime and had little success finding anything other than bait.  The old skunk was staring me in the face until the end of the day when I managed to nail three shad and a small schoolie just before and at dark.  However, I had one more ace in the hole as I had my ultralight gear stowed in the back of my truck and tailor made for nights like this when I'm looking for more action.  I decided to hit some of my quiet backwater spots in which the ultralight gear had proved so effective in the past.  These are places with calm water in which small schoolies love to feed after dark.  I suspect they are feeding on shrimp since I rarely see baitfish in these spots.  My five foot trout rod with a small Okuma reel with just six pound test mono was delivering 1/8 oz. round head bucktail jigs.  It worked to a charm as I caught 7 schoolies in just an hour after dark in one of these quiet spots.  Had I been using a regular surf rod and bigger jigs, I guarantee I would have caught nothing.  As has happened so many times in the past, the ultralight gear comes through once again.

For Most, it was BLANK FRIDAY

Things are thinning out.  That big storm on Wednesday has sent a load of fish packing.  The south shore was loaded with fishermen taday, but there were more fishermen than fish.  I'm guessing most came up empty as I saw very few fish caught, and the ones I did see were small, nothing like what was around in the beginning of the week.  I lucked out as I first hit one of my hotspots.  I was able to catch 8 schoolies there on Cocahoes (see photo) in about half an hour. However, for the rest of the day, it was slim pickings as I added just 3 more schoolies in the next six hours while fishing multiple spots.  My eleven fish was more fish than I saw the rest of the hundred or so fishermen land all day. I heard there were a few small blues taken in the early morning, but I saw no blues later in the day.

So, as is typical at this time of year, there can be a million fish around one day. You get a storm and there are few fish around a couple of days later.  Accept the fact that the season is winding down.  That's just the way it is in late November. We're nearing the end.

On a positive, note, though, I did see a lot of gannets hitting the water way out meaning big bait is still around.  However, are  the big fish (bass and blues) still around???

Striped Bass Release

My son, Ben, who has caught and released countless keepers this year up to 50 inches, shows the correct way to release a tired fish.  You want to ease the fish into the water.  Once in the water, grab its tail and move the fish forward and back.  This will get oxygen into its gills.  When holding the fish, you will feel the fish start to swim on its own.  At this point, the fish usually gives a mighty swish of its tail to let you know it's ready to go.  Release it and enjoy the sight of your prize swimming off.