Happy Holidays from RI Striped Bass

 

Wishing you and your families safe and happy holidays.

Winter Project- Tying the Pink Deceiver

 The Pink Deceiver was my very best fly to use this fall off a float.  It caught good numbers of albies.  It was also deadly off the wooden egg float when fussy stripers were feeding on bay anchovies. It's an easy tie for most fly tyers.

Photo of the Day...Winter Surprise

 

While fishing for wintering over stripers today, I landed this good size
white perch.  White perch will inhabit the same winter waters as stripers
here in RI. They also will hit the same lures, in this case, a Zoom Fluke
mounted on a half ounce jighead.

Was This the Greatest Fall Ever for Striper Fishing in RI?

 If you are talking numbers of schoolies, this was the greatest fall of striper fishing I have ever seen here in RI.  If you are talking big fish, it was downright poor.

Let's break down how this all played out. There were daily blitzes, sometimes massive, from September all the way through November along the RI south shore oceanfront. The area from Narragansett to Westerly was red hot.  It was often a matter of just driving around and looking for the birds working and the fish breaking. It didn't seem to matter what the surf conditions were, what the tides were, or what the wind was.  The fish were just around in astounding numbers chasing down massive schools of bait, mostly small bay anchovies.

Most of the fish were schoolies with an occasional slot limit fish.  There were two distinct sizes of schoolies.  The bigger ones were running 22 to 26 inches while the smaller ones were 15 to 20 inches. Most of the slot limit fish were smaller keepers in the 28 to 30 inch range, but they were few and far between.

My own fishing logs reveal massive numbers of fish in October and November.  In those two months, I made exactly 42 trips to the oceanfront.  I landed and released over 1,200 fish in just those two months.  Just about all my fish were caught on single hooked lures- bucktail jigs, Cocahoes on jigheads and flies.  I can't remember a single fish that was badly hooked and bleeding, the beauty of using single hooked lures for catch-and-release striper fishing.

As for larger fish, it was one of the poorest years ever.  Of those 1,200 bass I landed, I had only 8 slot limit keepers that ran 28 to 30 inches.  Think about this....Only one fish in 150 was a small keeper! Not very good odds of catching a good size fish. While I saw tens of thousands of fish landed from shore this fall, I only saw one fish above the slot limit and that fish was about 38 inches. I was fishing both day and night in most outings.

So,  the fall of 2020 was one of the best for numbers of stripers here in RI.  I guess that all bodes well for the future if we do our diligence and protect what we currently have.

There are massive numbers of stripers feeding in front of this angler.
This went on just about every day for a two month period this fall along
the RI oceanfront.  Most fishermen agree it was the biggest year ever for
numbers of schoolies here in RI

On To Winter Spots

 

This is one of many stripers 
landed today in a wintering over
location. 

It's over for me along the oceanfront, but not over for striper fishing. At this of year, I head to my winter spots, places where stripers will hold over all winter long.  Most fishermen don't realize this, but many of the oceanfront's and the Bay's backwater ponds and rivers hold a population of stripers that don't migrate.  They will stay here and winter over. Yes, they can be caught in the wintertime, but it is often an inconsistent game of looking and casting and hoping you find a few that want to hit. 

Today was my first day of winter striper fishing.  It was a beautiful blue bird day, and I was happy just to get out. I tried a number of spots that had produced for me in the past.  I did find some fish, all schoolies in the 15 to 20 inch range, typical of what you generally find in the winter.  Sometimes you might get lucky and even find a keeper or two. I landed most of my fish today on Zoom flukes fished off a 3/8 oz. jighead, but I also got one fish on a small Cocahoe.

With many fishermen having little to do with Covid all around us, fishing is still a safe bet. I'm guessing more will take to the backwaters this winter in search of wintering over stripers.

Crawling to the Finish Line

 

Here's a hefty 25 inch schoolie that
I landed yesterday. The numbers of
stripers along the oceanfront has
dwindled in the last few days.

The striper fishing along the oceanfront has gone noticeably downhill in the last couple of days.  Happens this way at the end.  There can be millions around one day, and a few days later you can't find one. While there are still a few fish around, their numbers have dwindled.  And, with a big blow and storminess on the way for the next two days, it is not looking good. Today I could catch nothing in the daylight.  Fortunately, I found a few small schoolies after dark. It feels like the end is in sight.

It's at this time of year that many of us start looking in the backwaters for stripers that will winter over here in RI. I've already tested the waters in some of those spots and found a few fish. I'm still planning on fishing in the next couple of weeks, but it will not be along the high surf of the oceanfront unless I get a favorable report from some of my diehard friends.  

Still Going Strong

 

Here is one of many schoolies that
I landed yesterday in some rough 
water. Schoolie fishing remains
hot along the RI oceanfront.

I fished the oceanfront every day this week except today (Thanksgiving). The fishing has been fantastic for this time of year with an abundance of schoolies in the 14 to 20 inch range along with a few larger fish from 24 to 28 inches. The last three days I fished I landed big numbers of fish on white Cocahoes threaded onto half ounce jigheads. I also got a few on bucktail jigs spiced with white curly tails. Jigs are far outfishing plugs these days.  All these fish are throwbacks. Catch-and -release is far easier with jigs than treble hook plugs. I have also been finding fish both at night and in the daytime, although the best period of time seems to be that hour before dark.

Today my son Ben hit the shore in early morning before the family Thanksgiving festivities.  Fishing some rough water, he landed big numbers of schoolies on Cocahoes with teasers fished ahead of the jig. The fishing overall has been better in the rough water than in calm water.

So, how long will all this last? I don't know. In most years, the consistency is gone by now.  However, I'm guessing this warm weather and warmer than normal water temperatures (low 50's for the most part) are keeping the fish active and feeding. So long as the weather remains warm the fishing should remain good.