Spring Run Starting and ( A Few Pogies)

Went out this weekend and found a few fish and it was definately an early morning bite. They were a bit fussy but a white or white with yellow back 4" wildeye shad seemed to do the trick. The fish were spread out from Jamestown to Barrington beach and finding them was not the easiest thing. The were barely showing on the surface with minimal bird activity. School size was small and they were very boat shy which is pretty common this time of year. Size ranged from 20-32 in with most stripers in the 27-30 in range. The trick was to really move around and search for bird activity and swirls, tough to do if it's rough so early morning was the best time. Had to sneak up on what fish I could find and drift from upwind into them with the motor off.

I'm not sure if the fishing will get better or not. Last year it never really got going as good as previous years so who knows about this year. The next week will probably be a really good indicator of the fishing to come. Bait is really spread out and minimal right now. Tides this week are really big so that should get things going. Only time will tell.

NOTE -MANHADEN (POGIES):

Was heading back to the ramp Sunday and came across a good size group of manhaden, these are the first I've seen this year. Managed to snag 9 of them before they sounded. If they come in in full force the big fish usually follow. We'll have to wait and see but it was a really good sign.

Check out the video below:

Jelly fish Invasion

Went out yesterday, Sunday to scout around and see if anything was happening. I saw hundreds of thousands of jelly fish from Jamestown to Prudence. Talked to my brother( Dave Pickering)about it and he told me he saw them from shore in the providence river. I've never seen this many this early, they were pinkish yellow with long tenticles and ranged from baseball size to basketball size. I was curious if this could affect the spring striper run so I emailed save the bay and asked about this species and there feeding habits. I'll keep you posted to their response. Oh and by the way didn't catch or see any early season schoolies yet.

Update 5/3/11 :

Got an email from save the bays John Torgan. He identified the jelly fish as Lions Mane and indicated that there is an unusually heavy bloom of them this year. He doesnt see an issue between Striped bass and the jelly fish because the jelly's feed on tiny zooplankton which is not on the stripers menu. Good news! I still think the early season run is going to start very soon.

Meteoroligical Data Points to a big Boating week for Stripers

Just got off the NOAA site (see links on left). With all this warm weather the water temp has reached and even pass the magical 52 degree mark. Next weeks weather is calling for cloudy days. The tides from Sunday through Friday are relative big and there morning tides. All this spells big numbers of Stripers showing at most of the mid bay hot spots. If you can get out for an early morning run it may be well worth the effort. Over the last 4 years I've absolutely killed early season striper under these conditions at this time of year (see previous posts). 2 years ago I caught over 80 striper in the 24-32 inch range in 1 day. Mind you it was a 12 hour day but I couldn't stop fishing it was that good. I dont know how good this year will be but I can tell you I'm pretty sure it will start this week. The lure of choice is usually a cocahoe (white) with a 3/8 oz jig head. I've tried just about everything over the last few years and thats the one the works the best. Light tackle is also alot of fun on these fish. So get the boat ready spool up your reals dust off the rods and get out there. You'll find the fish from jamestown to barington beach east or west passage, it may take a while to find them but when you do it can be a blast.

Highlights from last Year's Fishing

I've put together a series of slides on you tube from last year's fishing trips. There's some early season schoolies as well as some big stripers caught while live lining. Just press play and enjoy the show. Hope you like it.

Stripers and Blues Oh My!!!!

The fall run is in full swing. There are schools of fish from Narragansett to Watch hill. Just look for the birds. The Stripers range from 25-30 inches with an occasional fish in the 30-40 inch range. The blues range from 6-12 lbs. The only problem is they are very fussy. The bait they’re feeding on is small and skinny (rain bait). If you’re going to be successful try to match the bait. Try small buck tail jigs with a curly tail, small skinny poppers, Burkley gulp 3” sand eel with a 3/8-1/2 inch jig head, Zoom fluke (Dark brown/green) with a 3/8-1/2 inch jig head. Casting these small lures can be tough so medium weight outfits are necessary (line in the 12-15lb test range). The last step is to choose a leader. You could try a small thin wire leader but stripers tend to stay away from wire or you could go with 60-90lb test mono or fluorocarbon but big blues can chew that stuff up pretty good, check it often. Going through leaders and catching upwards of 20 fish can be a lot fun so who cares.

Things to consider:
In the past the fall run bait consisted mainly of peanut bunker and mullet and that kept the fish around a long time. However this current bait tends to disperse relatively quickly so it’s unlikely this is going to last more than a few weeks. Big blues can do a number on plastic so I tend to stick with buck tail jigs they may not catch as many fish as plastics but the jig will last longer. If you want to make long casts try using a droper with a jig (see terminal tackle march 31 2009). Check the marine forecast before you go out things can be rough this time of year.

Stripers with Pogies May 25- June 5.

Last 2 weeks have been hectic so I haven’t been able to post, but I’m back. This year the pogie fishing has been hot and cold, not very consistent yet. A couple of times out I caught less than 2 fish one time I caught 10. See what I mean inconsistent. It appears there are quite a few small stripers around (30-34 inch class). Don’t get me wrong that’s a nice fish by any standard but that size fish has a hard time swallowing a pogie. I’ve had a lot of hits, stripers harassing pogies at the surface and pogies stolen right off the hook. These are all signs of relatively small fish. The ones I’ve managed to catch have been around the 34-36 inch range with a couple in the low 40’s. The pogies were more spotty in late May than in previous years but they seem to be more consistent in the first week of June. Hopefully the bigger fish will come in big, but it’s anybodies guess if that will happen. Last year mid June was on fire so there’s still hope. I’ve also been marking large numbers of big fish on my fish finder but they’ve been very fussy, a sign of too much bait not enough stripers.


Tactics:

Find the pogies as soon as you can. Snag a bunch. Live line them on 2 or 3 drifts of 100-200 yards. If you don’t get a hit move 100 yard to the left or right of the first drift, still nothing move to another spot and try again. The stripers are not always under the pogies. Recently I’ve taken to driving around an area slowly looking foe fish on the fish finder. If I find a cluster of big fish I give the area a few drifts. If it produces I stick around until the fish have left then move on. I also like to drift 2 rods one with a cigar weight one with no weight. I don’t weigh the pogies down to much just enough to make them tired and slow down (about ½ to 1 oz). Whichever rod gets a hit first that’s what I switch to. I also use a mono leader, my brother had on a wire leader on and I caught 4 fish to his 1. The only problem with the mono is there are some blues around so stock up on hooks.






Below is a video compilation of some of the last few weeks. I was out on Memorial Day with my friend Paul (an experienced angler) and some time later with my brother and his son Matthew. Mat and I managed to hook up 2 good fish at the same time. That was a good day I was on the water for about 8 hours and managed to land about 10 fish from 36-44 inches.

Pogies Pogies Pogies

Went out yesterday 5/16/09. Guess what the upper bay is beginning to fill up with menhaden. I snagged a few pogies drifted them and they were harassed by smaller stripers unable to swallow them. I didn’t see any fish in the 30-40 lb class. But that’s just a matter of time. Within the next week or 2 the big boys will follow. Once that happens all you’ll have to do is find a group of pogies snag a few and live line then. I like to just drift and let them swim around. Things are primed and ready once the big fish are here all hell is going to break loose.

Click play on the video below:

Meteroligical Data Points to a Big Early Season Weekend

Just finished checking the meteorological data for April 19 to May 19 and all the info points to a big striper weekend this weekend (April 24 to April 27). Really big tides combined with warming water lead me to believe this weekend is going to be awesome for early season fish. Big tides mean a lot of water flowing. Warmer water means more active fish; the magic number is above 50 degrees. Right now the numbers are flirting with the 50-degree mark. I’ve also heard from various sources that baitfish are stacked up in many of the bays estuaries. Here is a step-by-step process that anyone can use to find fish.

Step 1-Tidal oscillations
Go to NOAA and check tidal frequency oscillations for the bay. I usually use a central station like Quonset.
Use this link: http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/data_menu.shtml?bdate=20090419&edate=20090520&unit=1&shift=g&mins=60&datum=6&stn=8454049+Quonset+Point%2C+RI&type=Tide+Predictions&format=View+Plot

Once you get there use the pull down at the bottom to get the range you want. I usually use a month. Click view plot. Then go to the right side of the page and click view larger plot. Print it out and you’ll have a clear view of the high and lows for the next month the bigger the difference the better. There is a big oscillation from this Thursday to about Tuesday.

Step2-Water vs. air temp
Go to NOAA and check the water temp vs. air temp data to view any trends. Right now things are heating up.
Use this link:http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/data_menu.shtml?bdate=20090401&edate=20090420&metinterval=&unit=1&shift=g&stn=8454049+Quonset+Point%2C+RI&type=Meteorological+Observations&format=View+Plot


Once you get there use the pull down at the bottom to get the range you want. I usually go one month back to get a feel for the trend. Click view plot. Then go to the right side of the page and click view larger plot. Print it out and you’ll see the warming trends. As air heats up water follows so there’s about a 1-3 day lag time. The recent warm weather spiked the water temp about 4 degrees. Since April 1 the water temp has increased about 10 degrees. It is nearing 50 degrees. 50 to 62 degrees F is the magic range for stripers.

Step3-Tide times (tide chart)
Go to Maine Harbors get the tide chart for the area you’ll be fishing.
Use this link:
http://www.maineharbors.com/ri/tideri.htm

Once you get there just click on the month and area your going to be fishing the tide chart will appear just print it out. I use Maine Harbors because it’s a simple easy way to get an easy to read tide chart. Now you know the exact times when the tides will be rising and falling. This important because you can combine it with the marine forecast and see if the tide and wind will be going in a similar direction over the period of big tides (this weekend). The 2 together equal a major flow of water.

Step4- Marine Forecast
Go to NOAA a couple of days before the big tides and check the wind speed, direction and weather.
Use this link:
http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/coastal/an/anz236.txt

This link will give you a day-by-day list of the predicted weather. Remember cloudy, overcast, foggy weather is best but at this time of year stripers will be active in sunlight especially early morning sunlight. Now you have everything you need.

Step5-Putting it all together
(See using meteorological data to find fish on Narragansett Bay 2/21/09)
2 to 3 days before the predicted big tides check the marine forecast and pick a day when the wind and tide will be going in a similar direction. Check the water temp to make sure it’s at or above 50 degrees; check the tide chart to see the exact time when the tides and wind will be moving together. Use a Nautical chart, check out the bay and look to fish the wind ward side of things, look for areas that transition from high to low water drastically, look for areas that constrict water flow, that’s where the stripers will be. When you get there take a few casts use the zoom fluke or wild eye shad (see terminal tackle and successful lures 3/31/09). Look for birds, look for small wakes on the surface of the water, stop listen for popping sounds if you find any of these signs your in fish (see using natures signals to find fish 3/5/09). Remember striper are very boat shy head into the wind get 25-75 yards away from the action and shut the motor off and drift into them. If there’s a significant amount of bait around they’ll use the boat as cover and you’ll have fish right at your feet.

Get ready get setup it looks like this weekend could be the beginning of the season and the season usually starts out with a bang. The fish usually aren’t huge (20in-34in) but there can be a lot of them. A 12lb class outfit is a lot of fun on these fish (see The Right Fishing Gear 2/09)

Nows The time to Get Ready

It’s about that time, just came up from the basement. I respooled all the reels; Stocked up on gear, organized the fishing bag and finished getting the boat ready yesterday. The Last 2 weeks of April is when the first of the season’s stripers usually arrive. I really enjoy the early season run. Not many guys are ready and you can catch fish in daylight, weathers cool but the lack of boats around means you have the bay to yourself. Last year my friend Paul and I went out one day in late April and we caught about 80 stripers (24-32 inches) in about 3 hours. There wasn’t another boat in sight. We used light tackle, 12lb test line and it was crazy. The storm shad would hit the water and within 2 cranks of the reel you were on. If you lost the fish you had on you’d have another one on in 2 more cranks.


The first fish to arrive like to feed on small bait on or near the surface, they’re not huge but there numbers can be very large. From April 24-28 there’s a real good set of tides. I’m definitely going to make it a point to go out on one of those days. The key with the early fish is to search for the birds and any small boils on the surface. There tough to spot but if you find them you can have real good time. Then once the schoolies arrive the big boys show up shortly after. So get you gear ready it’s all about to start and you don’t want to be left behind.

Using Meterological Data to Find Fish on Narragansett Bay

If you plan and are aware of a few basic principles you can greatly improve your chances of finding fish. Wind, tide, weather, water temperature can all be used to predict where fish will show up. I know it sounds a little too much but it really works. You can use the NOAA sites included in the useful links on the left to help you. Here are a few basic principles that can be useful when you go Fishing.

Wind: The general rule is to fish the windward side of things. If the wind is from the east fish the western shorelines. Look for areas where the shore forms a cove facing into the wind. Debris, bait, and nutrients will be blown into the shore and if there’s a cove the fish will likely hold there. This is true for both blues and stripers. It’s especially effective if there is a nearby estuary feeding into the same cove.

Tides: Stripers like to hide just off the edge of current in the slack water and ambush bait as the current moves by. If you have a moon tide series coming up fish along points that break up that tide. A point or other solid long structure (break wall, bridge piling) will funnel or split the current the stripers will hang just off the edge in the calmer water. During moon tides a much higher volume of water is moving taking with it bait and nutrients. You may also want to fish behind shoals, rock outcroppings and sand bars. These are places where rushing water scrubs the shallow bottom and deposits materials off the edge in the deeper water, that’s where the stripers will hang.

Wind and Tide: Every once in a while you’ll get a moon tide and the wind in the same direction. For example a north/northeast wind with a dropping moon tide. The moon tide pushes the water out of the bay and the wind helps the water move even faster. Under these conditions water can rush much faster than tide alone. If the wind is blowing out of the northeast with the tide dropping and there’s a cove facing the NE crazy things can happen. I was fishing the upper bay one day with these conditions I went to a cove that faces NE and didn’t catch much but I didn’t give up. I moved further down the bay to another NE facing cove and I caught about 60 stripers from 26-34 inches it was amazing. Another thing to consider is water will spill from estuaries much faster than usual also the previous high tide will be much higher than usual. Under these conditions small grass shrimp, worms etc can be trapped in the fast moving water. The stripers will hang where the estuary spills into the bay.

Rainy vs. sunny weather: Rainy overcast foggy days are universally better producers than sunny days. However sunny days can be productive especially when menhaden are around or early in the season (May) or during summer blue fishing. Again the above principles apply current and winds are keys. If given the choice I’ll almost always choose the rainy overcast day I’ve caught so many fish in that kind of weather it’s an easy decision. However I don’t go out if the wind is going to be very strong and torrential rain is forecast it’s just not worth it. But a light to medium wind with light to intermittent rain is fabulous.

Dead calm: The absolute curse is a dead calm sunny day. Under these conditions go deep. If the tides aren’t big not much is going to be happening. Deep rocky bottoms, steep ledges are the best bet. Even bluefish get mellow under these conditions.

Water temp: Stripers get really active when the surface temp is between low 50’s to low 60’s. That’s generally early May to Mid June. After that they go deeper. Blues on the other hand get active when the water temp reaches Mid 60’s or higher.

Perfect conditions: Tide and wind in similar direction, water temp 55 degrees, Cloudy overcast light rain, light to medium wind. Fish the windward side of the shore you cant miss.
Note: Use the links in the useful link section to get tide, water temp, and weather data. I usually print out a graph of the tide oscillations highlight the dates when extremes will occur, then I get the marine forecast a few days ahead and come up with a plan. On the day of the fishing I get the real time data and make any last minute adjustments.