Summer is Mixed Bag Season

Well summer is here and the fishing has changed. The water in the upper bay has warmed up. The pogies are scarce and the coastal fishing is picking up. However at this time of the year targeting stripers can be tough. So it’s time to adapt. Fluke fishing is phenomenal, black sea bass are hitting like crazy and the occasional striper school or bluefish school pops up here and there.

Here’s my game plan at this time of year.

I usually head out of Galilee early. I take along a full tackle bag and some squid (sea bass and fluke) and some frozen pogies or live eels(Large stripers). With that variety of bait and gear I can adjust to what ever the day brings.

The first thing I do is look for bird action. In the last 2 weeks there have been birds working from Narragansett to Charleston. The issue is finding them. Once you’ve found the birds and fish breaking the next step is to catch them. Sounds easy but they have been very fussy lately. It seems a large number of sand eels have moved in along the coast and when fish are on sand eels good luck. I’ve found success with cocahoes, small teasers, and small dark colored zoom flukes. The other problem is that there is usually a mixed bag of blues and bass and when the blues get a hold of a piece of rubber you can kiss it good bye. So bring along a lot of tackle.

After the medium bass and blues settle down 10-11 am. I go after fluke outside the center or west wall opening. I’m not really a bottom fisherman but the fluke fishing is non-stop lately. If you drop a fluke rig in with a piece of squid on the end and count to 10 you should have one. That kind of bottom fishing I can tolerate. Unfortunate most of the fluke are under sized but their still fun to catch.

Black sea bass is next on the agenda if the water is calm enough I head out near the hooter buoy and drop my fluke rig in about 60 ft of water. The sea bass are stacked up out there like crazy. Again most of them are to small to keep, but they’re still fun and if you get a keeper they are the best eating fish in these waters, very mild and tender.

Finally if the seas are really calm and I’m in the mood for big bass Block Island, Nebraska Shoal or the center wall at Galilee are my choices. This is where the eels and frozen pogies come in. Pitching eels or drifting chunks near structure can lead to big fish but you generally have to work hard for a few fish.

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:

Striper Madness is here

They’re here went out saturday caught a ridiculous number of stripers (around 80). I caught about 50 on my own picked my 2 brothers Mike and Dave a caught another 30 they also caught about 30 a piece.There were so many fish I fished from early morning till early evening. Most of the fish were in the 24-27 inch range. About 10 percent were keepers, with a few around 35 inches. The fish are keying on tiny silversides. The problem is that when they are on that small bait they can be really fussy. I threw everything at them plastics, metal, swimmers, poppers, needlefish you name it I tried it. Only 1 thing seemed to work a white cocahoe with a 3/8 oz white jig head retrieved slowly. You’ll have to use a light 12lb class outfit to throw something that light. It was interesting some of the schools were aggressive while others wouldn’t even hit the cocahoe. Even the cocahoe wasn’t stunning just effective. Most casts yielded fish, but they hit very mellow just sucking in the cocahoe. If you didn’t set the hook as soon as you felt tension they were gone and usually didn’t hit again. Even though they were fussy I caught a ton mainly due to the fact there were so many. Multiple schools as many as seven at a time meant there was a lot of opportunity to hook up. The weather was uncomfortable and perfect. It was uncomfortable for me perfect for stripers, rainy, drizzly, foggy, overcast the best possible weather for striped bass.

How to find them:

Look for birds working bait. It was most productive when sea gulls were combined with cormorants. The combination of the 2 spelled fish. Once you arrive at the birds look for small swirls on the surface. Stripers generally don’t splash violently like blues so keep your eyes peeled. You can’t judge a striper by the size of the swirl so don’t assume a small swirl means small fish. Cast directly into the largest group of swirls.

How to approach them:

The best bet for approaching them is from up wind. Get up wing shut the motor and drift into them stripers are very boat shy and any motor noise will spook them. This will usually cause the birds to spook and fly off but don’t give up other boats will leave after the birds. Just stay put and be patient keep casting a looking for swirls. They will usually come back up and you’ll be all alone right in the middle of fish while the other boats are running around. It also possible to come upon a school the birds haven’t found yet, but it takes a keen eye. If the water is very calm it’s a lot easier. If your on a school with no birds stay there you’ll probably be the only boat.

Note:
In the past few years this early season madness has only lasted about a week or so. So get out and get going the fishing is fabulous.

Click Play on the video below to see what the morning was like.

Click play on the video below to see what the afternoon was like.

Schoolies arrive at RI shore

Finally the schoolies are in. Schoolies have been caught in significant numbers along the shore. Most of the action started early this week. Most fish are in the 14-20 inch range with an occasional keeper. They are hitting white cocahoe minnows usually with a 3/8 oz white jig head. Light tackle in the 12lb class range is also the preferred equipment. Most of the action is occuring from late afternoon (5:00) till sunset. The west wall seems to be the most consistent spot.

This weekend looks good for the bay. Nice overcast showery weather is predicted. I'm going to take advantage of the weather and give things a try. In the bay wildeye shad are usually very effective.

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.