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.

Terminal Tackle and Successful Artificial Lures

Terminal Tackle is what you put on the end of your line swivels, snaps, hooks and leaders. Artificial lures are what you use to imitate bait. Terminal tackle doesn’t sound like much but it can make the difference between going home happy and going home bummed out by the one that got away. The lures I’m going to talk about are my surefire go to lures. Stripers can be very fussy and very subtle changes in shape, action or color can make a big difference.

Terminal tackle:

Barrel swivels and snaps- I usually make my own setups. The barrel swivels I use on big equipment can handle up to 90 lb test, the ones I use on light to medium equipment can handle 50lb test. I’ll never use that much on them but over kill in this area isn’t a bad thing. The very first thing I put on the end of any line is a barrel swivel snap combination. This makes it easy to change leaders and setups instantly. There are a lot of snap types but for making your own snap/swivels I like duolock snaps or Berkley crosslock snaps of the 2 the crosslocks are the best. Big stripers can trash must snaps when they get them in their mouths but I’ve yet to see them abuse a crosslock snap.

Leaders- There are basically 2 types of leaders monofilament and wire. I make my own and vary the length and strength depending on the type of fishing I’m going to do. The wire leaders are usually about 1 ½ ft long made out of 50 lb test black coated wire. On one end I put a barrel swivel on the other end I put a crosslock snap. I like them relatively long because they are predominantly for blues and when I catch a blue I’ll generally pick it up by the leader and remove the hook over the side of the boat.

Stripers will not hit anything with a wire leader on it for that reason you need mono leaders on board. I used to make monofilament leaders out of regular monofilament but in the last few years my friend Paul has turned me on to fluorocarbon and I’m hooked. Fluorocarbon is really tough and abrasion resistant. I only use two different lb tests 60 and 20. Heavy tackle gets the 60; light to medium tackle gets the 20. I usually put a barrel swivel and snap at either end, but often on the 20 lb test I’ll use the barrel swivel with just line to tie directly to the lure on the other end. The general rule for length is 3 ft that’s enough so the fish wont see the snaps and swivels.

Lures

Soft Plastics-Hands down the best baits for striped bass in the schoolie class 14-34 inches. These are deadly and what I use most for boat and shore schoolies. The problem is if there are blues mixed in they will get chopped up like confetti. For that reason I bring a bunch of them.

Zoom fluke- Lots of color choices a couple of different sizes 3” and 4”. Great lure for smaller stripers 14”-24” inches and sometimes big ones if their feeding on small bait. You can use them with a variety of jig heads. My favorites ¼oz-3/8oz jig head with smoking shad color or pearl color.

Cocahoe- Similar to a zoom fluke but has more of a fish like action. These are very effective in the early season along the coast. My favorite white cocahoe with white 3/8oz-1/2oz jig head.

Storm Wildeye Shad- I’ve caught more 20”-35” stripers on these than any other lure. They are fabulous; the best colors are shad and blue. Unfortunately they no longer make the blue, but Calcutta makes one that I’ll be trying out this year. The best size is 4”, they can be cast and retrieved or jigged/bounced off the bottom. Stripers go crazy over them but like all plastics better have a lot of them because any blue will make a mess of them with just one hit. More and more companies are making this type of bait and they seem be here to stay.

Swimmers -I almost exclusively use Bomber swimmers. They are tough and effective. They’re not usually as effective as soft plastics on stripers however blues cant chop them up. The only drawback is the number of hooks, be very careful when removing all those treble hooks. My favorites are the small 4” black backed silver side bomber for stripers and the medium 6” blue back silver side blue bomber for blues. They can be cast and retrieved or trolled. When all else fails and I can’t find fish I usually go to a flat along the western side of the bay and troll both bombers which ever gets hit first I go with. After dark late at night a totally black 6” bomber can also be very effective for stripers.

Buck tail jigs- They’ve been around since the stone age and they still work really well. They come in a variety of sizes and colors, but white is my favorite. They can be cast and retrieved or jigged off the bottom. You can sometimes substitute them for zoom flukes when blues are chopping up all your plastic. They are much more durable than plastic but blues will still shred them after quite a few fish. My favorite way to rig them is with a curly tail hooked on or with a piece of red or white pork rind (jig and pig).


Poppers-I love catching fish on top and poppers are the lure of choice for that kind of action. They come in a variety of colors and sizes. Most people use poppers that are way to big. I make my own and usually don’t fish any that are bigger than 4” long and ¾ “ diameter. Sometimes I’ll use poppers as small as 2 “ long with a 3/8 “ diameter. Stripers seem to love a silver body with a green back. When your fishing for stripers a buck tail attached to the back hook is really helpful. When it comes to blues color and buck tail is not that important just skim it fast and hang on. This is the most effective lure for blues when hey are near the surface.

Live lining rigs- When it comes to live lining pogies I usually pre rig a bunch of barrel swivels, leaders and hooks before going out. I’ll put a barrel swivel at one end then 3ft of 60Lb test fluorocarbon then either a 5/0 treble hook or an 8/0 hook at the other end. Remember the line has a barrel swivel and snap at the end so if I need to change rigs fast or I want to put a cigar weight on to get the fish down I only have to undo the snap and replace the gear.

The secret weapon- This is real old school but some times you need to cast a relative light lure (zoom fluke, cocahoe, small buck tail jig, wild eye shad) a long distance. When fish are boat shy or when your fishing for shore this is the trick. Go to a craft store buy a wooden egg. Place a screw eye at each end or drill a hole straight through and use some plumber’s wire with a loop at each end (this is the strongest and best way). Put a small finish nail in the egg at an angle to act as a keeper for the lure. Tie a 3ft or somewhat longer piece of leader material to one end of the egg and tie any of the above lures at the other end connect it to the snap on the line and you’ll be able to launch things a mile.

Using Natures Signals to Find Fish

If you want to find fish on the bay and all the high tech NOAA data and fancy gps/fishfinder information has failed there’s other options. There are many times I’ve gone out and the fish weren’t where they were supposed to be. So the next best thing to do is stop, think, look around and try to get a grasp of what’s happening.

If fish are on the surface there will almost always be sea gulls feeding from above. If you see a large group of gulls diving and hovering over a small area the fish are probably there. But there’s even a more subtle signs. If there is a very large concentration of seagulls sitting on a shore it’s likely fish have been in the area and are about to reappear. Just stop the motor sit and watch and look around. In nature it’s all about conservation of energy if fish and bait go deep the gulls won’t leave until something better starts to happen elsewhere. On those days where the fish are tough to find I head up or down the bay and stop every ½ mile or so look and study the birds. Sometimes you’ll see almost no gulls and the ones you do see are all headed in the same direction. So what do I do? I follow them. Quite a few times they have led me to huge schools of blues or stripers. It makes scene that if 1000’s of fish are chasing huge numbers of bait most of the sea gulls will also be feeding there.

Fish movement can also play a part. If you're fishing on sat afternoon/evening and your catch large numbers of blues in the upper bay and you notice a general trend that most of the schools are moving south, it’s a good bet the fish will be a mile or more south of your position on Sunday. This is especially true during mid fall when fish are leaving the bay and migrating south. The opposite is true for spring. In that case start where you ended on Saturday and move south stopping occasionally to look for the birds and splashes.

Senses like sight, hearing and smell are also important assets. Blues splash the water pretty violently when they’re feeding and if the gulls haven’t found them yet the white splashes they create are pretty easy to see in blue/gray water. Splashes are real easy to see off in the distance if the sun is at your back. Gulls are real easy to see off in the distance if the sun is in front of you. Most people don’t give much credit to their scene of hearing when looking for fish but it can be very useful. Sound travels a long distance on water. When stripers are feeding on small bait on the surface they make a sucking, popping sound but they don’t splash much. You can’t see them from very far but you can hear them. In fact if it’s not too windy you can hear them from 100-150 yrds or more. This is especially true after dark when the bay may be pretty calm. If you hear that sound go to it and make some casts you may be happy with the result. Smell can also be an indicator. There have been times when I could smell the fish before I’ve seen them. If you think about it, 1000’s of pounds of baitfish are being consumed by 1000’s of fish. Not everything gets eaten; bits and pieces sometimes float to the surface or wash up along the shore and give off an odor. If you come across a strong odor of fish as your moving along the bay stop shut off your motor, look for gulls in the air or along the shore, look for splashes, listen for popping sucking sounds, and be patient trust your senses and wait to see what they are telling you.