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Last week of June
Last Week of June
I need to do a little catching up. The past week has been fantastic. I was able to take a friend and his father out fishing on Tuesday. They had driven up from New Jersy to fish Rhody and had only managed to catch a skate. I thought I could do better than that. We left out of Fort Adams and within twenty minutes (fifteen run time to first spot) Matt had his first bluefish. On the way to our first stop Jeff and Matt were reviewing their bets. First fish $5, most fish $5 and biggest fish $5. Matt had the secured the first fish bet, but within 10 minutes Jeff hooked and landed a 13# striped bass, he had the biggest fish now. The guys had constant action with bass up to 10# and small bluefish. We were just about to leave the harbor to fish the white water along Brenton Point when Matt hooked into the twin of his father’s 13# striper. At this point the sun was high and the white water was not producing like it should have. I dropped the umbrella rig over the side and started trolling. Matt and Jeff were a little skeptical about the large wire framed rig but I assured them it was effective. We trolled for on longer than 10 minutes when the drag started to pay out. The fish was a bluefish that bit the tail off one of the shads. I re-rigged and put it back into the water and had another fish quickly. It seemed to me that the umbrella rig got hung up on the bottom because there was no stopping the first run. Matt jumped on the rod and reeled up the biggest fish of the day, a striped bass of 15#. I had a great time fishing with Matt & Jeff and they went home with more than a skate fishing story to tell.
After a quick change of plans, I got Chris’s party out fishing Wednesday afternoon. Tony, Justin and Stephen meet me at Fort Adams and we went right out to Brenton Point. The sea breeze was strong and blowing against the current which made the seas very rough. I made the discussion to fish along the east side of Jamestown. This didn’t pan out and the wind was not letting up. My only choice was to go back up the bay. It turned out to be the right move. Tony had such great patients. He fished all the top water lures slow and was rewarded when a big bass of 14# inhaled his popper. Justin who was fishing a jumpin’ minnow quickly got a bluefish of about 3 to 4 pounds. This, in itself, is not interesting but what was trying to eat his blue was amazing. He hooked this blue and it went nuts. I had never seen a blue fight like this, it jumped 3 or 4 times and was zipping back and forth. I looked into the water as it swam past the boat and a 4 foot+ long striper was chasing it trying the eat it. I very rarely use profanity but “holly $h!t did you see that?” came out of my mouth. We ended up catching several more bass and blues but the biggg one is still out there. Seeing that fish is what keeps us coming back for more. Thursday morning I took Chris, his daughter, and his son in law to be out fishing. We got off to a late start, I like to meet at 5am. We went to where the night before we had seen the monster bass. We fished around but the fish had vanished, or had all been eat by that huge bass. I switched spots after the tide change and we got right into the fish. They gave themselves away by finning on the surface. When we cast in the right spot we were rewarded with a bass or blue. Chris’s daughter ended up with the largest bass of 10#. We left the harbor and went out to Brenton Reef. The white water has just not been
Bag of tricks
Saturday June 12th
Advice, have a bag full of tricks with you at all times. I fished with Sandy and his father-in-law Saturday morning. The day looked great but it was a bluebird sky after a front had just passed through. We started the trip fishing using my normal methods of spinning gear in the shallow water. We had a couple of hits but no hook-ups. So what does a guide do, I totally change my approach, I began trolling. Sorry to all the die-hard light tackle fishermen but the fish were not active in the shallows. I always say “Feed them what they want, not what YOU want to feed them.” So I feed them an umbrella rig with 6 inch white shad bodies and within 5 minutes of it hitting the water we had a 29” keeper. We managed several more fish with one going 15 pounds and 35”. It went home to the grill. Sandy, hope it was good, and send me the pictures.
All the fish hit the umbrella rig and they ignored the tube and worm. I'm not sure why, I know the tube was lower in the water than the umbrella rig. The tube rod & reel was wire while the umbrella rig was fished on 50lb braid. This was very interesting and makes you think. Agian let me say let the fish dicatate what they want.
Thursday night fishing trip
June 10, 2004
Tom and I did what is becoming the ritual on Thursday nights. We went fishing. We launched the boat out of Sakonnet Point and fished East and West Island. As soon as I pulled back on the throttle, Tom’s storm jig hit the water, along with all the birds we were seeing. Tom got hits but not a hook-up on his first cast, his comment to me was “I think they are small fish”. I took my time and rigged up a large yellow diving Danny plug. I took one cast and three cranks of the reel and got hammered. I said to Tom “I think there are some bigger fish in here too!!” He landed the striped bass for me and it weighed 13 pounds. We were both fishing with our new spinning rods. (Speaking of the new rods, Tom took a 40 plus pound redfish in Florida. Pictures are in the gallery. These rods are great fishing tools.) What a great way to end the day. I have to mention the sunset, it was beautiful. We should have taken a picture but they rarely come out well for me. (Any suggestions?) Tom caught a couple more stripers. We pulled in the spinning gear and did some exploring with the trolling gear. We got a couple bass on the umbrella rig around the islands. We got back to boat ramp at about 8:30 and I got home in time to put my son to bed.
Memorial Weekend
Memorial Weekend
Fishing through the wind storm on Saturday was no fun. I really wanted to get Andy and Meg out fishing. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Sometime fishing is fishing not catching. You guys missed great fishing by one day. I will make it up to you, call or email me like we talked about. Sunday, with much trepidation I set out on another windy day with Geoff, Louise, and Jonathan. We meet at5:30 amand launched the boat into a steady 12 knots of west wind. I went right toGreenwichBay. I pulled into the bay passed Jon my special spinning rod and on his third cast he got a 7# 26" striper. What a way to start the day. We spent the next six hours drifting around the bay catching fish after fish. They were not showing, no birds but the fish were there. We caught them on plugs, small storm jigs, bucktail jigs, and some on flies. We had a great time. Jon was the high hand in terms of numbers but Louise got bragging rights for the biggin' it was a 12# 32" striper. It hit a You-Zuri plug and took off into the wind. I put the boat in gear and we chased the fish down. The reel was screaming, I love that sound. We ended the day with two more 7 pounders and a couple of bluefish. They make quick work of the storm jigs, one fish one jig. What should I do with the pieces that are left? Monday was picture perfect; I couldn't have ordered a better morning. What a welcome change from the past two days. The water was flat calm. The boat skimmed over the water in a rhythmic nature that made you seem like you were flying. (I was on a roll, too much?) I went right back to "the spot". The fishing was slower on this bright windless morning but the quality of fish was higher. Henry using the fly rod out fished Larry using the spinning rod 5 to 1. Henry was fishing one of my big Rhody Flatwing with devastating effect. He was into his backing multiple times on five different occasions. Two fish were lost, one we never saw, I believe it is still swimming towards Martha's Vineyardand the other Henry battle for 15minutes before the hook bent & pulled-out next to the boat. The fish was easily over 36". Henry did put an 8# 28" and a 12# 32" and a 15# 35" striper in the boat. They were fat fish. I did not see any bait around except for a cormorant eating what looked like a herring regardless the fish are eating well. What a switch from yesterday in terms of tactics, the plugs were killing them the day before and today the fly was king. Larry managed a couple of bass and blues, but Henry was on fire. He was using a 9' 9wt Abel rod with a super 8 Abel reel spooled with an Airflo Depth Finder 300 line. This outfit is matched perfectly.
Great week in the fog
May 19, 2004
I went on a quick trip after school with Tom and John. After school fishing can be good as we found out. We set out about 5:30 pm and as soon as we came around Dyer Island we saw breaking fish and diving birds. These fish were in 60 feet of water. So, I dropped the 9” storm jig down. It went about half way to the bottom and stopped, fish on. It was a nice 14# striper. I set John up with that rod and reel and I rigged another while Tom played guide. He did a great job maneuvering the boat. I sent the new rig over the side of the boat. This was a 4oz. flathead jig with a big white curly tail. It hit the bottom and two jigs later it got hit. It was another nice fish, 13# striper. We were drifting around for about a half hour when John got hit this time. He cranked in the striper that could have been a twin of 13#. We stuck around a little longer but got nothing else.
May 22, 2004
What is up with all this fog? Pea soup is not fun to fish in but we ventured out. The fish seemed to not like the fog either. We drove around the upper bay for hours. I checked all my spots but came up empty. It was looking tough, but then the sun started to burn off the haze, and I started to hear birds. Where are they!? I hear them for over there, I moved cautiously in the leftover fog, it started to break up more. Then all of a sudden, birds and breaking fish everywhere. What looked like a miserable day turned into a 30 fish day. I stayed out longer than the four hours the trip was booked for but I couldn’t leave breaking fish, and the extra time made up for the fishless time earlier. All the fish were caught on small storms in pink and black over white.
May 23, 2004 This was a carbon copy of the day before. The fog was a little different. It seemed to come in waves. It would be thick and then thin out then thick again. But just as yesterday, when the fog lifted the fish were in frenzy. We took over 30 fish both on fly and spin. We didn’t get anything huge but Henry had a great time. The lures we used were the small storms in pink and black over white the fly was a small olive clouser.
Graet weekend
May 16, 2004
What a great weekend of fishing.
I was lucky to show my uncle some of the best bass fishing of the early season. My father, uncle and I took over fifty fish with a dozen keepers mixed in. We fished storms jigs, and slug-gos. The biggest fish fell for the 9” storm jig. I was casting it and jigging it slowly back to the boat. When the 9’ storm hits the water it makes the biggest splash, you would think every bass in the upper bay would have heard it. I am also amazed at the smaller fish which hit the big storm. Biggest fished was 34”. My uncle was surprised at the number of fish breaking the surface.
With high hopes of a banner day for a guided trip Saturday, it did not turn out as well as I would have hoped. We caught some fish including a nice keeper on the fly but we did not get the numbers I would have liked.
Sunday came, my son’s first trip of the year. I left the dock with Tom and my father around 6 am. My son woke up at 7am. The plan was for my wife to bring him to the dock around 9am. Cam woke up; saw the boat was gone and got all upset. Meanwhile we were catching fish after fish up the bay. We lost count after fifty or so, they were hitting pink storm jigs when the sun was out and black back when the sun went behind the clouds. Sounds strange but true. I also took a couple on a slug-go worked across the surface. When they hit they hammer it, but the storms were producing better. We ran into “Bye George” and lent George and Laurie our new spinning rods. These rods must be cast to believe their performance. We headed back to the dock to pick Cam up. He had a grim from ear to ear when we got there. Without wasting anytime I put his lifejacket on and we were back off up the bay. As we pulled up to George’s boat to collect our rods, he and Laurie put their order in for one. You would not believe the casting distance you get from these rods. As we pushed away from our friends, we immediately started seeing breaking fish. Cam proceeded to reel in over ten fish. Eleven o’clock came fast and so did the looming rain storm. So we decided to make our way back to dock, but as any fisherman knows you can’t leave breaking fish. We caught several more fish as we tried to run home.
All and All, Great Day Fishing!!
Start of 2004
May 9, 2004
My first guided trip of the year was a success. I launched my boat at Weaver Cove before Henry got to the ramp. While waiting for him, some fishing buddies of mine were coming in from their trip. They had bad news, no fish. I asked what they were using. I had an idea because I had seen their truck in the parking lot with the portable live-well in the back. They were using live herring, otherwise known as bass candy. I thought to myself, if the candy didn’t work what will we find? I found it, maybe the next best thing, 9” storm jigs.
Henry showed up right on time and we headed out. The wind was difficult, south at 15kts. We headed up the bay looking for signs of life. I had just installed a new fish-finder (Lowrance LX-135). It worked great. I followed the birds and underneath them in 30’ of water were the bass. We ended up with a couple of striped bass including a keeper. I was happy with the results considering the outlook when we began.
I marked the fish with the new sonar and we dropped the jigs down and started to pump the rod up and let the jig fall down and bump the bottom. The wind was pushing my boat so fast that it was hard to hold the bottom. After the first drift, I deployed my sea anchor or drift sock. If you haven’t used one of these I highly recommend them. It slowed the boat down enough for the jigs to get to the bottom.
The last couple days
7/11/03
This has to be the first trip that I waded with my boat as a client caught a couple of stripers. What a great way to start off the trip. The first fish pressure is off before I get into the boat. We launched the boat in Sakonnet Harbor and headed up the river. The fish have been feeding on the floating crab larva. I will probably only have a couple more days of this fascinating fishing. We saw hundreds of blues and stripers finning as they sipped the crabs off the surface. The blues would hit but we couldn’t get a striper to take anything. So we moved up the river into the boulder fields and had a great time catching one striper after another. All tolled, RPM must have taken 20 or so fish up to 12# on the fly. He was using my Abel rod and reel 9-weight setup with an intermediate line on it. The fly of choice was a white bodied, yellow tailed gurgler. We managed to get the trip in before the downfall of rain.
7/12/03
I called Henry at 5am to tell him that I thought we could sneak a 4-hour trip in before the wind blow up. I also said to him that fly-fishing was not going to be an option. Well what a mistake the weather guys made. There was not a breath of wind out there, in fact the fog rolled in and out in about an hour and a half. It was strange weather indeed. The fishing was slow in the early morning but picked up considerably towards the end of the trip. I fished the bay side of Aquidneck Island today. Although we did not find any stripers, we did get countless blues that were hitting poppers. I never get tired of watching bluefish nock poppers clean out of the water. I did get a couple of cool pictures of the surface action that I will post as soon as I learn how to use my new digital camera.
First week of July
July has been an awesome month so far. The fish have been sipping crabs off the surface in the Sakonnet River for a week now. I have seen thousands of bass and blues fining as they eat crabs that are floating in the surface film. This is an incredible site to see, and a frustrating time to fish. The blues will come out of their crab-induced stupor to hit a plug but the bass are a little harder. We have been taking mostly blues on a bone colored jumpin’ minnow and a chartreuse and white spofford eel.
Still sipping crabs in the River.
7/10/03
Another heart stopping day of surface action. Kurt was in the bow of my boat looking at hundreds of bass sipping crabs off the surface. Yesterday where I found all blues these were all bass. He caught all the 5-6 pounders you would ever want, but the big bass eluded us today. There were just to many smaller ones. We changed locations a few times and just as we were about to call it a day Kurt hooked into a monster blue on a chartreuse clouser. It was 31” long and weight about 10#. Kurt did a great job fighting the fish without the help of a wire leader. Chalk up another great day fishing.
Finally have time to update!!!
Well, I'm sorry for not posting my spring fishing reports. I have been so business with finishing school; grad classes, fishing, and chasing Cameron around I have not had the time.
Where do I begin?
5/17
I had my first trip of the season with my good friend Tom and his guest, Janice. Tom is a hardcore fisherman (or he used to be!!) The wind was blowing pretty strong and Janice hung in there with us. Both caught several fish with Tom topping out at 17# which was 35".
5/23
Greg Mayer from Nebraska came out on the Teezer for some evening fishing. He had never caught a striper on a fly rod before that night. He lost count of the fish he boated. He saw striper busting the surface all around the boat and had fish on almost every cast for a couple of hours.
5/26
Had Henry on board that day. He got several Blues and Bass on the fly off Sandy Pt. on Prudence. The fish were in 60-70' of water and on the surface. They were a little picky but we got them.
5/31
Henry was on the boat with some friends. We got a couple of bass on white sluggos off of Providence Pt on Prudence. Then got a call for a friend that said the blues were busting off Mt. Tom. When we got there they were gone. So I headed off the Halfway rock and ran into more busting blues of which we got several.
August 2-17
Upper Bay 8/17/02
I fished with Tom and Peiter today. See the pictures in the 2002 gallery. I have finally gone high tech with a digital camera. We got a couple of bass in the morning and then out for blues in the late morning. Peiter got his first fish on the fly as well as his second, third and fourth, and so on …… 
Upper Bay 8/13/02 I usually fish in the morning but this was an afternoon trip with Jim and his wife Caroline. The bluefishing up the bay was on fire. The blues had the peanut bunker so balled up that they were dying before they were getting eaten. The bait was floating in the middle of the frenzy. We all lost count of how many fish we caught. 90% were caught on the fly. Jim had brought his own fly rod, which turned out to be a 6 weight instead of the 9 weight he had intended. All the fish he got were on that rod. I was waiting for it to break but he did a great job with it.
Narragansett Bay 8/12/02 I fished with Joe today. We pulled into the first spot this morning and Joe started to fly cast. Within 6 casts Joe was hooked up to what turned out to be a 12lb 32” striped bass. What a way to start the day. He had several more today but none as big as the first one.
Brenton Pt. 8/11/02
I fished with Henry today. Henry got a bluefish on a fly without wire in the bay around Goat Island. We then went out front to Brenton Pt. The bass were stacked in the white water. I wish I could take a picture of this feeding activity but I don’t think it would come out. A wave would pass over the reef and the white water is left, at that point before the next wave crashes the bass are on the surface hit the popper Henry was throwing at them. These fish weighted between 6 and 10 pounds. He most have got a dozen or so.
Narragansett Bay 8/10/02 I fished with Charlie and Judy today, they are friends of Jim. The fishing was slow today but we managed to get three nice striped bass, all were 8lb. It almost seemed like the same fish. These fish were in a foot of water chasing small bunker. One hit a 7” swimmer while the others hit soft plastic lure.
Brenton Pt. 8/9/02
I fished with Kurt today. We went out looking for the Bonito that were there yesterday. They were gone. So we fished the white water and got caught some bass. Kurt could put the fly right where it needed to be. At one point he hooked a 5lb bass and following right behind it and looking like it was going to eat it was a bass between 25 and 30 pounds.
Brenton Pt. 8/8/02 I fished with Jim today. What a day we had Jim got a New England slam. He got a 10lb bass, a couple of bluefish, and a 6lb Bonito. All these fish were taken in and around Brenton Pt. The bass and blues hit poppers. These fish were all over the surface. The bones were a little further off the reef. The bone hit a 2oz. Deadly Dick. Great day.
Narragansett Bay 8/5/02 I fished with John and his grandson Doug. John did all the catching today. He caught several bass and a couple of blues. Today the fish did not want the flies Doug was throwing at them. We fished up the bay around Hog and Prudence Island.
Catching Up!!
Narragansett Bay 8/1/02
I fished with Mike and Cindy today. Mike is new to saltwater fly-fishing but he had a great day. First thing in the morning on spinning gear he caught a 9# 28” striper. From there we went up the bay and switched over to fly to caught the breaking bluefish. He landed a couple on the fly; these were his first saltwater fish on the fly. Cindy in the mean time when the mood struck her would pick up the spinner and get the blues.
Rhode Island Sound 7/31/02
I fished with Mike today. We started off at Rose Island and got one bass but saw tons tailing all over the place. They were very spooky. We then went out along the drive and worked the white water but there was nothing going on. I then made the discussion to head toward Point Judith and along the way we saw many single blues breaking the surface. They were difficult to catch but we managed.
Rhode Island Sound 7/27/02
I fished with Durban and his friend today. We fished the upper bay. The blues were off Colt State Park. They were small but a lot of fun on the fly rod. These fish are prefect for a beginner, they stay in one spot long enough to get a cast at them and they will eat almost anything.
Catching Up!!!!
Narragansett Bay 7/22/02
This was my last day with Dick. We ended up with just a couple of blues we found up the Bay.
Around the entire Island 7/21/02
It was a flat calm day. The skies were beautiful. The fishing was bad. I fished with Don and Vaughn. We could have taken countless little blues but we were after bass. We did manage one and a couple blues but it was a day to sit in the sun. Narragansett Bay 7/20/02 What a difference a day makes. I fished with Henry today. It was blowing hard today. No fly fishing today, but it didn’t matter. I went all of 10 miles on my GPS. We lost count of the number of bass Henry caught. Most of them were 4-6lb but he had one that went 8lb & 28”and one that was 10lb & 30”. Henry got one big blue that was 10lb & 32”. All of these fish were taken on the Spofford eel, which is a top water needlefish lure. Narragansett Bay 7/19/02
I fished with Dick today. We fished the upper part of the bay today and did not slay the small blues like yesterday but Dick managed a couple of nice bass, one was 8lb and 27” and a couple of bigger blues about 4-5lb. Narragansett Bay 7/18/02 I fished with Dick, Cassy, and Rich today. There were bass breaking the surface all over Dyer Island but they were slurping at the bait. They were picky so we moved on. I found a nice school of blues breaking under the Mount Hope Bridge and we caught a couple of those before they went down. I then went up to Colt State Park and found again but these fish stayed up for hours. We lost count of how many we caught.
catching up!!!
Narragansett Bay 7/17/02
I fished with Dick and Vince today. It was a beautiful day but the fishing was slow. We caught a couple of fish but it was nothing like the first two trips. Sometimes we get spoiled when the fishing is on fire. We found the fish around Dyer and Rose Island. I took them out to Brenton Point and we fished all the white water spots.
Sakonnet River 7/7/02
I fished with Dick and Vince again today. We went right back to High Hill and on the first cast Dick got a nice bass of 7 lb. We stayed there for the entire trip. I just kept making the same drift over and over and the guys kept catching fish. There is a “guide saying” which says never leave fish to find fish. We did not get anything huge but the action with bass and blues were no stop. We lost count again of how many fish we got, but we did agree that we got more fish today then two days ago. All of the fish were caught on spin gear, and all on the same lure. The Spofford eel is king!!! The fish were coming out of the water after this thing.
Sakonnet River 7/6/02 I fished with Paul and his brother in law. We started at High Hill and got blown around pretty good. The guys were trying to fly fish in some tough wind. I threw out the teaser plug and got a bunch of strikes but the guys could not get the fly out to pick off the fish. I went looking for calmer water and found it but the fish weren’t there. So after some exploring we came back to High Hill and got a couple of fish, the wind had settled down by then. The fish were caught on fly and spin gear.
Narragansett Bay 7/5/02
I fished with Dick and his son in law, Vince. We had a great day. We lost count of the number of bass we caught today. The biggest was 10lb and 30”. All the fish we got today were caught on a new lure to me. I guess the Spofford eel has been around from a long time but I had never fished it. Dick brought it with him and never took it off. The first fish he hooked was even bigger then the one we landed but it wrapped itself around a rock and got off. I have never seen bass hit a plug more aggressively then they were hitting this needlefish. You have to get some of these lures.
Catching up!!!
Narragansett Bay 7/1/02
I fished with Joe and his brother in law today. It was very windy today, but we managed to get some nice fish. We got a mix of bass and blues. All were caught on spinning gear because of the wind. I have been using the new storm lure called the wild eye and it caught most of the fish.
Narragansett Bay 6/30/02
I fished with Henry, his son, Sam, and his brother again today. We went in the Bay and found a crab hatch off the tip of Dyer Island. When the bass get on the crabs they get tough to catch. We ended up with 5 to 6 fish to the boat but we saw hundreds of bass. They would come close enough to hit them on the top of the head with your fly rod from the boat. The fish feed into the current and the trick is to put the fly in front of them and drag it away.
Sakonnet River 6/29/02 I fished with Henry and brother today. We caught several bass and blues on the fly and spin gear. Henry even got a 3lb fluke on a fly. All of these fish came off of Hill High. I went to other spots in the river but came back and ended with more fish right where we started.
Narragansett Bay 6/26/02 What a difference a day makes. The fish are here and then they are gone. The wind and incoming frontal system probably had something to do with it. We caught fish but, the schools of blues up the bay were gone. Peter and his wife cuaght a couple of nice bass to 7 pounds and 26”.
Narragansett Bay 6/25/02 I fished with Steve and his son Quiten today. I found blues feeding on a crab hatch up in Greenwich Bay. The blues were tailing all over the place. They were a little picky, you had to place the lure right in front of them. Quiten, who we called the troll master, trolled up several blues.
Sakonnet River
6/24
Sakonnet River 6/24/02
I fished with Jim and Caroline today. I have fished with Jim many times but this was the first time I had met Caroline. It was nice to put a face to the voice. We snuck in a trip this morning, the forecast was for NW 10-15 and increasing later. At first light it was gorgeous, we went down the river and stopped at High Hill point. Within five minutes, Jim had his first keeper bass ever on the fly. It was a nice fish that weight in at 11lb and was 30inches. It hit the olive deciever for the day before. After another five minutes or so Caroline had her first bluefish of the day. It hit a chartreuse clouser and was a feisty four pounder. We caught several bass and even more blues until someone turned the fan on. The wind came up all of a sudden and blew 10-15 out of the NW.
Fort Adams
6/23
Fort Adams 6/23/02
I fished with Bruce today. We met at the Saltwater Edge and then launched the boat at Fort Adams. We went out to Rose Island. The bay was like a mill pond. We fished around the island and took a couple of fish with one at 8lb 27 inch. It went back into the water to grow-up. The fish were short striking the flies, they were many around but we only caught a few. We went up the bay and off the south end of Prudence Island, Bruce caught his first keeper bass on a fly. It was a long 8 ½lber that was right at 28inches. We got a nice picture and let it go. It hit an olive deciver about four inches long.
Sakonnet River
Sakonnet River Father day afternoon
I fished with Tim, his son and his sons friends. Four in the boat, it was tight but we managed. All the boys were great. We all had a blast. The first place I stopped all four caught a bass, they were tiny but they all got one. We then went around Gould Island chasing blues and lost count of how many we caught. We were all having fun watching the blues crash the top water poppers. I have seen it hundred times but I still go crazy for top water fishing. The trip continued down the river and inside Fogland we got several bass with one just over 7lb. Great job guys.
Sakonett River
6/9
Old Stone Bridge 6/9/02
I fished with Henry and Andy today. It was windy today, blowing SW 10 or so. The wind made it difficult to fish and drift but we managed pretty well. Henry caught his first keeper of the year on a fly, it was 9lb and 29 inches and took a chartreuse deciever. We got that fish off High Hill point. There were plenty of blues around also. We took a couple but focused on catching bass. Andy had a couple of nice fish on but they were coming unbuttoned.
Fort Adams
6/9
Fort Adams 6/9/02
I met Loyd and Wes at the Saltwater Edge around 1 pm. I launched the boat at Fort Adams and we went to Rose Island. The wind had increased from this morning and was know SW 15-20. I knew this was going to be a tough trip. We fished all the usual spots going up the bay and final got a small blue off the Navy dump site. We kept going up the bay and off the north end of Dyer Island Loyd got a bass, it was about 4lb. We saw several others but they did not eat. I continued north and fished in Bristol harbor but nothing. We came back to Dyer and on the last casting of the trip Wes caught a 36 inch 17lb bass. That was a trip saver.
Sakonett River
6/8
Old Stone Bridge 6/8/02
I fished with Mike this morning. We tried every spot I know in the Sakonett River with no takers. I ended up down around the lighthouse before he got his first fish from the white water. It was small, about 20”. I fished to Warren’s point and got nothing, then we went across the river to Flint point and still nothing. By this time 9 am the time was coming out and my friends had called and told me there were blues up around black point. So we took the ride and the blues were gone by the time we got there. So I picked a spot along the shore that I have never fished and hit the jackpot. Mike broke off a huge striper on a Poplip silicone fly. He caught 6 to 7 fish in an hour and landed one 30” and 10lb on a white deceiver. But it seemed we were fishing in an aquarium. We saw a dozen blackfish, countless bass, and some very large ones at that, sandeels, a skate, and Squid. It was wild.
Sakonett River
6/1
Old Stone Bridge 6/1/02
Tony and his friend meet me at the Stone Bridge and we fished the Sakonett River. We fished several locations until we found a mix of bass and blues. These fish were under the birds but they were not breaking the surface. Tony ended up with a monster blue of 12lb and 32”. It ate a chrome and chartreuse chug bug.
Old Stone Bridge 5/26/02
I met Stu and his sons-in-law and we launched the boat at the old stone bridge. The state fixed this ramp last fall and now it is useable again. “No more big holes.” The wind was a problem again, this time it was out of the south. I wanted to go down the river but we would have gotten soaked. I decided to go north, up around the top of the island. The fishing was slow, I think the unsettled weather played a roll in it. We found fish by Mellville. There were some bigger fish around but we managed to catch the smaller ones. These fish were caught on swimmers.
Brenton Point
5/25/02
I picked up Gordon and his son Jason off their dock in Jamestown Saturday morning. The wind was howling out of the north so we could not fish up the bay. So we went out front. The fishing was slow and difficult, we were casting into the wind and there was no way we were going to fly-fish. I tried all the white water spots and we finally hooked up a couple of times. The bass were caught on rainbow trout colored fin-ness jigs. Jason and I double teamed these fish.
Upper Bay
05/19/02
Upper Bay
I had a double today. One four hour trip at 5 AM and one at 3 PM. What a difference a couple of hours can make. The morning fishing with John and his son was cold and windy but excellent. We connected with a dozen fish or so up to 33” and 14lb with two keepers. The bigger fish hit the new storm lure called the “wildeye”. This is a large soft plastic swim bait. It imitated the herring perfectly. That morning we also boated the first two bluefish of the season. The fish were busting the surface but they would go down real quickly. I had good productivity jigging after the busting schools had vanished. The fish were hugging the bottom and if you dropped your jig down to them you could get a couple more fish.
The afternoon trip, with the nice weather, was slow and the fish were tiny. The weather front blew through and the fishing changed for the worse. How many times has that happened? It was amazing to see it change so drastically.
Upper bay
05/11/02
Some bigger fish are still in the upper bay. I had a chance to take a friend from school out today. This was his first time fishing for Rhode Island stripers. His first bass was right at 28" and 10-lb. He got it on a pumpkin colored slug-go with a jig head. We did not get great quantity but we got quality. My father was with us also and he took 3 fish from 25 to 27", all nice healthy fish. Kevin, my school friend, finished the day out with two more fish. One which was a fat 34" 16-lber that took him around and under the boat several times before we landed it. The last fish was just another small one to him at 28". I had switch him to a 4” white and blue shad body with a ½ jig head.
Look for pics in 2002 soon.
Upper Bay on Fire
05/08/02
Eric,
Had a GREAT morning out by Colt State. Bite was on hard from 5:30 to 7:30,
herring. Caught a mixed bag of big and small fish, then Greg hooked a
keeper that caughed up a 13" herring, whole! Threw the fish in the box,
threaded the herring onto a 1 oz jig, and hooked into a 16 lb'er in about
20 seconds!!! Then switched to 10" Fin S, white with blue backs, on 3/4 oz
heads, and caught only keepers for the rest of the morning. Must have put
15-18+ fish in the boat in 1.5 hours, with only 4 that were not legal!!!
It was great!
Peter
Thanks Peter
Fished Upper bay that night
I took a friend out Wednesday night after reading Peter's report for that morning. Peter must have caught them all. All we could manage was one bass about 3-lb and one huge 8-lb blackfish. All of these were caught on a tan and cream 7” worm. We did find a worm hatch going on up by the old Rocky point.
Look for pics soon in 2002 gallery.
Upper bay Colt State Park
05-05-02
Again I fished the upper bay but this time we were over by Colt State Park. I fished with a Captain Craig. This was his first time on a boat this season; his is not ready to be put in the water yet. We got into them right away. You couldn’t miss the fish, the birds gave away their location. These stripers were from 20 to 28 inches. We must have caught 20 to 25 fish. I think we had about four keepers in the boat all right at 28 inches. The fish were feeding on herring; you could see the seagulls picking them off the surface of the water as the bass were trying to eat them from beneath. What a site!! The herring were 4 to 8 inches or so. I did manage to get a couple on the fly but the jigs were by far more productive. The fly I used was a herring pattern I tie with lead in it. The jig was a white shad body about 4 inches long with a ½ ounce head. What a great day we had.
Upper bay Power Plant
05-04-02
I fished the upper bay by the power plant with my father. This was the test run for my boat this season. Everything worked great and the fishing was outstanding. A tip from a friend had us fishing with jigs in 20 ft of water. The first striped bass in the boat this year was a 34 inch 14lb beauty. We proceed to catch about a dozen of them from 25 to 34 inches. I had a couple follows with the fly but no takers. The jig that worked for us was a white ½ ounce jig with a white grub tail.
West side of Aquidneck Island May 2
My father just called and reported that he had gone out to do some early season prospecting for fish on the west side of Aquidneck Island this evening. Much to his and my surprise, he took six fish between two of the easy access spots, and one was 6 lbs! He said the fish were not showing at all, he was just blind casting in places that have produced in the past.
Fish in Upper Narragansett Bay
Apr 27
I fished with a friend, Peter in the upper part of the bay. He was on the water cathching fish and gave me a call. He said "What are you doing? I'm catching fish, do you want to come out and play?" Before I could answer, he said he had to hang up to release a bass of about 28 inches. I called back in ten minutes and said where can I meet you. We were out on the water within a half an hour. We had a great time although we did not get any fish bigger than 20 inches.
Thanks for calling Peter. I will return the favor.
Fishing Westport River
Wednesday, April 17th
Caught bass up to three pounds on spinning gear and flies. These fish were fresh from the ocean -- bright and shiny with sea lice. Caught in the middle of the day.
Was fishing with Capt. Dave Cornell in his jonboat.
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