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05-05-2004, 07:57 AM
This may have already been posted, but for those who have not yet read this article it's very encouraging.
Providence Journal
BY TOM MEADE
In 1984, Block Island angler Joe Szabo set a state record when he caught a striped bass weighing 70.5 pounds. Based on catches over the last four years, it's a safe bet that the 20th anniversary of Szabo's record will become the Year of The Trophy Striper. But will 2004 be the year when the record falls?
"It's very possible," said charter boat skipper Mike Neto, whose sportfisherman, Adrianna, last season landed a 63-pound bass, the junior world record. Fred Bowman, another charter boat skipper known as a big-bass hunter -- with 28 50-pounders and two 60-pound stripers -- agrees.
John Martini, a commercial rod-and-reel fisherman with 59 50-pounders to his credit, concurs that there is a "good possibility" that the state record will fall this summer. Ray Jobin, another commercial rod-and-reeler who landed four stripers over 50 pounds last season alone, also believes that the record could crumble this season. "The fish are getting bigger every year," he said.
Last year, boaters landed at least five 50-pounders and three 60-pound fish over a one-week period, according to Al Conti of Snug Harbor Marina in South Kingstown. Surf fisherman "Iron" Mike Everin caught a 60-pounder along Newport's Cliff Walk.
"Last year, I filmed more large striped bass in one area than I had in 43 years of chasing stripers," said video producer Mike Laptew, "The Diving Fisherman." Other divers, spear fishermen with many years of experience, say they have seen stripers larger than 80 pounds off Block Island. "They're fish that dwarf 50-pounders," Laptew said.
It's no mystery why there are so many trophy striped bass around. In 1982, scientists found that striped bass had a successful spring of spawning, following three years of decline. "Fifty-pounders are, on average, around 20 years old," writes Rhode Island angler Frank Daignault in his book, The Trophy Striper. The 1999 book predicted that 50-pounders would start appearing in fishing tournaments the next year. They did, and the number and size of trophy stripers has continued to increase since then.
Last summer, catching 50-pound stripers became relatively routine off Watch Hill and Block Island, and even more trophy fish might have been landed if professional rod-and-reel fishermen had had a longer season, said Martini. "A lot of commercial guys don't fish [even for themselves] when the season is closed," he said, "and late November has always been a great time for big fish."
Inexperienced sport fishermen lose about 50 percent of the trophy fish that they hook, said Fred Bowman. "It happens in the first few seconds," the charter-boat skipper said. It also happens to professionals. Jobin said he once saw a 70-pound bass take his bait but missed the fish. "I didn't set the hook fast enough," he said.
Ask the state's striper experts where they would go to catch a trophy and most of them say Block Island. "It boggles the mind," said Jobin. "The fish are always there. Southwest Ledge is an amazing producer. You'd think that all the charter boats that are there every day would clean it out, but they don't. They just keep bangin' away at 'em."
There were fish all around the island last season. The waters off Southeast Light often floated a fleet of fishermen catching big stripers, two at a time.
The last 10 days of June and all of July is the best time to catch big fish at Block Island, according to Bowman. Martini agreed and added November as a good time to catch a trophy.
Martini, Jobin and Bowman also mention the reefs off Watch Hill and Fishers Island as hot spots for big bass.
Neto and Bowman said the reefs of Rhode Island Sound, off Newport, are good bets.
Laptew also likes the waters off Sakonnet Point, but he said, "Fishermen are creatures of habit, and instead of finding new haunts for stripers, they go to the same place. Deep-water areas, with isolated spires and humps -- places that could be off any promontory -- those are the kinds of places where you're going to run into the big fish."
"The bigger fish are going to be in areas where they have access to good tide flow and areas where they can get out of the tide flow and go to rest," said Bowman. "They're looking for points [and other geological features] that serve as breaks. Block Island has a lot of them, and so does Point Judith and Newport."
For three consecutive years, Bowman took 50-pound fish just outside of the Shelter of Harbor, said Conti.
"That was before the oil spill there," Bowman said. Mussel beds outside the harbor's East Gap served as a nursery area for young lobsters, easy prey for big bass. When an oil barge ran aground in 1996, the resulting spill destroyed the nursery.
"A lot of it has to do with feeding conditions," said Conti. "When there are a lot of fish around, a lot of them have to stay offshore because there isn't enough bait inshore. . . . The fish could be anywhere. . . . There's no consistency to any of it. You have to wait and see where the bait goes."
At Southeast Light and Watch Hill last season, big bass were feeding on scup as well as molting crabs and worms washed out of Long Island Sound, said Bowman. Big stripers were also eating sea bass that were abundant last season, according to Neto.
If a record bass does bite off Block Island, it will probably go for an eel, said Martini. If the fish is caught off Watch Hill, it may take a live scup, he said.
This week, the first big stripers migrating to Rhode Island are preying on alewives, and Mike Neto was planning to go on his first "scouting mission" of the season today to see what he can find.
Providence Journal
BY TOM MEADE
In 1984, Block Island angler Joe Szabo set a state record when he caught a striped bass weighing 70.5 pounds. Based on catches over the last four years, it's a safe bet that the 20th anniversary of Szabo's record will become the Year of The Trophy Striper. But will 2004 be the year when the record falls?
"It's very possible," said charter boat skipper Mike Neto, whose sportfisherman, Adrianna, last season landed a 63-pound bass, the junior world record. Fred Bowman, another charter boat skipper known as a big-bass hunter -- with 28 50-pounders and two 60-pound stripers -- agrees.
John Martini, a commercial rod-and-reel fisherman with 59 50-pounders to his credit, concurs that there is a "good possibility" that the state record will fall this summer. Ray Jobin, another commercial rod-and-reeler who landed four stripers over 50 pounds last season alone, also believes that the record could crumble this season. "The fish are getting bigger every year," he said.
Last year, boaters landed at least five 50-pounders and three 60-pound fish over a one-week period, according to Al Conti of Snug Harbor Marina in South Kingstown. Surf fisherman "Iron" Mike Everin caught a 60-pounder along Newport's Cliff Walk.
"Last year, I filmed more large striped bass in one area than I had in 43 years of chasing stripers," said video producer Mike Laptew, "The Diving Fisherman." Other divers, spear fishermen with many years of experience, say they have seen stripers larger than 80 pounds off Block Island. "They're fish that dwarf 50-pounders," Laptew said.
It's no mystery why there are so many trophy striped bass around. In 1982, scientists found that striped bass had a successful spring of spawning, following three years of decline. "Fifty-pounders are, on average, around 20 years old," writes Rhode Island angler Frank Daignault in his book, The Trophy Striper. The 1999 book predicted that 50-pounders would start appearing in fishing tournaments the next year. They did, and the number and size of trophy stripers has continued to increase since then.
Last summer, catching 50-pound stripers became relatively routine off Watch Hill and Block Island, and even more trophy fish might have been landed if professional rod-and-reel fishermen had had a longer season, said Martini. "A lot of commercial guys don't fish [even for themselves] when the season is closed," he said, "and late November has always been a great time for big fish."
Inexperienced sport fishermen lose about 50 percent of the trophy fish that they hook, said Fred Bowman. "It happens in the first few seconds," the charter-boat skipper said. It also happens to professionals. Jobin said he once saw a 70-pound bass take his bait but missed the fish. "I didn't set the hook fast enough," he said.
Ask the state's striper experts where they would go to catch a trophy and most of them say Block Island. "It boggles the mind," said Jobin. "The fish are always there. Southwest Ledge is an amazing producer. You'd think that all the charter boats that are there every day would clean it out, but they don't. They just keep bangin' away at 'em."
There were fish all around the island last season. The waters off Southeast Light often floated a fleet of fishermen catching big stripers, two at a time.
The last 10 days of June and all of July is the best time to catch big fish at Block Island, according to Bowman. Martini agreed and added November as a good time to catch a trophy.
Martini, Jobin and Bowman also mention the reefs off Watch Hill and Fishers Island as hot spots for big bass.
Neto and Bowman said the reefs of Rhode Island Sound, off Newport, are good bets.
Laptew also likes the waters off Sakonnet Point, but he said, "Fishermen are creatures of habit, and instead of finding new haunts for stripers, they go to the same place. Deep-water areas, with isolated spires and humps -- places that could be off any promontory -- those are the kinds of places where you're going to run into the big fish."
"The bigger fish are going to be in areas where they have access to good tide flow and areas where they can get out of the tide flow and go to rest," said Bowman. "They're looking for points [and other geological features] that serve as breaks. Block Island has a lot of them, and so does Point Judith and Newport."
For three consecutive years, Bowman took 50-pound fish just outside of the Shelter of Harbor, said Conti.
"That was before the oil spill there," Bowman said. Mussel beds outside the harbor's East Gap served as a nursery area for young lobsters, easy prey for big bass. When an oil barge ran aground in 1996, the resulting spill destroyed the nursery.
"A lot of it has to do with feeding conditions," said Conti. "When there are a lot of fish around, a lot of them have to stay offshore because there isn't enough bait inshore. . . . The fish could be anywhere. . . . There's no consistency to any of it. You have to wait and see where the bait goes."
At Southeast Light and Watch Hill last season, big bass were feeding on scup as well as molting crabs and worms washed out of Long Island Sound, said Bowman. Big stripers were also eating sea bass that were abundant last season, according to Neto.
If a record bass does bite off Block Island, it will probably go for an eel, said Martini. If the fish is caught off Watch Hill, it may take a live scup, he said.
This week, the first big stripers migrating to Rhode Island are preying on alewives, and Mike Neto was planning to go on his first "scouting mission" of the season today to see what he can find.