The elusive snow bass
 

Anyone get one today? Anyone fish for that matter?

:( No!

Nope, i tried a couple different spots, for nada. Bunch of people out though. Did see a massive amount of birds workin, but they never came in very close, didnt see anyone else get anything either.

Tons of bass around, all small. I soaked my gloves early in the morning so by mid morning my hands were beyond numb. I didnt feel the sore bass thumb until they thawed.

Had to drive a good stretch of shoreline and check many spots but it was worth it, massive amount of birds, bait and fish. Basically was hooking up on every cast for about an hour and twenty minutes. Then the sun set and the action turned off. No keepers but the non stop action was better than no fish at all.

Done (kinda)
 

Pulled the boat with a tear in my eye and winterized on Wednesday. Gonna go to some of my shore spots on Tuesday. I can't give up yet. I don't hunt and there is still about 6 weeks 'til ski season

Tried on Monday and Tuesday. All the usual spots. Caught one 20 and a load of shad. Saw loads of birds working and chased 'em down. Couldn't believe what I brought in. The Blues are back!!! I thought they were long gone. I was so sure, I almost got bit. I was sure it wasn't a blue, for one, they were very finicky. Had to have just the right color.

I didnt get out this morning..probably going to hang it up for the year..

A million fish on the South Shore of RI. All 16 to 18 ". You could have caught 1000 fish this morning. I quit after 20 rats. Just no fun when I'm throwing an 9' Pac Bay Graphite with a Calcutta 400 loaded with 50# Spectron

Got into quite a few saturday afternoon in SOCO. Biggest was bout 24 inches, they were hitting on anything. Storm shads, kastmasters, polaris, pencils and finally got a fish on a needlefish, bout time. Like In The Surf said, when the sun set the fish quit biting.

Well if the schoolies are pushing through the big fish cant be far behind...
:D

yup:tm: :musc: :humpty: schoolies to 24", but hey, they're fish. long wnad and spin at napatree.

In the surf, I wonder if we were in the same spot? There were thousands of bass around

They were still there today RIjimmy, also some too the east too.Lots of fish but no size, did hear some others had got some fish in the 20's , but i didnt see it myself. Didnt see any reeled in either. Still monster blues around too. Saw a couple schoolie heads reeled in.

Generally the schoolies are the last gasp...
BUT...
The big bluefish around is a good sign...
as the H2O temp at Newport is 47 and change I have a bad feeling this rush of small fish (as PIEMMA and I discussed) one big school from Matunuck to Westerly, may be a sign of a mass exedus from other parts and may blow through quickly....

Weekend observations;
All the fish we caught were pale... cape fish? regardless they werent local "rock" fish

Lots of varied bait was seen, big pogies down to tiny "rain bait"

Water temp is a bad sign, but 3 years ago I saw a guy chunking on C-Town beach... a quick conversation revealed he had caught 3... I said "schoolies" he said no; Blues... if they werent sitting in the sand under his Buggy I never would have belived it.... and the last 2 years I've had bass into Dec (small ones)...
tight lines,
B

Yeah hound, i was wondering about all the lighter colored schoolies? Definetly from further north, i noticed quite a few that had see lice, which i think means theyve been travelling at sea, right?

Yup., noticed the pale schoolies too. A few had some battle scars and others were kinda sickly looking too.
It was pretty cool to catch bass in the sleet and hail, first time for me. Also saw a big seal swimming around, never saw that in RI, only on the cape.

Been a bunch of seels in gansett this week. Saw one last year up in providence, having a striper snack

plenty of 18 to 20 "

1 20 #

great "moonset"

A couple of the ones i got were a bit beat up too. One i think i may have helped with the roughing up, a wave slammed it into the rocks pretty hard, felt bad for the little guy, but if that wave woulda hit me i woulda felt a lot worse.

I saw some seals in charlestown last week too...they are everywhere..:af:

Rhody Roast Beef
 

Finally fished Rhody So-Co this weekend. All day non-stop action. They were hitting anything, but after I saw a pod of 2-3 inch peanuts spray right in front of me, I threw on a 2 oz crippled herring and had a fish on every cast. The size started to increase as the sun began to set....but I had a long ride back to Boston.

Watching those gannets offshore is amazing. One of the coolest ariel shows I have seen.

ps. I'd like to thank the two gentleman in the renken type boat who was charging into the beach everytime the birds were crashing the shore. They must have put down 5 schools all day. Heavy tackle trolling virtually ripping stripers out of the water and giving them the football throw back in. Jokers. I was furious. One of the guys doesn't know how close he came to taking a crippled herring off his squash. I am not lying, it was about six inches.:smash:

picked small fish as well, both in soco and where everyone was thursday... Was wondering about the real pale fish myself, got a fair sized fish that looked like he'd been doing battle with a seal or some monster blues, stripes were very faint...

Fish were out this am , but not like yesterday. Still no size either.:( Do schoolies leave first, followed by larger fish later? Or both at the same time?

schoolies leave last... the fat lady is about to sing:(

:(

Say, fellas - why so glum? :huh::confused::huh:

You know, let's not forget the much-maligned tautog - certainly not a glamour girl like the striped bass....

But damned fine fillets.....:)

Jammed a bone in her throat this afternoon, not a huge one, but good enough. Gonna go back out and try to lock her back in her dressing room.

MY 6 YEAR OLD SUN GOT HIS FIRST STRIPERS THIS WEEKEND IN SOCO 16 - 18 INCHERS WERE PERFECT FOR HIM....... I DID A LITTLE BETTER IN THE DARK BOTH MORNINGS......

Was there a guy in the late 20's to your right, and too guys over 70 with their sons in the mid-30's a lil more to the right, street fight?

SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT..... WE WERE NOT ALONE...... IF IT HELPS HIS GRANDPARENTS WERE THERE TAKING PUICTURES OF HIM.....