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Well, I'll leave holdover fish from Providence or the Thames out of this... Before I started fishing in Rhody, early season bass for me meant an annual trip to the Vineyard with a bunch of buddys from work & my dart team. This was an annual trip we started and would head over the weekend before Memorial Day. We would stay 4 or 5 days and hate leaving - usually putting a couple hundred miles on the trucks in 4wd getting Happy in Chappy...
Then Bill had me come down to the West Wall in late March/early April. He'd call me every day while I was stuck in my office in Boston - "Hey John, nice conditions at the Wall, can you make it down here? - You're gonna miss the fish". I usually couldn't but every now & then I'd sneak out early and drive (well fly) down to Matunuck when the conditions were just right and have a ball opening the season for "fresh" schoolies in late March & April. As I walk down the wall, I see a lot of the usual suspects doing the usual thing and it's just a big welcome to a new year. I just love the place and it really has become an early season ritual for me.
Whether the fish are true early arrivals from down south or if they are fish from the local ponds or from the Thames doesn't matter to me. They are my "First Fresh Fish" of the season and to me, are like opening day at Fenway Park. I'm just so excited and filled with optomism and eagerness for the upcoming year!
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