Month of May in review

[Back Beach]

The fifth month is drawing to a close. Lets hear the good, the bad, the ugly, and share some pics if you have them while we're at it.

[spence]

Didn't fish at all but the cycling was awesome

-spence

[Jimmy Fee]

Things went from 0-60 pretty fast. Many guys were just getting their first keepers and then suddenly 40's are being pulled from the canal. The good bites seemed to only last a couple days at a time, and shut off quickly. Getting more than a couple days of the same wind was a rarity, and there was an awful lot of North wind, which is probably to blame for the spotty fishing on the south side.

The full moon at the end of the month slowed down the night bite for me a couple nights, but when there was cloud cover, the fishing picked right back up.

Overall, the last week of the month gave up a ton of 20-25 pound fish (not just in the canal) and there was a small body of good fish that made a brief showing a couple nights a long ways from the waters of the ditch when the wind and tide were favorable. Landed a handful of them to 39 and had one real heartbreaker bend out an Andrus Jetty Caster Hook.

The next two weeks should be interesting, we ought to see some of the largest fish of the year taken in this time frame.

[chefchris401]

i would have to say that this month has been the best may since i started seriously surfcasting/saltwater fishing.

east bay areas that i usually fish in the spring where real good, very rarely getting skunked. lots of fish in the 26 to 34" class. not too many dinks at my usual haunts. First keeper was 3 weeks earlier than the last two years.

not to much bait around until last week.

decided to put my time in at the ditch and see what all the fuss is about, again completely worth my time and effort and gas money. Hour drive each way. went 12 times, got skunked twice. Caught my biggest fish so far this season there 23lbs. havent got the jigging down yet, will be practicing alot though. I never seriously fished the ditch until this year, only fished once 7 years ago and hated it.

this past week and weekend where great, got some nice 36" in the east bay at night on my own plugs, the ditch was very good to me, got some incredible lightning pics from this weeks storm, fished with some good friends, fished with some guys ive been friendly with via internet and the saltwater edge.

May in general was great!! celebrated my 29th bday, celebrated my girlfriends mom being 16 years cancer free, my dads 55th bday, new job(s), caught a bunch of fish, personal best may/canal striper, learned alot about the ditch in a short time, got to fish with some people and make new friends, and just generally enjoy my time off.

Working 60 plus hours a week in 100 degree kitchen make you appericate every minute your not working.

Hope the rest of the year follows this trend!

The pic is of two fish I got at the ditch on a mac nb darter, back to back cast, first fish was 41" and 23lbs and the second fish was 40" and 21lbs.

[Rmarsh]

I had a good month of May fishing wise.
Lots of keeper size and bigger.

Last night was a fun night with a 24#- 42" long fish and 25 fish in the 24 to 32" range.

Also did some fly fishing for trout and salmon up in Maine during the new moon.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

Good quantity for me, not much size though. Biggest was 36-38" the rest were damn near all 27-32". I only caught one real schoolie this year which was surprising. had my first skunking of the year yesterday at a place where a few others got skunked as well.

[Surfpirate]

nothing spectacular to report from down south

nothing over 32 inches so far....

[Clogston29]

got some largemouth near home, nothing special. actually, they're pretty boring. also a couple stocked trout - the first one was kind of fun but that's about it.

one night out in the salt on the north shore. pretty good with 10 fish up to about 32" on bombers. about typical for this time of year. i'm sure the next 3-4 weeks will be really good at a few spots with fish up to 30 lbs based on what i've seen and heard so far. hopefully the blues will come early this year and get rid of the macs, then it'll be go time.

got an 8 lb 14 oz little girl sleeping right beside be though so i could really care less about fishing right now. can't wait to get out of this hospital tomorrow though - checked in a 4 pm on thursday afternoon.

[numbskull]

I fished 26 days, many times 2 outings a day, mostly local, mostly from shore, mostly for a few hours at a time. Half a dozen daytime boat trips. I caught exactly 7 bass over 10 lbs (3 on one trip), and zero over 15 lbs. I'm bummed, worried, and humiliated (it sucks finding out that you suck). At least Sauerkraut sucks worse. I did have one good sea bass trip.

[JFigliuolo]

piss poor for me. Fish went left, I went right. Hooked up with the biggest fish of my career from the yak... dropped it a few feet below the boat. I suck MORE than saurkraut.

[cableguy]

it was a slow start for me, but picked up in the middle....May is my busiest work month so...hard to get to some of those tides.....have had a few keepers, nothing huge...I am going nocturnal now...thinking eels...jiggin the ditch, or off my brothers boat will be my game plan...next few weeks will be key.

[BillyBlanks]

I know SB is mostly a MA board, but I've spent the past few days of the month fishing the Long Island Sound. There's been a ton of bait around, most bunker I've seen in about 5 years. Big school of silversides and sand eels have been around too.

Most of the bigger fish were pulled in by chunking or jigging, one 25lber, one 16lber and a bunch of 10-12lb fish. Also pulled a bunch of nice sized schoolies in on poppers. Heading back up to MA today, and hopefully keep catching fish.

Clogston, congrats on the baby girl!

Hope everyone has a safe, fun and fish filled season!

[bart]

I fished the canal exclusively this past month and did OK. I had a lot of fish in the 15-18 lb range on shads and pencils, but did not see the size I had seen the previous 2 years (multiple 20lb fish trips). I had one fish at 30 on the boga that I released( can't post a pic, invalid file?) and had a shot at some bigger fish but was never able to connect. Overall, I had a good time fishing with some good people. Just wish I could have found some bigger fish. Looking forward to the NM in June...

[Back Beach]

Probably the best shore fishing since 1999 for me as that's as far back as I can remember. Pics of my schoolie, TO's high 20# fish and Bart's 30# fish.

[bart]

that pic of Tony is SICK

[RIJIMMY]

lame May for Narragansett bay, at least for me. I think the fish missed the exit and went right up to the canal. May in my experience has been filled with lots of blitzs, great topwater fishing for chunky schoolies, then decent teen fish, then large fish on bunker. The last few weeks with bunker I've got a few fish in the low 20s but no quanitity. Lots of hours for a few fish.

[hyefisherman2]

sick pictures back beach!

[BassDawg]

CONGRATS, Clogs!!! nice work!
God Bless that baby girl and your bride!!!

MAY~~~~ has been bittersweet for me.

SWEEEEET first!!! got turned-on to the Canal. having never fished it before,,,,,,,,,,,i am hooked, and LOVE everything that makes the DITCH what it is. dropped two fish there. one, i just completely was so "buck fevered" that i prolly lost a decent sized fish due to several factors, the most of which were not playing the fish, and assuming that the fish was much smaller than it prolly was. hard tellin',,,,,,,,not knowin'. also, i met and fished with some truly quality, top-notch Stripermen within their chosen disciplines, and to a man they were humble and a pleasure to fish with. i was able to ASK and BE much less knowledgable than them, and they were free and gracious with their expertise. life-affirming stuff there, and i am humbled by both the freedom with which the info was shared and the ease in which these Gentlemen were able to make it understandable, doable, and teachable. my THANKS, by itself, can never be enough and i hope to repay their wisdom and kindness, sum haunt, by landing sum LAHHHHHHGE~~~~ some night sooooon

the BITTER??? snapping my pluggin' rod about 10 casts into jigging the ditch for only the second time, EVER!! equally as bitter, more like BRUTAL, was having to keep reservations to go camping with the family in SoCo, while the BITE is awwwwn at the Cape and i was begining to apply technique/learn spots,,,,,,,,,,,,and THEN, when ya get to the Ocean State, the effin' trawlers and the tides have got so much MUNG and everything VEGGIE so stirred up that the outside is UFF. everywhere i was able to get to while attached to family, SUCKED! the bonus??? my Girls and i had a GREAT time camping, beaching, playgrounding, Gentleman Farmer Dining, CTown MemDayParading, sunrising, and just BEing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ahhhhhhh, but this IS a fishing thread! SOOOO, with 3 trips(2 Cape, 1SoCo) i am fishless, picless; but the NShore awaits and so doesn't the NEW

[MotoXcowboy]

I had a baby in April so my time on the water has been very limited this May.

1night=1 small schoolie
2 afternoons=2skunks

caught alot of weeds in soco.
yesterday afternoon it was pretty thick

hoping this month brings me better luck

[BigFish]

Hit or miss the entire month! It was no slammer!! Hope June is better!!!

[Swimmer]

Awesome, for a rank armature...........

[WESTPORTMAFIA]

I got out quite a bit this month. I took 2 skunkings in a row which makes me want to cry. But besides that I got into some fish. Some days were better than others but all in all I can't complain. A handful of fish in the 20#'s and one just over 31#'s that was bumped out of a prize for the Red Top tourney by someone here on the last day I will be putting my time in until I get something worth weighing in for S-B.

[piemma]

Weird month for me. Had a 33# at the beginning of the month 5/2. Then very slow. 4 trips to the Canal. One good night with a couple of 17 to 20#.
Narr Bay pretty much sucked. I fell for the "pogy routine" and wasted a lot of gas and time for nothing. Switched over to eels and had a great morning on the 20th with a 24# and a 27# on eels. Since then it's been a slow pick of high teen to low 20 pound fish. Nothing like years past.
3 years ago I had one morning in May 28th when I had 8 fish between 32 and 38#.

[RoyL]

This May has been a blast.....I thought the wedding was going to kill this month, but the bass fishing was good till the day I left...The fishing was good for me while I was gone and the fish returned the same day I got back.....I cant ask for more.

[Krispy]

it was a good month

[BassDawg]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Probably the best shore fishing since 1999 for me as that's as far back as I can remember. Pics of my schoolie, TO's high 20# fish and Bart's 30# fish.

if i may~~~
here's one of the BackBeachster, the li'l sistah to the 30#
that i didn't get to my camera in time for! excellent day, a couple of
back-to-backs for Mike, and this new "money shot" with the striper in the water IS a thing of beauty,,,,,,,,,,

[Raven]

freakin Tony is ONE photogenic S.O.B>

that is for sure..... it's worthy of the front page Bossman

[american spirit]

seems to be right on schedule for the north shore this year. maybe fish are slightly bigger than last year around this time.

[SAUERKRAUT]

Worst May start for me...just about ever with the exception of the years I wouldn't crawl out of Lake O. until after Memorial Day. Vineyard Sound waters and adjacent surf spots were as dead as if it were winter. And the boaters who cover a lot more geography than I do should know. The Canal just sucked for me in May...and I was there a lot. Yes, I had one 19 fish tide; but the biggest was 38". I was so grateful for that...I phototed it before kissing it good-bye. After that, it was skunk tide after skunk tide. What part of the Canal were you standing on as bicycle coffee men were were riding by in droves?

[angler229]

Considering I only fished about 8 times in a month where I normally fish a couple times a day I really cant complain. I was into decent fish on at least half of my trips and had fish up to 30lbs. Starting a new job next week so my fishing is going to stay pretty limited until I get settled into that a little, but hoping June will be better. Here's a couple pictures of some of the better fish from this past month.