Weird Spring in Narragansett Bay

[piemma]

Well, it's over in the Bay. All the pogies that are left are up in....well, never mind.

The bass have left the Upper Bay and you will need to run way South to find anything of note.
It usually is July before this turn happens but it's 2 weeks early, as is everything else this year.

I'm not complaining as I have had a decent Spring. Quite a few mid to high 20s but only one mid 30 and that was in early May.

All in all, a much different Spring than we have been accustomed to.

I thought we should hear from some of the other RI guys who fish the Bay.

[Back Beach]

Any fish close to shore where I like to go?

[Clammer]

BB

IF YA MAKE A CANAL CAST .YA SHOULD BE ABLE TO CATCH A DRAGGER //// THAT,S HOW CLOSE THEY ARE WORKING THE SHORELINE

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Any fish close to shore where I like to go?

Yeah, pretty close. a 26+ pounder over the weekend but they are not thick.

[timmah]

Originally Posted by piemma

Well, it's over in the Bay. All the pogies that are left are up in....well, never mind.

The bass have left the Upper Bay and you will need to run way South to find anything of note.
It usually is July before this turn happens but it's 2 weeks early, as is everything else this year.

I'm not complaining as I have had a decent Spring. Quite a few mid to high 20s but only one mid 30 and that was in early May.

All in all, a much different Spring than we have been accustomed to.

I thought we should hear from some of the other RI guys who fish the Bay.

This isn't the case where i've been, fish 20-30lbs and truckloads of sandeels and squid. Two areas in the upper to mid bay. The bait is pushed up into the harbors.

[luds]

piemma,
if you had to rank the last 5 seasons in the bay where would this one fall in that ranking?

[piemma]

Originally Posted by luds

piemma,
if you had to rank the last 5 seasons in the bay where would this one fall in that ranking?

The worst in 5 years.
2 years ago we were having mornings with 6 to 8 30 pound + fish with a 40 thrown in every now and then. In 2006 I fished in my boat along side someone who is no longer on this board and I had a 38, 41 and a 42 and he had a couple of 35s a 48 and a 51. We didn't even count 20s. I am not speaking of spending all night either. Go out at 4 get your bunker in EG and run down South. All DONE by 7:00 AM.

Now we screw around for 3 hours to get 6 pogies and if you get 2 fish in the 20s you think you had a decent morning.

[StriperSniper]

Originally Posted by southpond

This isn't the case where i've been, fish 20-30lbs and truckloads of sandeels and squid. Two areas in the upper to mid bay. The bait is pushed up into the harbors.

SHHH

[timmah]

Originally Posted by StriperSniper

SHHH

You need a boat though.

[Pete_G]

In the Bay was pretty weak, and I don't think it's just because the past few bunker powered years were really good and have us spoiled.

As the fishing got good in front of Newport by late May, I moved to greener pastures (and it's a shorter commute). I also rarely venture North of Conimicut as it's a long run from Newport, so consider it a May only, mid to lower Bay report. I do frequent Mt. Hope though.

Don't get me wrong - you could/can catch fish in the Bay. It just wasn't like it was in most years past. Not close to as many big, easy to find schools of fish which often are all over the Bay, or bigger fish holding on structure away from the schools.

Observations:

I know people say the herring are back, but I sure don't see them. There may be fish in the herring runs but not that long ago you ALWAYS saw gulls tracking herring and snatching them off the surface as the bass chased them, even far away from herring runs. Haven't seen that regularly since the herring ban began. Maybe the bass are preoccupied by the bunker, but I think the smaller fish would prefer a herring if they could easily find them. I'm firmly in the camp that herring are NOT back in Narragansett Bay in healthy numbers, even if there are more and the runs are occupied to some degree.

Sonar. Some might dismiss this observation, but I think it's a big one. Fish are either there, or they're not when it comes to sonar, and the big schools of 5 to 15 or so pound fish just don't seem to be there. Most years you can't miss them. You stop in any number of likely spots, drive around a bit, find fish top to bottom, and proceed to catch a lot of fish with your lure/bait of choice. It's just that simple a lot of times (most years) to find school fish in that size range, especially in May. Once a lot of the spots and techniques I used in recent years started to not produce the normal results this year, I went to some older spots I fished when things were more herring driven (and plenty of new spots as well) trying to find them, with mixed success. I just don't think there are as many fish here.

Long term perspective: It's easy to forget 5 years isn't a long time. And, 10 or 15 years isn't THAT long either as it relates to cycles of bait and fish. We've seen a lot of bait changes in just the past 5 years or so. Increased sandeels in the past few years is the big feature I see, less squid, loss of the herring, the return of the adult bunker, the loss of peanuts, less mantis shrimp, and I don't see big schools of silversides regularly spawning in the eel grass either. Might be we're just in some sort of down swing. Tough to say.

If I were just to make a wild guess, that has nothing to do with the overall striper population, I'd think they've just found better feeding opportunities and are spending spring elsewhere.

[RIJIMMY]

the strange thing to me is that I have fish come up and whack the bunker and then leave dis-interested. They're big enough to eat them, just not interested. I am assuming they're full and too lazy to chase them. I know of some guys doing very well, just not in the areas I have been fishing.
Spring is over, summer is here. Im glad a few of you are into fish in the bay. I hope to find some too, soon.

[Clammer]

for what its worth ..not much ..I can & did fill the boat [all released] of clones .

32' to 331/2 " a few under 32" very few over 34" ;; But still need the bait / & go deep .

I switched to fluking 2 weeks ago & have only fished bass once since then .. but it was lock & load with those above / once I found them ;;;;

[ThrowingTimber]

No matter how much bait is in the bay keep in mind that comparitively speaking it is rather shallow over all. If the temps aren't right the bunker won't make the turn in and neither will the bass. I didn't think the salinity was too much of a cause but I think the overall temp was not conducive to having them make the turn. That said southpond caught 20 and 30# fish hand over fist for a month straight. I mean sure you can find fish in the bay its relatively small you do the whole bay in a boat and not burn a ton of gas. But its that hide and seek approach. Check the cove find the bait find the fish. Check the cove no fish move on, check a cove move on. They were there but I think we had a lot of bypass due to temps that just did not draw the larger shoals of fish in. We took abou an average of 100+#'s of squid lst weekend on jigs... Where are the bass?... Gone they bypassed.. Tuna guys are out in stellwagen with 12 macks and getting 11 slob bass and 1 hardtail for their efforts.. They move.. They adapt...they have fins...
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[Clammer]

%$%$%$%$IN ROCKET SCIENTIST

[ThrowingTimber]

I think the bigger concern should be how our qouta of weakfish as recs was butchered so nj can overfish weakfish more than they do already. instead of saying RI doesn't see much weakfish anymore wonder why?... They crush our qouta and give it to states that single handedly butcher a species.... I can't see the logic or science in that..
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[ThrowingTimber]

almost caught up with life mike i'll be in touch soon.
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[Clammer]

heard that before ;;;