RI's #1 sharpie- article

[cheferson]

Ocean fishing season should be hoppin’

09:02 AM EST on Wednesday, January 23, 2008

By TOM MEADE
Journal Sports Writer
Fishing experts are optimistic about the coming season in South County despite unusual fishing conditions last year.
A massive amount of menhaden moved into Narragansett Bay early last season and kept large striped bass in the Bay longer than anyone had expected, according to charter boat skippers Steve Travisono of Seadog Inshore Charters and Ron Mouchon of Breachway Bait & Tackle, both in Charlestown.
Instead of fishing the reefs off Green Hill and Charlestown, where he found fish in other seasons, Mouchon said he was forced to fish to the east.
“I was fishing off Stinky Beach and Scarborough Beach” in Narragansett, Mouchon says. Big bass stayed close to the mouth of the Bay because the bait was there.
” Mike Frank, a Westerly surf fisherman who throws plugs “Rock Hoppin’ only, caught and released several hundred keeper-size bass last season. Among the fish he released were eight bass over 35 pounds, including a 40-pounder he caught Nov. 1.
“Rock Hoppin’ Mike is a name one of my buddies came up with because we live in the rocks at Weekapaug and Watch Hill,” Frank said. “We wade out and wait until the last wave comes in and then pop up onto that last rock. The stripers are there, in the reefs looking for lobsters and other things to eat, and they’ll stay there all night long. But you can die out there. It’s dangerous. You have to know what you’re doing.”
During the season, Rock Hoppin’ Mike fishes for bass every day that weather allows. He works the surf from Watch Hill to Narragansett. Most of his large stripers came from reefs near Watch Hill last season. He prefers to fish from 11 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., midway through a falling tide, with a southwest wind.
Last year, he started catching bass during the third week of April when the bass were feeding on squid. By the third week of May, the night bite had begun. “I had to move around a lot,” he says, “because the fish weren’t in their usual spots. Overall, I had a very good season, but it could have been better. I managed to catch eight big fish; I normally do 20.”
He predicts that the number of large bass in South County’s surf will rebound this season.
Mouchon is also a striper specialist. “With the amount of peanut bunker we’ve been seeing, I think it’s going to be another fantastic year,” he says. “Last year was one of the better ones I’ve had. I just had to go to different areas to find the fish.”
Travisono is equally optimistic about other fishing opportunities.
“I expect a good fluke fishery,” he says. “There were a lot of 17- to 19-inch fish, and there were a lot of bigger ones, too — a lot of 20- and 21-inch fish. Every year, the size is going up.”
Sea-bass fishing was relatively slow inshore as dogfish replaced the bass in traditional fishing spots, he says.
Catching scup should still be easy, even from shore, but Travisono says it’s getting more difficult to catch keeper-size scup. He says, “There were still some frying-pan-sized fish out there when you found the right spot.”
“Bluefish? There were plenty — big ones,” he says. “There were small ones early, but by October, they were alligators. It wasn’t hard to catch a 10- or-12-pounder from the shore. We’ll see a lot of bluefish this year,”
For a brief time in September, fishing for bonito and false albacore was good, according to Travisono and Mouchon. They expect more of the same this year.
Rock Hoppin’ Mike talks about his surf fishing on Hot Bytes at
http://www.projo.com/fishing/audio/rockhoppinmike.mp3

[RIJIMMY]

RHM..............

[BigFish]

I smell a "spot-burning"! With all those details I might have to fish Rhody more this season!

[eelman]

[Gunpowder]

Originally Posted by BigFish

I smell a "spot-burning"! With all those details I might have to fish Rhody more this season!

NOT AGAIN!!!

[UserRemoved1]

[cheferson]

The striper in the photo weighed 40 pounds. Rock Hoppin' Mike caught it on Nov. 1.

[Vogt]

[The Iceman 6]

Chef -

40, come on, that's @ least "50"

[bart]

[Canalman]

Should we all pool our money together and buy that guy a scale...

I'll toss 20 bucks in

[Canalman]

that fish may not go twenty

[bart]

maybe he meant 40" ?

WTH was Tom Meade thinking?

[onecastmike2003]

thanks for all the kind words guys!

[BassDawg]

Soooooooo(and i WILL try to restrain myself)...............................

Lemee get this straight. This Tom Meade guy, who pens for the ProJo, just takes anybody at their word without researching the veracity of their BULLSHEET !??!

Or is he just as clueless about surfcasting as he sounds in the soundbyte? What a FUNNY piece of work that article is; while the audio speaks volumes in and of itself ~if i may paraphrase a bit,
".......and he just comes up out of the water to smash my own 'spook-slider-pencil-floater lure'"
Fogeddah bout the part about how stripers can see a shock leader at night, ROFL!!!
Guess WE'VE all been doing this wrong and that explains why he lands hundreds of keepers/schoolies???

Once again, RHM/OCM, is truly a LEGEND in his own "mind". Even skeerier is the fact that Mike actually believes his own press/lies .

[onecastmike2003]

40lbs I think so.
dont be haten BD
tom put in the wrong pic.

[cheferson]

I thought your biggest was the 50lb 50" you caught during the summer??

[jim sylvester]

[BMEUPSCOTTY]

This winter has not disappointed at all.

[luds]

[eelman]

Originally Posted by onecastmike2003

40lbs I think so.
dont be haten BD
tom put in the wrong pic.

Look, I am very happy you had an interview with Tom, I know Tom well and he is willing to talk to anyone at anytime and loves a fish story as much as the next guy...How ever it happened, Good for you..

But to call those fish 40lbers or that fish 40lbs And force smart , inteligent, adults and people who have fished and seen fish of every size for many years...to believe it is asking for trouble...I know as one who gets myself into trouble all the time...Just some advice it looks foolish...I am not going to say you didnt catch alot of fish because for all I know you certainly did...But I cannot dismiss with my own eyes what I see and know to be ridiculas, You lose all credibility trying to pass off obvious 18lb fish as 40s Just cant do it...

If I was you and wanted to make a name for myself as "Rock Hoppin" I would start to weigh my fish on certified scales in well known tackle shops and have the proof to back it up and to be honest, it looks like you could use a helpfull lesson or two using a scale and reading it properly..

Tom is a nice guy, But Tom is not a fisherman at all....Tom writes a column, I do not fault him at all, he will believe what you tell him...But from the looks of your pictures, it would not have mattered which one he used, becaue none of those fish come anywhere near 40lbs...In the last picture here you say is a 40, is no more than 20-22 tops(I hate to even say that because it acually could be smaller now that I look at the head more)

Remember also, Just as it has been told to me, you asked for the this once you gave the interview...it goes with the territory...

Be able to back up what you claim!

[BMEUPSCOTTY]

the thing is, he obviously loves to fish, he puts some time and passion into his plugs (I haven't made one yet) and he can catch bass, but EVERY pic I have seen on either site is questionable. If he just posted the pics and didn't put numbers to them it would be a whole different story. He would be just another character in the world of striper fishing. Instead....

[eelman]

Originally Posted by BMEUPSCOTTY

the thing is, he obviously loves to fish, he puts some time and passion into his plugs (I haven't made one yet) and he can catch bass, but EVERY pic I have seen on either site is questionable. If he just posted the pics and didn't put numbers to them it would be a whole different story. He would be just another character in the world of striper fishing. Instead....

I in no way fault his love for fishing at all ! But give me a break here....Questionable? there not even close? just assanine claims and If he acually believes it? I feel for the guy...

Its one thing to love fishing and building plugs but its quite another to constantly show teen fish as large...after awhile someone is going to say something for the mere fact that it is just so stupid to do

either he really believes it or he thinks everyone has fell out of a balloon.....after awhile it makes everyone look like a fool...

But hey, the guy is having fun! thats all that matters, if he thinks its a 40 then I say Congrats! Its takes a long time for most guys to land a fish that size....From the article it looks like he has had several that have come close and over! Awesome! A Sharpie he is!

[BMEUPSCOTTY]

yeah, I was being kind with "questionable", I know. I kinda do feel bad I guess, I think he really does believe...

[onecastmike2003]

once again bill thanks for the kind words. hope your feeling better. you'll be fine... your in good hands..
I will fish my butt off as always.
Good luck to you guys this year.
Mike

[JFigliuolo]

Glad you posted Bill... I suck at judging size, always have. and those fish looked small to me also.

[Nebe]

Asop once wrote a great profile about someone.. it was called ''the boy who cried wolf".

Mike this is a great thing for you if you want your name to be known, however YOU have destroyed all of your credibility with exaggerations, showboating online, not to mention the fact that you were busted cheating in a contest for plugs..

No matter what you do from now on, everything will be questioned. Every fish you catch and post pictures will will be questioned and every report you post will be questioned and you have only yourself to blame.

#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& is 110% right. start weighing stuff on certified scales and do stuff legitimately otherwise no one is going to take you seriously.

[BigFish]

Tough to rebuild a reputation once you destroy it! Like the "Cheers" song says......"Everybody knows your name......"!

[NIB]

What ever happened to catching good sized fish an not telling anyone...

[eastendlu]

Never caught a bass in my life.Is that what they look like?