Back from BI!

[Jaiem]

Just got back from our annual Block Island trip. What a week! Overall it was a successful trip, though a lot of effort had to be put in and it ended with some heart break.

The week started out COLD! Wind was howling from the North and West through mid week. Unfortunately at BI fishing into th wind is usually best so that
made for many cold and wet nights. I started fishing the night we arrived (Saturday) and right away nailed a 30" fish on a live eel from the SW Point area. Other than the eels I did very little bait fishing. The conditions just didn't warrant it.

But the week belonged to the needle fish plug. They were clearly the top producer. Green/white was the best with pink/white, red/white, all white
and yellow/white (in that order) being secondary. I took a few fish on chicken scratch Bombers when I could get out of the wind but other wise it
was needles. I tried some Danny's and Gibbs swimmers but to no avail.

I took fish everywhere I tried including SW Pt, Grace's and Dories Pt., Snake Hole and Settler's Rock. Grace's was the hotest spot, especially
later in the week. Fish were widely scattered and it took a lot of walking and blind casting to find fish hiding in structure. Maybe the full moon was
effecting them?

Squidding was slow. I got squid each time I tried but the size and quantity was very disappointing. Not much bait around at all except for some squid
at night and some sort of small fish, maybe spearing, at a few spots.

Overall I had bass from 20"-30". The last night I fished I dropped two very nice fish, one that took me into the rocks and I couldn't stop, the other
that bent a 3X hook! It seemed that most casters who put in thier time this week tangled with at least one hook bender so the biggies are there just really tough. The new rod and the Fireline worked out VERY well as distance was extremely important.

Access was no problem and as always the locals were very helpful and friendly. Biggest fish news was of a 51 pounder taken on 10/24 in mid-afternoon on the South side by an angler using a home-made needlefish plug.

Looking forward already to next year's trip.