Just in time for this weekend’s tournament… - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

Fish_Eye · 10-23-2008, 03:46 PM

I just took these shots about three hours ago off the Charlestown breachway. The bass and blues are steadily getting larger and the schools are getting larger. There were a mix of bass and blues with many more stripers than blues.

The bass were generally running from six feet under the surface to right on the bottom. As is normally the case, many times the fish were there with no birds working overhead. The rock piles straight off the inlet seemed to momentarily stop migrating fish for awhile, but they were definitely on the move. I got to spend a few hours with Captain Ryan Sansoucy and Captain Jim White as they took a day off from chartering to bend a rod.

Here’s a look at what’s scooting past south county Rhode Island.

tynan19 · 10-23-2008, 03:59 PM

Mike, thanks for that!

RNC · 10-23-2008, 04:05 PM

Very awesome pictures!!

The Iceman 6 · 10-23-2008, 04:06 PM

Awesome pics Fish Eye, thanks.

BassDawg · 10-23-2008, 08:37 PM

GREAT pix!!!

thanks, Mike,,,,,,,,,,,

i'd be skeered that the toothybastages would
chomp me up, course that's just me, and i don't DIVE!!!

thanks for the insights to the species, as well!!

in_the_water · 10-23-2008, 08:52 PM

Very impressive.....that must be so cool to view under water.

Crafty Angler · 10-24-2008, 04:31 AM

Likewise around these parts

Yesterday AM I got cell intel from one of my forward observers in the OGN (the Old Guy Network) that adult pogies were being pushed up on the rocks by a large school of fish in the 20-30# class and some of the guys were scooping them up and live-lining them back in - I had an appointment I couldn't break and suffered visibly thru it

I'll be at that UDL shortly before sun-up to see if history will repeat itself

k-e-v-i-n · 10-24-2008, 07:13 AM

wonder if anyone will be fishing charlestown breachway after seeing this post... jk

mike great shots.

whiplash · 10-24-2008, 07:45 AM

Absolutly KILLING ME to see those pics! There goes any thought of productivity for today. Lets see, what illness can come on suddenly that can get me out of work by 11 on the beach by 1 bachk home by 6- wife will never know

RIJIMMY · 10-24-2008, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k-e-v-i-n

wonder if anyone will be fishing charlestown breachway after seeing this post... jk
.

yeah, bluefish are mighty tough to come by

Fish_Eye · 10-24-2008, 08:52 AM

RI Jimmy:

Quote:

yeah, bluefish are mighty tough to come by

Some days they are, some days they're not...yesterday there were plenty of alligators around but with many more stripers around them.

Visibility was limited to about 4 feet which was not too comforting when you see a big bluefish porpoise out of the water with something chasing it, then you see a few bluefish bearing fresh scars.

Here are a few of the bass from yesterday. The bigger ones at the bottom of the school.

Fish_Eye · 10-24-2008, 08:56 AM

Here are a few more shots from yesterday...got to run...need to jump back in this afternoon and shoot some video of all this madness.

rwilhelm · 10-24-2008, 09:18 AM

Awesome pics!

JH Beers · 10-24-2008, 12:37 PM

What did the big bluefish in the first pic end up weighing/measuring?

Ken_J · 10-24-2008, 08:04 PM

really nice

Crafty Angler · 10-24-2008, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish_Eye

RI Jimmy:

...Visibility was limited to about 4 feet which was not too comforting when you see a big bluefish porpoise out of the water with something chasing it, then you see a few bluefish bearing fresh scars.

....

A friend of mine told me that yesterday morning he was out around the Drive and saw a herd of seals on and around Seal Rock (hence the name) who were holding fish in their mouths and shaking their heads, flailing them back and forth against the surface.

Saw a bluefish washed up on Second Beach the other morning with a small radius bite out of its belly, then later on saw a seal pop its head up out of the water while I was sitting in the Jeep warming up.

Seals are around Newport in fair numbers for this time of year - never a good sign

Hopefully, Mike, the seals over your way were just hungry, not lonely.

I'm not sure what standard operating procedure would be for your protection during an encounter with an amorous piniped while diving.

Let us know how you make out anyway

Nebe · 10-24-2008, 10:30 PM

I have surfcast from seal rock

Fish_Eye · 10-25-2008, 06:38 AM

Crafty,

I know seal rock underwater like the back of my hand. Even my wife has shot (at) tautog around the rock.

I've never been poked by a pinniped although some of my earliest dives off of Plymouth had them circling me...back then you could take a seal nose into the postoffice and get paid a $15 bounty...we should return to those days. Big seals have just shown up at the middle wall in Pt Judith and Fishers Island has a number of the big slobs eating fish off the flats there.

I say we sponsor a nice Inuit family and put them up over the winter. They must be allowed to pursue their historic and traditional rights to harvest seals. Heck if we gave Louisville Sluggers to 10% of the Canadians in Woonsocket and sponsored a seal clubbing event with alll pelts going to shelters for the needy, we could finally realize some value for the overgrown rats that are tipping the balance of nature.

Zeno · 10-25-2008, 07:09 AM

Mike, you are my kind of thinker

We have hundreds of them laying on a sandbar in Jones Beach last year.Few years ago ,they'll call a newspaper if they'd seen one

Pete F. · 10-25-2008, 07:29 AM

Hey, sharks need to eat too. I still say there will be a change when a great white slams one off a crowded fishing beach.