Are the BASS Declining

[piemma]

I posted the same question last Fall on a different web site. I posted it because we were catching nothing but big fish. I was worried that I was not seeing schoolies. I was literally told I was full of s%*# by Mr Expert, Frankie D.

I believe that there is a decline from the last 2 years but I also think the pattern is different this year...at least in So. RI. We have not seen the Peanut Bunker like the years past. We had one run of Peanuts about a month ago on the So. RI Coast and we caught a ton of fish in 4 nights. All quality fish with just a sprinkling of Schoolies mixed in.
I fish almost every night I am not traveling on business. I live in Northern RI and drive 100+ miles, round trip. I have had a lot more fishless nights than in the last 2 years combined. The guys I know and TRUST are saying the same thing. There are 3 of us who have about 100 years combined chasing Stripers and none of us are having a good year.

The upside is that we did find fish this weekend at 2 different places. They moved a considerable distance each night so we fanned out and hunted.

I think that the bait situation is key. We have heard that there are BIG fish being taken at Washburn Wire, way up the river in East Providence, where the baby herring are dumping out of Omega Pond. If that's the case, then it's more a question of bait location than fish abundance.

We will all know in about a month because if the Big Girls don't come knockin' by then, well......