Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont Fishing Reports and Fishing Information
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Albacized
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Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Post by Albacized »

I've been hitting a 'southside'(of the cape) location with mixed results. The ocean side has been off a bit with easterly winds hampering things. I caught blues way back in the beginning of May, then not another blue until this past weekend (about 6 tries later)...SW winds finally kicked in and brought them in closer (I think boat guys have been slaying them all along)...

Meanwhile, as far as stripers are concerned, there is a big concern over the lack of YOY (i.e. small micro schoolies) around this area. People are getting fish and the upside is that the sizes have averaged larger by 'normal' standards. However, the worries over the lack of micro schoolies is two fold: one is because it seems that for the short term, those good old days of catching 50-100 schoolies on a fly rod or light tackle is behind us and two...it shows that our future stocks may be in trouble. Personally, I've been catching fish every time out. But not really knocking them dead. Mostly, I've been concentrating on a saltwater pond using top water (rebel 'Jumpin' Minnow') for most of my fish with flyfishing taking up the small percentage I didn't catch on the top water lure.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my week down in the sunshine state in July. See ya soon :cyclops:

SD2
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Re: Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Post by SD2 »

Yeah, the big stripers are still out there but the stocks of schoolies are definitely in decline, especially in rivers, lack of river herring is a big reason why but not the only reason.
"Game fish are too valuable to only be caught once."

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PhishingPhanatic
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Re: Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Post by PhishingPhanatic »

Nice report from up that way. Do you ever do any fishing from the surf around the Chatham / Monomoy area? I used to surf fish up there at night, got my biggest striper from the Lighthouse Beach at Chatham on a live eel, weighed in at 39 lbs. I may be up that way in late July for 4 or 5 days, would love to get out one night and try to get a pig.
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Albacized
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Re: Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Post by Albacized »

I usually don't get out to Chatham/Monomoy - Although now that I have a yak, I wouldn't mind playing around inside the hook (in Sept, it's evidently a good albie spot)...


Btw, I meant to edit a little typo in my original post but I haven't figured it out yet :oops:
Anyway ' I caught blues way back in the beginning of blues' should be 'in the beginning of May' :oops:

bart
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Re: Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Post by bart »

Hey Albacized- I recognize your SN from the sites up North. I had a great spring fishing the Canal with many fish in the 15-20lb range, largest going 30. most on large shads, some on topwater. didn't fish much in June but when I did it was eeling in RI and the results were less than impressive. haven't really fished that much since and don't see myself doing so anytime soon with this heat wave. But as far as I can tell the fishing hasn't been that good, at least at the mouth of Narragansett Bay from shore.

Phishing Phanatic- as far as Chatham goes, that fishery hasn't been good in a while. the seals have wiped out all of the bait inshore. a few miles offshore in the rips, that's a different story. Chatham Light used to be my favorite place to fish though....
"Moisture is the essence of wetness. Wetness is the essence of Beauty"

Albacized
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Re: Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Post by Albacized »

bart wrote:Hey Albacized- I recognize your SN from the sites up North. I had a great spring fishing the Canal with many fish in the 15-20lb range, largest going 30. most on large shads, some on topwater. didn't fish much in June but when I did it was eeling in RI and the results were less than impressive. haven't really fished that much since and don't see myself doing so anytime soon with this heat wave. But as far as I can tell the fishing hasn't been that good, at least at the mouth of Narragansett Bay from shore.

Phishing Phanatic- as far as Chatham goes, that fishery hasn't been good in a while. the seals have wiped out all of the bait inshore. a few miles offshore in the rips, that's a different story. Chatham Light used to be my favorite place to fish though....

Hey, how's it going? I've seen you over on the other board as well (my wife works in Franklin btw). But anyway, another thing I've heard that hurt the fishery out there is that one of the openings inside the bay was closed off by sand during a storm at some point within the past several years. I don't fish there enough to know the entire story. But evidently, there is now a body of water that fed into the ocean and was a really good fishery (I think the area is called 'the bowl' or something close to that), but now it's almost completely landlocked (one small opening to another bay somewhere) and the fishing has stunk ever since.

fixed80
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Re: Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Post by fixed80 »

any fluke or flounder this time of year?

Albacized
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Re: Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Post by Albacized »

Fluke fishing is picking up after a slow start. Unfortunately, they have a short season and will be off limits to keep after August. I heard they're getting some winter flounder up north in Boston Harbor. In fact, even further north in Cloucester, although I was flyfishing for stripers and pollock, I watched some of the bait guys pick up some winter flatties off the breakwater.

I also saw a few boats come in with a decent catch of winter flounder in their coolers.

fixed80
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Re: Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Post by fixed80 »

thats cool. what size do they have to be up there?

Albacized
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Re: Spring so far...striper/bluefish report

Post by Albacized »

fixed80 wrote:thats cool. what size do they have to be up there?

Fluke now have to be 18.5" and there is a bag limit of 5 fish - pretty soon the fish will have to be trophy size just to keep:-)

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