More From Rhode Island
Black Sea Bass Ceviche
Oct 4th, 2019
Freedom Boat Club Members: GOT TO LOVE OCTOBER
Oct 4th, 2019
Take Aim on Fall Bigmouths
Oct 4th, 2019
Braggin’ Board
Sep 4th, 2019
Scup Crudo
Sep 4th, 2019
Freedom Boat Clubs Provides Fall Advantage
Sep 4th, 2019 
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All Rhode Island & Connecticut Stories
Fish Focus: Crossroads
At the risk of beating one very dead horse, I canât shake the feeling that weâre standing on the threshold of dark days for our striped bass resource. I wrote a bit about this in last monthâs column, too, and I decided when I wrote that entry that Iâd leave the subject alone for a bit. Trouble is, with each passing week, Iâve spoken to new people representingâin sumâquite a significant geographic fishing range, and an interesting cross-section of the striper-fishing world.Oct 1st, 2013
From the Publishers
September is turning out to be a blockbuster month for the Rhode Island Marine industry. The Newport Boat Show was abuzz with news of Pete Petersonâs acquisition of Hunt Yachts via Scout Partners, LLC. We had a chance to catch up with Hunt Yachtsâ President Peter Van Lancker at the RIMPTA Industry Partners breakfast where he was receiving its prestigious Anchor Award.Oct 1st, 2013
It’s Prime Time for Makos
The early-week cold snap rung my bellâjarred my sense of time back into order, reminded me that fall is here. If the air temps on, say, Tuesday night didnât get the point across, then the fact that it is once again full-dark by 8 p.m. drove it all home. As usual, Iâve gone from that sense of having âtons of timeâ straight into the standard autumn high panic that this whole season is going to wash out the scuppers before I can get a grip on it. Iâve lost bonito, and lost the late-season doormat fishery over at the Island. I will not fail to get in my time trying to cull a few 4-pounders out of Mount Mini on the sea bass grounds; I will not miss my shotâa few weeks down the line just now, it appearsâto fill a two-hook rig with 5 pounds of scup, and I will not miss my shot at a tautog north of 10 pounds. The freezer stash of vacuum-sealed fillets is looking lean to nonexistent: Itâs time to get crackingâŚOct 1st, 2013
Autumn Angling 101: Play the Lees, Fish More Days
Falls fly by. Storms line up like planes in a landing queue, and pummel us in rapid succession. Between easterly blowsâthe hurricane remnants and the norâeastersâwinds gust out of the northwest as cold fronts sweep down from Canada. In an average week, thereâs plenty of wind from all the points of the compass rose. Before you know it, youâre looking at the second half of October, wondering how all those weeks got away from you. Sep 24th, 2013
Rhode Island Weekly Fishing Report
Itâs Prime Time For Makos! The early-week cold snap rung my bellâjarred my sense of time back into order, reminded me that fall is here. If the air temps on, say, Tuesday night didnât get the point across, then the fact that it is once again full-dark by 8 p.m. drove it all home. Sep 20th, 2013
Bottom (Fishing) of the Ninth
I love and respect striped bass. I enjoy the challenge of getting them to eat plugs in boiling inlet currents long after the rest of the civilized world has hit the rack. I love the unmistakable freight-train run of a 40-pounder a nanosecond after Iâve buried the barb of an octopus hook in her oversized jaw hinge. I love snapping jigs on wire, love diamond-jigging them in the North Rip, love slinging huge snakes into the shoreline stones along the Newport oceanfront or the endless reefs and rockpiles and whitewater off Little Compton. I think I have a pretty good personal handle on why so many folks devote so many hours to their pursuit.Sep 1st, 2013
Ocean State Cod
A theme you may have noticed in this monthâs issue of Coastal Angler is that August is truly a multi-species month. Fluke was the fish of the moment last month, particularly with the great tournaments going on throughout the Ocean State, and now striped bass seems to be is on the hit parade. But as the savvy angler knows, August is the month of surprises. And to our surprise, we hear that cod, usually fished in fall and winter, are chipping off the Block right now--literally, off the coast of Block Island. Say what? Maybe stripers or summer flounder, but cod?Sep 1st, 2013
State of the Striper: Dark Days Ahead?
After an intense two-hour pick of stripers, 30 inches to 38 pounds, during which we ran three wires and had at least one fish on at all times, Iâm grateful for the certainty that even the craziest tide boils itself slack eventually. Now, our six guys are trying to poke holes in some sea bass, but itâs been slow so far. I remove my oilers and shed the sodden sweatshirt I couldnât find an idle minute to take off during the bite, then head for the freshwater wash-down hose to rinse the opaque sheen of slime, salt, and blood spatter off my polarized shadesâmy Stevie Wondervision Pro Series. The routineâs almost automatic at this point in the season.Sep 1st, 2013
The Fact and Fiction of Fall Chartering
For some years not all that long agoâfrom 1995 through, say, 2000âmost of the Ocean State charterboat fleet was booking striper trips almost exclusively from the crack of the starting pistol in May through the last gasp of migratory action, usually sometime in mid- to late-November. But as striper stocks have begun to constrict at an accelerating rate, in overall abundance, geographic distribution, and, in more recent years, migratory patterns, captains who used to jam the fish right through autumn. Some aspects of Ocean State striper fishing have remained more or less constant over the last decade, while others have shifted so dramatically that youâd be hard-pressed to call recent striper behaviors âpatternsâ at all.Sep 1st, 2013