As much as the whole chartering occupation feels like a dream job to many who havenât made that set of ill-advised career choices, make no mistake: It takes an unusual combination of personal traits, an uncommon work ethic, and an almost bottomless reserve of patience to make a go of it. It takes much more than that to do the job at the highest levels of the sport. I will concede that when the weatherâs perfect, the fishing is so good a total moron could sink the boat with stripers, and the people are worldâs nicest, it doesnât necessarily feel much like work. So for about an eighth of a typical season, charter fishing is a dream job. The rest of the time it feels remarkably likeâŚwellâŚwork.Lisa Helme DanforthAug 1st, 2013
So much has happened with your Coastal Angler Magazine Rhode Island in the few months since our last column. Circulation is booming. We heard from Capt. Chris Hobe at Fish the World on Block Island that his copies went in 4 days! The CAM RI Facebook page has also exploded with more than 3200 likes. Captains and anglers alike are sending us eye- popping photos and video through the FB page for publication in print, the FB pages in both Long Island and Rhode Island, and the CAM website. They're comparing notes and catches. The FB page is being taken over by you, which is the point. Lisa Helme DanforthAug 1st, 2013
The conventional wisdom says that August marks a transition in inshore fishing from the relative ease of June-July patterns to a period of tough picking as sustained high heat raises water temps to a relative boil, and local fluke, striped bass and other staple species become skittish, lethargic. Thereâs some truth to all this, but Iâve always maintained that âAugust Doldrumsâ theory relates more to our tendency to project human qualities on aquatic neighbors than it does to piscatorial reality.Lisa Helme DanforthAug 1st, 2013
Here in our second week of our brand-new weekly Friday weekend planner reports, itâs good to get solid word from folks around Rhode Island waters as well as offshore grounds well south of Block Island, that the fishing is quite good, almost no matter what you target.Lisa Helme DanforthJul 19th, 2013
This, the inaugural weekly web report for Coastal Angler Magazine, Rhode Island, should give you an idea of the type of up-to-the-minute report information weâll be delivering every Friday morning through the remainder of this season. The hope is that you all will find it a useful tool as the first late-morning yawns stretch your jaw hinges and your mind begins to wander toward your hours of liberty that, as of around noon, will be close enough that you can taste them. Lisa Helme DanforthJul 12th, 2013
June is the month when fluke season really begins in our Ocean State. While the commercial guys have been bringing in fluke since May, and a few recreational anglers got lucky, âflukingâ really heats up now. Add the fishapalooza âFluke âTil Ya Puke,â hosted by Big Game Fishing in South County (more on the tournament throughout this issue) and we are on the verge of calling Fluke Rhode Islandâs âfish-of-the-month.â Lisa Helme DanforthJul 3rd, 2013
The Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association (RISAA) was honored and recognized by the American Fisheries Society, Southern New England Chapter, during their 2013 Summer Meeting held at Roger Williams University on June 19.Lisa Helme DanforthJul 1st, 2013
Say what you will about the name (no marketing guy ever developed this one), The âFluke âTil Ya Pukeâ fishing tourney is in a class by itself. In fact, it has become the largest fluke tournament in the country and one of Rhode Islandâs most loved fishing events. Lisa Helme DanforthJul 1st, 2013
I shudder to think the number of folks Iâve watched come and go over almost 20 years working deckâparty and charter boatsâin Point Jude. Especially during these lean times, I start to consider the number of times I was present for charter-fishing misfires, trips that ended badly, never quite congealed, or turned out just âokayâ when they could have been spectacular. More times than I care to count, these short-circuited or ill-fated trips were the result of predictably (at least from my perspective) mismatched combinations of charter and captain. Chemistry affects every human interaction for better or worse, and the world of so-called âdeep-seaâ fishing is no exception. Lisa Helme DanforthJul 1st, 2013