A Great Night in an Inconsistent Fall



My big fish for the night

If you were one of those to find stripers every time you looked for them this fall consider yourself very lucky. If you were one of those to seem to be in the wrong place/wrong time this fall take solace in that you were not alone. The only thing I can say about striper fishing this fall is that it has been consistently inconsistent from shore. There have been great days mixed in with a week of nothing.

On Friday, I found fish big time. I got down to Narragansett late because of traffic on Route 95. I got to Pt. Judith right at sunset. I managed one schoolies. Apparently, huge numbers of fish were gorging themselves a mile to my north on one inch bay anchovies. They were very picky and casting into a school the size of a football field usually meant reeling in nothing more often than a fish.

After I left PJ, I tried a place with moving water. At first I couldn’t catch anything while my friend was killing schoolies on a black deceiver. Finally I hooked into a good fish on a Daiwa minnow. After at least a ten minute battle, I lipped a fish that easily went 25 pounds. This was my biggest fish of the year to date. Then I went back to catching nothing while those around me kept catching.

I decided to experiment. First I tried a shad on a jighead…Nothing. Then I tried a Cocahoe. That did the trick. I started landing fish on every third cast. I didn’t get any more giants or even keepers, but got over 20 fish to just under keeper size. I guess they were keying on the small bait in the current. The Cocahoe certainly worked on them.

I did not go back down Saturday because I was watching game three of the World Series, but I am curious if the fish will still be around of not. This year, I wouldn’t be surprised either way.