Still Learning

Third Cast

There is a place in Narragansett I have been fishing for almost fifteen years. It is one of the first places I learned to surfcast. I used eels there often. I was a baker, when I would get out of work around 1 am, I'd drive down and fish until after dawn. I did extremely well there in the old days. I would almost always get at least one keeper.

The spot is a low tide spot. After spending enough time there, I realized, the best fishing occurred from one hour after low until two hours after low tide. Much after that, the water level would be too high and the spot would become dangerous.

I have only fished this area a couple times a year since my services as a baker were no longer needed. I have switched to lures instead of eels. I also let go my fish now, where as before, they were actually keepers.

When I fished this spot, I would always go out to the same rock .I would fan cast for hours. I might move to a new rock if I didn't get anything for an hour. Occasionally it would be rough, so I couldn't get to the spot I wanted, but I would fish as close to it as I could.

As anyone who visits the ocean knows, the shoreline isn't all sandy beach. It's not all rocky either. You might have a mile of beach followed by miles of rocky coast. Some of the shoreline might be bowling ball sized rocks like  Point Judith. Others might be great cliff slabs like Beavertail.

Today, I fished within ten yards of my old productive spot. It was completely different water! First off, where I fished is a good high tide spot. Secondly, I used to fish exclusively at night in the summer. This spot is a good day time producer in the spring. Lastly, where as I used to fish into fairly shallow sandy water, the spot only thirty yards away, is pretty deep with a lot of rocky structure.

I went to the spot on the advice of one of my friends. I had to go to Narragansett tonight anyway for a Surfcaster's meeting. High tide was at 6 pm. I got out of work late, so by the time I got there it was 5:45. Conditions were absolutely perfect. Cloudy, just a little rough, nice breeze. The water was clean. I couldn't have asked for better. On my third cast, I landed a 25 inch fish. Then a couple more about the same size.

Since my meeting started at 7 pm, I only had less than an hour to fish. I picked up four in that hour. I wish I could have stayed all night.

However, it wasn't the number of fish that got me thinking. It was the productivity of a spot I fished, and never even thought about. On my walk to my old spot, I never gave this spot a second look. On nights that I got a goose egg, I never even made a cast into that beautiful fishy water. How  many big fish were right there looking for my eel? How many schoolies were chasing small bait on nights I was a thirty second walk away, and my back was turned to them as I was making my way to the car?

I think it's time I put a little more time into exploring some fishy looking spots. I've already said, I'm going to commit to more night time fishing this summer. You can bet, this spot will be one of those places.