more reports

-- Upper Narragansett Bay
The pace this week was a litter slower than last, but there is still good fishing opportunities in the upper bay. Fishing slowed down during the calmer conditions and more pleasure boaters last weekend. The weekdays have returned to normal will quieter conditions. Now that early summer is here, it is best to get up early before the sun rises. Boat ramps are busier than ever, so you want to avoid the congestion. Early mornings are prime times for the best fishing conditions. Don’t waste your time at the dock. It will just spoil the experience and increase your stress. It is important to plan a strategy now with the warmer water. Try this! Instead of just heading to your favorite locations each day, try finding a school of bunker. Track them all morning and stay outside their perimeter. Eventually their location will be given away by predators. A good starting point for bait dunkers is Ohio Ledge than look for other physical signs on the water, not up. There are less pods of bunker north of Conimicut Light due largely to daily seining. The easies way to locate bunker is just watch out for light planes. Greenwich Bay, near the entrance buoy to the harbor still has plenty of menhaden. This week’s journal: Tuesday had Michael Testa aboard Cast a Fly after a cancellation of high winds. We finally got better conditions to fly fish as we left the dock at 4:45 am. The harbor was busy this morning with fishermen gathering bunker. We made the short trip to Warwick Country Club as our first stop for a warm up; “no joy!” Tides were low this week so many shallow locations just didn’t have the water to enter. Open water conditions over schools of pogies seemed to be our best route today. Mike recently returned to live in Rhode Island again after a number of years away from the place. Changes in his life have made him realize that time and life are valuable commodities. Narragansett Bay holds a special place in his heart. He’s an experience seamen and sailor with salt in his blood. He not only considers the Bay an important resource, but one of the most breathtaking places to live. As a world traveler and ex Naval Officer he knows what he is talking about. We both served in the Navy together during the Viet Nam Era, so this morning was going to be trip down memory lane. We had many sea stories to tell. Mike managed to put a few dozen bass over the side including a few quality fish. In the mix were a few cocktail blues that made fishing without wire interesting. The bite was consistent with no large amounts of lag time. That was nice. As the temps reached into the eighties, the bite continued largely to the rising tide. By noon time we had had enough catching. We had plenty of striper thumbs and shoulder pain to prove it. Mike has no trouble whipping the fly line thru the guides at ninety feet. Enjoy your retirement Mike. I suspect fly fishing and golf will take up much of your time. It was a morning well spent watching the sunrise and seeing the many boils of stripers. Here’s one of Mike’s efforts on an eight weight.
Captain Ray

-- Upper Narragansett Bay

The pace this week was a litter slower than last, but there is still good fishing opportunities in the upper bay. Fishing slowed down during the calmer conditions and more pleasure boaters last weekend. The weekdays have returned to normal will quieter conditions. Now that early summer is here, it is best to get up early before the sun rises. Boat ramps are busier than ever, so you want to avoid the congestion. Early mornings are prime times for the best fishing conditions. Don’t waste your time at the dock. It will just spoil the experience and increase your stress.

It is important to plan a strategy now with the warmer water. Try this! Instead of just heading to your favorite locations each day, try finding a school of bunker. Track them all morning and stay outside their perimeter. Eventually their location will be given away by predators. A good starting point for bait dunkers is Ohio Ledge than look for other physical signs on the water, not up. There are less pods of bunker north of Conimicut Light due largely to daily seining. The easies way to locate bunker is just watch out for light planes. Greenwich Bay, near the entrance buoy to the harbor still has plenty of menhaden.

This week’s journal:

Tuesday had Michael Testa aboard Cast a Fly after a cancellation of high winds. We finally got better conditions to fly fish as we left the dock at 4:45 am. The harbor was busy this morning with fishermen gathering bunker. We made the short trip to Warwick Country Club as our first stop for a warm up; “no joy!” Tides were low this week so many shallow locations just didn’t have the water to enter. Open water conditions over schools of pogies seemed to be our best route today.

Mike recently returned to live in Rhode Island again after a number of years away from the place. Changes in his life have made him realize that time and life are valuable commodities. Narragansett Bay holds a special place in his heart. He’s an experience seamen and sailor with salt in his blood. He not only considers the Bay an important resource, but one of the most breathtaking places to live. As a world traveler and ex Naval Officer he knows what he is talking about. We both served in the Navy together during the Viet Nam Era, so this morning was going to be trip down memory lane. We had many sea stories to tell.

Mike managed to put a few dozen bass over the side including a few quality fish. In the mix were a few cocktail blues that made fishing without wire interesting. The bite was consistent with no large amounts of lag time. That was nice. As the temps reached into the eighties, the bite continued largely to the rising tide. By noon time we had had enough catching. We had plenty of striper thumbs and shoulder pain to prove it. Mike has no trouble whipping the fly line thru the guides at ninety feet.

Enjoy your retirement Mike. I suspect fly fishing and golf will take up much of your time. It was a morning well spent watching the sunrise and seeing the many boils of stripers.

Here’s one of Mike’s efforts on an eight weight.

Captain Ray