Stripers are aggressive moving in and over the bar chasing tiny sand eels and squid. The nice part is you don’t have to get up early to have good fishing conditions.
Our morning trips have found bass at the rip too. Some mornings the bite extends into the day. Other times it shuts off rather quickly. We had a nice bite Tuesday that lasted till the ebb than all action ceased. The more boat activity generally separates the schools and thins the action. Get there early for prime fishing conditions. We move along the western shore for some top water actions.
Captain’s Log:
Mike Testa and Dave Pollack had an afternoon trip this week. The weather was nice, but not as much bait around. Fishing was spotty and they were moving around quickly all night. Much of the time was spent trying to locate them again. They managed six quality stripers and the first bluefish of the season.
The Quest for the Striper Cup
Nature was extremely gracious and giving out at Block Island. Under perfect conditions using the long wand, we found stripers immediately busting the surface at the tip of North Rip. Talk about fly fishing over 70 feet of moving water? Doesn’t happen very often in the Atlantic Ocean? Dave Pollack and Mike Harrington hit the gold mine while I got the shaft. Just fooling!
It was nice to watch those two living legends at work.
Mike Harrington is an imposing figure at six feet- five inches tall, seeing him on a boat platform makes him stick out like a red wood tree amongst seedlings. He’s considered the Zdeno Chara (Boston Bruins Hockey) of the Connecticut/Rhode Island Coastal Fly Fishers. He’s their clubs first line of defense and lets nothing by. Everyone knows he plays well on home waters with fifty club members surrounding him. The question remains, how is this going to affect his playing performance on un-known away from home waters? He’s left high and dry without his support staff behind him. Can he kill off the penalty? Can he play short- handed even though he has some of the longest arms around? We shall see?
Obvious being tall has some advantages. The first run of stripers tried to get under the big man, but Mike with his 800 grain line soon dwarfed the momentum. Icing the fly a few times, he soon connected with a drag shot and a short pull. His drive landed high and to the inside of the mouth. Score! But it’s not over, now he’s got to finish. Mike looks to be in tremendous shape with his chisel frame but does he have the endurance to chase a Block Island striper around the boat? After all, Mike does spend his days at an office desk. The striper peels off line, heads toward the current. Mike counters with some side to side rod action. A few exchanges of the puck and both combatants look to be on side. Several minutes later Mike has the large striper near the boat. Here is where that extra reach of a large frame comes in handy. The striper tries to use the motor skeg as a screen. Mike not having any of that extends his large arm up and over the motor cowl to clear the threat and remove the striper to the neutral zone.
