[TopSnipe]

Did not get much opportunity to wet a line. 3 hours this past monday at Horsenect Beach / Gooseberry Island in MA. Weather was foul, raining and no fish to be found. Went with my b-in-law who suggested this spot. I should have listened to my better judgement and hit narraganset bay. Oh, well!

Wednesday morn I'm at the navy base in Newport, RI, waiting for the exchange to open. I park along the bay just to see if there is any action...boy is there! I see 3 schools busting bait on the surface within 200 yards of each other! I lose sight of 2 schools but track the third. They move like clockwork. Bust bait for 4 or 5 minutes, swim south a couple of hundred yards, bust bait for 4 or 5 more minutes, etc. This went on for 25 minutes, I couldn't believe it. Made me wish for a boat. I had to leave, don't know how much longer it lasted.

I was wondering how long before some boater figured it out. After the schools surfaced for about the 5th time a boater finally caught on. Too bad he could not anticipate the action, he's arrive just as the school was breaking up and submerging. I saw him miss the bite 3 times! Unbelievable!

I suspect they were blues but, maybe schoolie stripers.

Tight lines...

 

[Manayunk Jake]

Greetings TopSnipe!

Even if you SEE blues busting up the bait, there's always a good chance that stripers (and weakies farther south) are under the action, catching the cut pieces of bait that float downward. The stripers and trout are happy to let the blues do all the work. One old trick is to cast a weighted treble into the school of bait, snag one, and hope that it sinks below the action before a blue grabs it. Of course, bait fishing with a treble is considered taboo in this age of minimum sizes and C&R, but a heavy tin squid (diamond jig without the chrome) or bunker spoon sometimes works almost as well.

 

[TopSnipe]

Good info Jake. Hopefully I'll be in a position to take advantage next time!

tight...