More of the same in Bay, but even bigger, plus big fish from shore. 
The fish in Narragansett Bay continue to spread throughout the Bay and get even larger. The South County and Newport
whitewater along the coast are following the trend of Narragansett Bay: more and bigger. Schoolies can be caught in most spots in the surf, and several larger fish came out of the suds this week, most notably Craig "end of the fence guy" Stockwell's 41 pounder caught from shore on the 18th with a live eel. Pencil
Poppers are producing well for Danny Oakley along Newport in the late evening and early morning.
Last night (5.21.07) Steve McKenna also found fish from the surf. Just a few hours fishing produced 7 fish between 20 and 30 pounds, all falling to the trusty black
Sluggo. Nightime is starting to be the right time from shore...
The fish in the Bay have definitely begun to take interest in the bunker schools. Being in the right spot at the right time can result in some amazing sights, with adult bunker running for their lives from stripers both big and small. Weekdays are the preferred day to be on the water due to reduced boat traffic. Weekends are very intense right now in the preferred spring spots. You won't be alone out there. On Sunday, the first hour of fishing was epic with a 22 and a 24 pounder both coming over the gunnel mixed in with other good fish. Once there was 3 dozen boats running over the fish, the fun was over.
We're still seeing squid occasionally jumping out of the water, and even mantis shrimp fleeing the hungry stripers. The bass have had several all day non-stop feeding binges, ignoring both tides and weather. Big Tsunamis shads, the trusty bucktail with pork rind, and at times topwaters have all been safe bets. The fly rod also caught some good fish approaching 20 pounds. A big Skok Mega Mushy 2 was responsible for the biggest fish.
This week we saw the gulls starting to show more interest, which is a sure sign the bunker are getting nervous. As expected, that's exactly what was going on. Prior to this it seemed to fish were pre-occupied with squid, as most schools of bunker were enjoying peaceful times. Not now. Generally we ignore most bird activity such as terns in May, but seagulls really like bunker and herring, and of course big bass do to. If you see seagulls checking something out, or even sitting on the water, it's always worth taking a peek to see what might be keeping them there. The payoff can be huge.
While the fishing is rarely not good at this point for boat anglers, this has really been some incredible shore fishing for the past few days. Take a day off, go into work on two hours sleep, or whatever else it takes. It doesn't get much better then this.
