Baby Striper Moon
A general theme for the past few weeks has been "where are the fresh fish?". As is often the case, the slow start to the run of the schoolies changed dramatically as the full moon came on. They're here now in most of the normal early spring spots as well as many others, battling over small topwaters and swim shads. Jumpin minnows, cocahoes, yozuri banana boats, 3" swim shads will all work. Pinch your barbs if you head out to get a tight line, these little guys are just babies. These micros are being caught throughout Narragansett Bay but again these are mostly just small fish with a bigger one topping out around 18 inches.
The squid have also arrived. The pace is quite far off from it's eventual peak but if you hit it right you can pick up a few squid. I wouldn't make a road trip for it just yet, that's for sure. Look for this fishery to build until the bigger fish start to arrive, which typically coincides with the fading of the squid fishing.
A little video by a friend of the SWE, Steve Cirelli
A visit to almost any of the local herring runs has been a very positive experience for most anglers as the moratorium seems to be having the desired effect as many runs are simply filled with herring. With relatively short lifespans and a short time needed to reach maturity a fish like a herring can make a fast come back if given a chance and this seems to be the case here. As a bonus American shad runs seem to be very strong this year as well and like the stripers they suddenly seemed to dramatically increase in numbers around the moon.
With the resurgence of the herring and all signs pointing to a LOT of bunker heading our way (and some of them already being here) it could get very interesting as migrating fish that are actually capable of eating these bigger baits start to arrive. Rarely have the bigger fish (15 pounds and up) arrived in big numbers in April, but it has happened. Start looking for them in early May but don't be surprised either if we have to wait until mid-May before quality fish that can eat a adult bunker become regulars in the Bay.
