SWE Fishing Report: 5.31.07

[Pete_G]

Tough not to sound like a broken record:

Captain Eric Taylor with a nice bunker caught bass:


But bunker in Narragansett Bay equals great fishing. From shore and boat, the story is the same: big, hungry fish, and lots of them. About the only spot that has been intermittent and maybe even weak is the open ocean facing rocky shorelines. The water is warming though, and if some bait is added to the mix it’s likely those spots will come to life too. Night fishing has been challenging at times for many. The bass are clearly feeding well during the day, and compounded with the moon nighttime fishing for stripers has been a bit tough. Even from shore we’ve found the best fishing taking place in low light or during the day for big fish. This may change as we come up on the next dark moon.

Jake with a nice bass caught from shore in the late evening:


Many anglers are enjoying some the best fishing they’ve had in many years, from Connecticut to Boston. One highlight from this past week is Bill Nolan’s 47.11 pound bass on a live bunker. Then, in addition to that is the countless 20 and 30 pound class fish, occasional 40’s caught by many different anglers from shore and boat, and any way you look at there’s epic late May fishing taking place.

Bill Nolan's 47 pounder:


The fish haven’t changed their routines much. From the boat some anglers are focusing on shallower water adjacent to deeper water with either live bunker or topwater offerings while others are working deeper with 3 way rigs and bunker or 9” Tsunami Shads. Both approaches are producing well. We had a lot of success on the Afterhours 10” needle this week. We’ve been fishing it more in a walk the dog style then the traditional needlefish crawl and the results have been impressive. It was even holding its own when being fished at the same time we were live-lining bunker. If you’re looking for places to live line bunker or fish any other offering, steeper drop offs with structure are reliably holding fish. Not that that is anything new. You’ll get a fairly quick response if the structure you’re fishing is occupied.

One of Taylor Brown's hungry 10" Afterhours' Needlefish eating stripers:


If you’re having trouble finding bunker, they can literally be found everywhere but they typically school most noticeably in the coves of the Upper Bay. Look for ripples on the surface and that’s probably them. Approach them slowly. We watched some boats racing towards the schools of bunker like they were breaking tuna. The tuna don’t like this approach and neither do the bunker. The result will be the same, the fish you’re trying to catch will quickly sound down into the depths making for much more work then a stealthy approach would have.

Karen live lining a bunker, waiting for the hit from another big striper:


From shore, some spots have been unproductive especially at night, but not surprisingly if you can find bunker and snag one you will likely be rewarded. Bass up to keeper size are hanging out on many shore lines, but often you do need to be in the proximity of a bunker school to really get into the bigger size classes of fish. The 9” Tsunami shad has been a producer in spots deep enough to handle it. As always, the bucktail jig has produced as well in. Pencil Poppers and Needles have been producers as well, white being the go-to for anglers fishing in the early morning, evening, and also during the day. A few anglers have even witnessed bass pushing adult bunker onto the shoreline, a event which could even get more frequent as even more fish enter the Bay. It doesn’t really get much better then that.



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[shady grady]

you guys are killing me with these awesome pics and reports.




Keep 'em coming

[cumberlandflyguy]

I hit the Warwick shore for 30 min today at 10 and caught a couple of schoolies with a couple of other strikes. Squid fly seemed to be the one doing the trick. Wanted to stick around but work was calling. Heading out tomorow morning to try again.

[lumo]

Tuesday on the incoming with squid on the shores South of Wicksford, no weight but she measured 34 inches and was covered with lice. Can't wait to get back out and use the last of your bone red fins and white after hours needles.

thanks guys