Albie Season!!

Oh, this may be my favorite time of the year for fishing! Striped bass are fun, Tautog put up a great fight and tuna well, they are in a different category, but where else can you get 100 yards of line ripped out of your reel in less than 30 seconds and still be 3 minutes from the boat ramp? No Where!!  For those of you that follow this or if you are a first time visitor, this is the best light tackle rod hands down. They are challenging, fast, picky, and test your patience to no end. Plus, they train you for Blue Fin.   They are up and down from RI to MA and my time is limited this time of the year.  Albies feed during the day so even if you can't do an early morning trip, evening are very much a possibility until dusk. Call me if you have any questions or want to book a trip!

This one was a HUGE Albie landed with an 8 weight Orvis H2 and 250 grain line on an Abel Super 8.  What a fight it gave... and it gets to go home afterwards!

So Much Fun!

After a little break in July (awesome Montana trip my wife got me for my 40th Birthday present), some business personal stuff, I was able to get back into motion and on the water.  My good buddy E.G has been doing great on the ledge and was keeping me informed of his successes.  We had several great trips at the Block and some big bass up in the 40 + lb range.  If you were fortunate to get on that bite, good for you! If not, you better learn the lesson for next season that when someone says its hot at Block, you go.
What I love about RI is that when you get tired of one thing, you can move to another.  Lately, I have had the great fortune of taking out some fine folks. One trip was for a young man that has never caught anything beyond a sunfish in freshwater.  Over the weekend, he was able to land scup, sea bass, fluke and even his first ever striped bass! It was a special trip for many on board, including me. Despite a disability, he hammered fish all day.  That did not stop him from placing bets with the other anglers on board on who was going to catch the next fish!  This is just the beginning this guy.

On Day Two, we took a long...long day of fishing.  The goal was to go look for Tuna down south and maybe fish for Mahi while we were waiting. Upon arrival, it was dead. Some gents did well further south at first light but that was a tad beyond my comfort zone for my boat. We mad the call to head NE toward the Vineyard and fish for Bass and the rumored Bonito. We got to the grounds and just hammered Bass with light tackle. I mean hours of big bass with topwater and metal. Bass were busting on snapper blues at one point!  We fished the backside of the Elizabeths working our way through Woods Hole up to Sippiwissett and over though and to Newport again. Yeah, it was somewhere around 140 miles covered but it was worth it. P.S, only one shot an what may have been Bonito all day. If you don't mind catching 100 blues working for them, have at it. There is tons of bait along the shorelines for Bass, Blues and heck, we even had a sea robin blitz! Go figure.

Newport, Block and everything in between

Upper Bay: you will be limited to school sized stripers at dawn and dusk (still awesome on light tackle)! Small patterns and lures will be best. There are also some mid range blues to be had throughout the day.  Scup can also be taken on the fly but rigs will be your go-to.

Newport: Bass are there, dawn and dusk being your better bet but can be taken mid day with extra effort and some patience. EP flies. Sand eel patterns, poppers, deceiver and clousers are must haves. Spin gear, use some swimmers and metal, and if you have fresh bait, you should do fine!  Fluke and sea bass continue to be a great daytime fishery out to 100ft depths.

Block: big bass, some days were great, other times nights were best. Call for the inside scoop as this changes daily. If you want your chance at big bass, this is where you want to be.  Average fish is in the mid 30 lb range with many over 40 being caught.  My schedule is limited for these trips and I am only booking up through the end of August.

Cape cod: best bet is to get in on a local captain for a half day trip if you want stripers. I will be doing full days in September for the Albacore and Bonito but for the limited hours, I recommend you call the Laura-Jay (if they are even still open for available charters) for half day trips.

I am also still taking names for tuna trips when they get in striking distance. The stick boats have had a great season with giants so let's hope their little brothers show close for some top water and jigging action! They were in off block a couple weeks ago so now it's just a matter of time!

In other words, pick your species and lets get after them! Remember, if you have larger groups, I can help arrange for other quality captains to get involved so you have the best day on the water!

Summary and next steps

Well we enter July with great expectations; Fish are moving south out of the bay (although there are sill some being caught), Newport has been doing extremely well with certain techniques and now Block Island is the place to be.  The Block has been getting a great run of 40+ lb bass and with most of them released, there is a great chance for the next person to land one.

Fly: There is a great mix of small baits as well and the old standby fly patterns will work just fine. Intermediate lines up to 350 on windy days works great. Bring some old flies too, as the Blues are mixed in the schools. Deceivers, Clousers, sand eel patterns and EP flies work great.

Swimmer and small topwater plugs have produced decent fish. As the sun comes up, getting deeper is the ticket.

Bottom fishing is great right now as well as long as you can find new waters. The popular spots have been worked over pretty well and the quality is not as good.  Either way, a day on the water is still a great day so don't delay!

Call me if I can get you on the water!

Capt. Brian

Getting through the 4th with all the Works

This has been my company's best early season thus far. To have fish as close as we did, for as long as we did was just remarkable. If you were one of the lucky ones to have been on a local trip and saw what we saw, put it in your journal as I am going to do. These seasons don't happen often and when they happen to another person, you shake their hand and ask them to send the fish your way next year. We were that person this season.
The temperatures are creeping up to the point where we start to look further south (although there are still great reports of mid bay fish - passed along from friends so they are off limits to charters). Newport and Block Island are heating up so all those boats that had to travel to us now get a fuel break and we will switch spots.

The good: Lots of smaller baits working the area so the fish have a wider diet to choose from.  The winds are dying down this weekend so we can all get out and explore a little more.  Things will start improving in all areas such as fly, light tackle, spin, fluke, blues and the early morning striper bite.  Block got its first flurry of 50's so that is the go to spot for the consistent fish. If you want in on that trip, I am out to August already so please call ASAP!

The cons: Temperatures keep creeping up and the fishing reports in some otherwise steady spots are not staying to steady.  You must move and stay on top of them, learn the tides and the the wind and you will increase your chances.

On a side note, my albie and bonito list is now up to 27 people so if you want to get that phone call when they show, you better get me an email or a phone call so I can get as many of you on them before the weekenders find us!

Just in time

Early morning, first on the water, hours spent finding where the bass went- It paid off for this crew as they now have in two charters caught over 21 striped bass (14 last trip and 7 this trip) averaging 21.7 lbs.  The fish are there, but you need to put in a lot of time to get on top and stay on top of them.  There are tactics that work and some that don't.  These guys learned last time and kept with it. Nice job fellas.

Tough/Love

Well it had to happen at some point. We did not fair too well on Saturday. Finding fish was easy. Getting them to eat... different story. We worked our tails off too only get a few knockdowns and quick run off maneuvers. Ah well, fortunately for me it was with a charter that has booked me 3 times in the past where the finished like rock stars every time so they too knew it was not always a "great day". Now, Sunday was a different story.
I am typically the first one on the water. That is not a boast, it is is just that I like some "me" time. Plus, being fathers day, I am now making it a tradition to spend it with the memory of my father. I do believe he has been with me for the past two years on this day.  I made 14 casts at bait and got 12 menhaden. Northwest wind, easy call. Fish, fish and more fish. Done by 5:30 am.  Got some of my friends on the fish. They ran out of bait in moments. Winds cranking, did not matter. Just a fishy kind of day. Thanks Dad.
Spent the rest of the day with my son and hopefully next year it will be the three of us.