Narragansett Bay Springtime Striper Fishing Is As Good As It Gets

I start looking forward to the springtime Striper fishing in Rhode Island in the winter and as the spring gets closer I really get intense. It's the perfect fisherman's scenario, find the bait...find the fish.

When the keeper Stripers arrive in New England and are pushing the Menhaden up the rivers - inshore towards Pawtucket, the fishing can be nothing short of phenomenal.

The spring fishing only lasts for a couple of months until the rivers warm, but can be as good as it gets.

The center piece of Rhode Island known as Narragansett Bay is great for sailing, boating, fishing, kayaking, cruising, swimming and seal watching, these water activities are just a fraction of the great recreational opportunities enjoyed by millions of residents and visitors each year.

Historic villages nestled along the scenic coast offer waterfront dining, shopping, adventure sport outfitters and more.

Narragansett Bay's protected harbors and inlets along with its deep shipping channels provide a perfect refuge to enjoy the sport of fishing.

Fishing on Gansett Bay starts in the spring when striped bass shoot up the Seekonk River and Providence River to hunt for herring and bunker where we will be waiting for them. As the heat of summer warms the cool bay waters fishing switches to its most northern end at the mouth of the bay near Jamestown and Newport and almost every place in between.

Other hot spots will include the Eastern passage of Narragansett Bay which includes the Mount Hope Bay and the Sakonnet River. 

The bay is filled with inlets, coves, ledges, piers, docks, bridges so move around and try different areas .

Although much of the fishing I do is with live bait,  topwater light tackle fishing in Narragansett Bay during May and June can be epic! When the conditions are right 30 or 40 fish on light tackle per day are commonplace. Spring fishing on Narragansett Bay is hard to beat.

This video is just a taste of the great inshore fishing we have here in Rhode Island

I've Got Those Gansett Bay Slammer Blues

No, I don't have the BLUES! I got those Narragansett Bay Slammer Blues.....

I got the FEVER....I'm stoked because its heading into the fall fishing season and those big 10 to 15 pound "Slammer Blues" will be entering and chasing bait in the Bay.

They usually intercept and feed on the annual migration of peanut bunker (Baby Menhaden) and Baby Herring, at the mouth of the Providence River and Barrington Beach. And....I Love-it.

Starting in June small Blues show up in the waters of Rhode Island Sound and Narragansett Bay.These predators can be caught as far north as the upper reaches of the Providence and Seekonk Rivers. Their average size is two to eight pounds with a good number of ten-pounders mixed.

When striper fishing the rivers in springtime and you have a fish on....You know right away it's a blue,  just by the type of strong and aggressive fight these awesome fish put up.

Most anglers don't keep bluefish for the dinner table, but we love to catch them for their powerful fighting ability.These fish can provide excellent excitement because of their incredible jumping ability.

Adult bluefish are strong and aggressive, and live in schools. They are fast swimmers which prey on schools of forage fish, and continue attacking them in feeding frenzies even after they appear to have eaten their fill.

These guys are NASTY CRITTERS! 

Bluefish sometimes chase bait through the surf, attacking schools in very shallow water, churning the water like a washing machine. This behavior is sometimes referred to as a "bluefish blitz".They are cannibalistic and sometimes feed on their own young.

In nature there is always balance. In turn, bluefish are preyed upon by larger predators at all stages of their life cycle. As juveniles, they fall victim to a wide variety of oceanic predators, including striped bass, larger bluefish, fluke (summer flounder), weakfish, tuna, sharks, rays, and dolphins. As adults, bluefish are taken by tuna, sharks, billfish, seals, sea lions, dolphins, porpoises, and many other species.

Blues reproduce during spring and summer, and can live for up to 9 years. Bluefish fry are zooplankton, and are largely at the mercy of currents. Bluefish commonly range in size from seven-inch "snappers" to much larger, sometimes weighing as much as 40 pounds, though fish heavier than 20 pounds are exceptional and considered a trophy.

As with most marine fish, bluefish spawning habits are not well known. In the western side of the North Atlantic, at least two populations occur, separated by Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.

The Gulf Stream can carry fry spawned to the south of Cape Hatteras to the north, and eddies can spin off, carrying them into populations found off the coast of the mid-Atlantic, and the New England states.

It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and sub-tropical waters.

Ok lets go fishing

A good indication that a school of Blues is feeding below are fish boiling water at the surface and diving birds (gulls). If blues are chasing bait it's a good time to work with surface lures.

When the feeding blitz is on, break out your poppers and cast to the edge of the boiling water and "pop" it back toward you at a moderate speed.

Bluefish are voracious feeders with wounded fish breaking out from the tightly packed school of baitfish, everywhere. By using poppers you are trying to imitate one of these wounded or frantic baitfish and trying to attract the attention of an opportunistic Bluefish. 

Other lures which are widely used for blues are "Castmasters" or any shiny metal lures and jigs that swim a little deeper can also work great in these situations.

Just about any lure works when they are competitively feeding.

Always remember to use a pair of long needle nose pliers to remove hooks from their mouths because these fish have powerful jaws and very sharp teeth capable of slicing off monofilament and cutting fingers.

Bluefish have razor sharp teeth so steel leaders are mandatory! It's wise to use at least twelve inches of steel leader in front of your plug, livelined or chunk baits.

Using Chunked Bait on the bottom (fresh is best, frozen works but not as good) is also another way to catch Blues, especially when the presence of bait and fish are not obvious. Because of the smell of bait on the bottom it can attract Bluefish from quite a distance.

Try a "fish finder" rig (sliding sinker on main line - when fish takes bait, can't feel weight of sinker). Hooks in size 5/0 to 7/0 work well when bait fishing for Bluefish and  Stripers.

Ok now get out there and get the BLUES! Gansett Bay Slammer Blues that is.....

The 2013 Providence River Spring Striper Run Best Ever

Large schools of striped bass move into Narragansett bay chasing bait during the spring.

The upper portions of the bay, consisting of the Providence and Seekonk rivers, are the major springtime producers for striped bass in Rhode Island.

Striped bass are migratory, and will move up and down the bay chasing pogies and herring.

Stripers and blues can be caught  in the upper bay as far up as the Seekonk River s Division Street Bridge in Pawtucket. 

The Providence River has a year-long run of schoolies, with a few big boys mixed in,  which results from a warm-water power plant discharge.

The inshore "Gansett Bay" bite begins when the water temp reaches 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the spring and tapers off as the hot summer approaches.

Keepers caught in the rivers commonly weigh in from 10 to 30 pounds. But they can grow much larger. There has been reports of a few fifties taken at night in the Providence river channel.

Striped bass are typically found from the Carolinas to Nova Scotia. 

The Chesapeake Bay is the major producer area for striped bass, with the Hudson river being a secondary producer. Spawning migration begins in March when the migratory component of the stock returns to their natal rivers to spawn.

It is believed that females migrate after age five. These fish are believed to remain in the ocean during the spawning run. Males as young as two years old have been encountered in the spawning areas of the Chesapeake bay.

In southern states such as Florida, striped bass are raised in hatcheries, stocked in freshwater lakes and considered freshwater sportfish.

The migratory range of the northern (Hudson stock) extends from the Carolinas to New York's Hudson River in the winter time and from New Jersey through Maine in summertime with the greatest concentration between Long Island, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

The migration of the northern stock to the south often begins in September from areas in Maine.

Although much of the spring fishing in the river is with live or fresh Menhaden, striped bass can be caught using a number of baits including: clams, eels, anchovies, bloodworms, nightcrawlers, chicken livers, herring, shad, and sandworms - it is estimated that 90% of their diet is fish.

Striped bass can be very choosy about the baits and presentations they take, They are considered among fishermen as being an opportunistic or "lazy" feeder. At times, the only presentation they will consider is a weighted-pogy dropped right in front them.


The Providence river mostly consists of a shipping channel with plenty of old dock pilings, sand bars, washes, holes, points, cuts, sloughs, pockets, rips, and drop offs along the edges. Stripers love three things: moving water, structure, and food. All three can be found within yards of the shoreline.

And since stripers and their food sources have tendencies to hold to certain types of structure at certain tides, it becomes important for the fisherman to learn how to work the tides and read structure.

Timing is important amongst fishermen. High tide, low tide, dawn, dusk, lunar phases, water clarity and temperature, barometric pressure, storm fronts, these are all subjects that the striper fishermen will familiarize himself with, regardless if fishing from the surf, jetty, boat, or bridge.

As I write this the 2013 Providence river striper run is winding down. It's been a good year, and I'm sad to see it go. It's been the best spring fishing ever, with many multiple keeper days. Ya...know, I can't complain, I've met some new friends and made great memories, and look forward to the seasons to come.

Lets Save Menhaden: Our Bays and Estuaries Depend On It

Gulf Menhaden

In the 1950s when populations were healthy, pogies (menhaden) were capable of meeting the prey demand of striped bass, bluefish and supporting other fisheries.

The 1950's catch records show 8yr. old fish were fairly common 10yr. old fish were also in the spawning stock.

Year 5+ fish are the most important of the spawning stock. Five year fish or older produce up to 10 times more eggs than first-spawn Yr. 2 females.

Atlantic Menhaden usually do not become sexually mature until the end of their second year, after which they reproduce until death. A young, sexually mature female can produce roughly 38,000 eggs, while a fully mature female can produce upwards of 362,000.

The eggs hatch in the open ocean and the larvae drift to sheltered estuaries via ocean currents. The young spend a year developing in these estuaries before returning to the open ocean. At this early stage, they are commonly known as "peanut bunker". 

Eggs are buoyant and hatch within 2 to 3 days depending on the temperature. The larvae will spend 1 to 3 months in waters over the continental shelf. Larval fish will enter the Bay in late winter and early summer. The larval fish will move into lower salinity waters in estuarine tributaries while juvenile and immature fish remain in the Bay until the fall.

From 1988 to 1993 the oldest fish in the spawning population, were decimated on their summer feeding grounds, in the gulf of Maine, leading to a collapse in their northern regions.

The Soviet Union and a Maine company contracted to supply menhaden to Russian factory ships to be processed. Geee....I  wonder who that was!!!! 

The collapse reflected in menhaden bait landings, which were down 98% in the New England region during the early 1990s.

The NMFS created an index, in the 80's to estimate egg production, that indicated older menhaden from the New England region had the potential to contribute 39 percent of the overall menhaden egg production for the fishery.

The massive factory ship operations in the Gulf of Maine severely reduced egg production.The commercial fishery largely depends on age 2 menhaden.

In 2005 approximately 72 percent of the commercial landings by number were sub-adult menhaden (ages 0-2).

The removal of menhaden, mostly age 2 fish, raises concern that the menhaden are being caught before they even reach spawning age.

Menhaden Clean our Waters 

Also known as mossbunker, bunker, and pogy, menhaden are omnivorous filter feeders, feeding by straining food particles from water. 

They travel in large, slow-moving, and tightly packed schools with open mouths. Filter feeders typically take into their open mouths "materials in the same proportions as they occur in ambient waters". Menhaden primarily eat phytoplankton (microscopic plants); although, since they are omnivorous, they take in a small portion of zooplankton (microscopic animals).

Even though most other related fish (in the family Clupeidae) eat zooplankton, "Menhaden primarily consume phytoplankton, that is, algae and other drifting bits of decaying vegetable matter.

The ecological significance of this difference can hardly be overstated."

In 2005, commercial landings fell to 146,860 mt, the lowest level since the NMFS began keeping records in 1940.

In 1991 the NMFS published a marine fisheries review titled: "Assessment and Management of Atlantic and Gulf Menhaden Stocks." The summary cautioned: "

The expansion of fishing on the spawning stock in New England waters concurrently with increasing fishing pressure on pre-spawning menhaden off Virginia and North Carolina in the fall prompts concern for maintenance of the Atlantic menhaden resource".

With the increase of striped bass, caution is needed because the data can significantly overestimate spawning stock if the natural mortality rates (predation) are not taken into account.

The NMFS  continues to estimate menhaden spawning stock levels that are supposed to guarantee good recruitment, even though the data indicates a healthy spawning stock doesn't exist and menhaden recruitment has continued to remain low for more than a decade.

The menhaden population is in big trouble, with the high percentage of spawning stock being harvested and the low levels of recruitment. It's not good to fool with "mother nature."

If this subject interests you, please comment, especially the Providence River fishermen that fish the rivers.

Together we stand , divided we fall!!!! Thanks for reading.

Atlantic Menhaden the Most Important Fish in Narragansett Bay

In the Months of May and June, live lining a Pogie (Menhaden) in the main shipping channel or around any structure is almost a sure thing in the upper bay. 

From Fields Point all the way up the Seekonk and Providence Rivers, fishing the upper bay in the spring has got to be some of the best fishing "anywhere." 

Stripers are drawn into the rivers to feed on schools of Menhaden that migrate into the bay in spring. "Find the bait...find the fish" as the saying goes. 

But this great fishing could be in jeopardy. Rhode Island still allows a Menhaden commercial vessel to take Menhaden in the bay, even though commercial fishing for them is banned in the state.

In my opinion there should be no pogie fishing in the bay at all, if you can't snag a livey to liveline, you have to buy dead menhaden at the bait shop, and there is nothing better than a fresh, live pogie when fishing for strippers and blues. 

Leaving the pogies in the bay would create a fishing tourist industry, similar to Cape Cod or the Florida Keys. Adding up to billions for the state in fishing tourism dollar!

Besides being the primary diet for just about all of our food and game fish in the Atlantic and the Gulf coasts, they clean our bays and estuaries - talk about important!!!

Pogies are filter feeders that live on phytoplankton. Dense schools of menhaden, sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands, migrate through ours waters to feed on plankton and detritus. An adult menhaden can filter up to four gallons a minute.  Purging particles that cause turbidity, this filtering cleans the water, allowing sunlight to penetrate and encourage the growth of plants that release oxygen and provide a healthy habitat for fish and shellfish.

Menhaden has long been an important part of our history, they were vital to the first settlers of North America and the development of American agriculture and industry. For most of the 20th century, Menhaden provided the largest catch of any U.S. fishery, exceeding all other fish combined - talk about OVERFISHING!! 

Menhaden clean our estuaries and bays, playing an essential dual role in marine ecology on a scale perhaps unmatched anywhere.

With another great filter feeder, the oyster, near extinction in many of our bays and estuaries by overfishing and pollution, menhaden are left as the only check on deadly phytoplankton explosions. Marine biologist Sara Gottlieb, author of a study on Menhaden's filtering capability, compares them with your own liver: "Just as your body needs its liver to filter out toxins, ecosystems also need those natural filters. "Overfishing menhaden, she says,"is just like removing your liver."

Atlantic Menhaden have nearly been driven to extinction. In summers, schools used to migrated through New England and up to the Canadian border, since the early 90's no large schools of menhaden were observed north of Cape Cod. As government regs were imposed on our food and game fish, most states banned menhaden fishing, except for two, North Carolina and Virginia, most of our commercial catch comes out of the Chesapeake Bay.

The Chesapeake, a tidal estuary that once produced more seafood than any body of water on earth, is ecologically a disaster. 

With the lack of Oyster's available, menhaden partners in filtration, the Chesapeake is literally choking with overgrowths of phytoplankton creating dead  zones. Menhaden conservation makes sense, with little hope of the oysters return, Menhaden are critical to the health of our bays and estuaries.

Leaving "natures vacuum cleaners" alone to clean our bays would serve a dual purpose, cleansing the bay and feeding fish.

It would definitely help R.I. tourism industry - I can see it now ! 

Come fish Rhode Island... Home of the Worlds Best Striper Fishing!!! 

I would like to hear what you have to say....Leave  a comment.