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

Striped Bass Fishing in the Seekonk River

Published on May 28, 2014
In the beginning of the spring striped bass migration into Narragansett Bay the large keeper stripers (over 28" in length) seem to head for the most inner reaches of the Seekonk River all the way up to Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Even though the school of pogies (forage fish) is in the main shipping channel of the Providence River, the big boys opt to pass right by and high-tail for the upper reaches of the river where there seems to be very little bait to feed on. Go figure!

If this year is anything like years past as the season progresses and the river waters warm beyond the stripers comfort zone, the bass will leave the river system and settle in the deep, cool waters of the Providence shipping channel for the month of June.

This is when the Providence river action really picks up and you can grab a few bass while snagging pogies at the main school. From the shipping channel  many of them leave the Bay in the hotter months of July and August.

The "keepers" prefer the cooler ocean waters in the summer months feeding along the R.I and Massachusetts shore line at night and heading to the deeper waters during the day.

• 
  

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.....

Narragansett Bay's Environmental and Aesthetic Value...Priceless

Because it's an estuary, Narragansett Bay is both extremely productive and also vulnerable - it's a place where land and sea waters mix.

The Bay's health depends on nearly everything that happens in its vast watershed (about 2000 square miles, 60% in Massachusetts and 40% in Rhode Island).

The Bay is on the north side of Rhode Island Sound. Covering 147 mi2 (380 km2) -- 120.5 mi2 (312 km2) in Rhode Island. It is New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor, and includes a small archipelago.

Gansett Bay has thirty islands, the three largest ones are Aquidneck Island, Conanicut Island, and Prudence Island. The East Bay portion has small parts of it extend into Massachusetts. The East Bay consists of the Sakonnet River; Mount Hope Bay; and the southern, tidal part of the Taunton River.

The bay opens on Rhode Island Sound — Block Island lies less than 20 miles southwest of its opening — and the Atlantic Ocean.

The Rhode Island waterway has significance well beyond anything that people can count, but even the numbers are impressive. The Bay's 700 billion gallons of water cover 150 square miles. The watershed nurtures thousands of species of plants, fish, and wildlife as well as more than two million residents and ten million tourists each year.

Its annual contribution to Rhode Island's economy totals billions of dollars. Its environmental and aesthetic value is priceless.

The Seekonk River

The Seekonk River is the northernmost point of Narragansett Bay tidewater.

It is a tidal extension of the Providence River which flows approximately 5 mi. and connects to the bay at Bold Point Park.

Most historians agree that the name is derived from two Native American words, sucki (meaning black) and honc (meaning goose).

Real time water quality information for the Seekonk River including a blog that is updated weekly is available at http://snapshot.narrabay.com/app

Tributaries of the Seekonk

• Blackstone River
• Ten Mile River
• Bucklin Brook
• Butler Brook

The Providence River 

The capital city waterway is a tidal river flowing approximately 8 miles. There are no dams along the river's length, although the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier is located south of downtown, to protect the city of Providence from hurricanes.

The southern part of the river has been dredged at a cost of $65 million in federal and state funds to benefit nearby marinas and commercial shipping interests.

The river is formed by the confluence of the Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck rivers in downtown Providence. One half mile downstream, it is joined from the east by the Seekonk River and continues south. 

The cities of Providence, Cranston, and Warwick lie to the west of the river, while the city of East Providence and the town of Barrington lie to the east. 

At the narrows between Conimicut Point, in Warwick to the west and Nayatt Point in Barrington to the east, the Conimicut Shoal Lighthouse (http://www.lighthouse.cc/conimicut/) marks the entrance to the river from Narragansett Bay.

What can we do to improve water quality in the Bay?

There are many streams and rivers that flow through our backyards and drain into ponds, lakes, bays and ultimately the ocean. 

Pollutants such as animal feces, fertilizer, oil, hazardous waste, road sand, and grease on the land can be washed into our waters, but we can reduce this type of pollution. 

Learn about your local waters. Everyone lives in a watershed, which is the drainage area to a local waterbody (think of washing everything in a sink down the drain and the drain is your local river or stream). 

Figure out what waters are closest to you and where they flow. Learn about local animal life and plants that live in and around these waters. 

Narragansett Bay History

The rise of American industry, beginning in the late 18th century at places like Slater Mill in Pawtucket, R.I., led to large-scale changes of Narragansett Bay's natural habitats. Nearly every river and stream in the watershed was dammed for industrial power; today there are about 500 dams in Rhode Island alone. 

As the mills grew, so did urban centers throughout the state-wetlands were filled to expand the cities; railroads and roads were built along the shore; shipping channels and ports were dredged as ships grew larger. Wastewater treatment plants were constructed in Providence in the late 19th century-a great improvement to the city's public health, but one which dumped millions of gallons of polluted wastewater into the Bay each day. World War II took a toll on the Bay's natural habitats, as shoreline areas such as Quonset Point and Melville were developed for military use. In the post-War area, inland and coastal wetlands were filled to build the interstate highway system, marinas were developed and residential construction gobbled up land throughout the watershed.

The result was a drastic decline in Narragansett Bay's fish and wildlife. Bay scallops, for example, are dependent on underwater seagrass for habitat-as water pollution caused seagrasses to decline, the Bay's once-valuable scallop fishery collapsed. Mill dams prevented sea-run migratory fish from returning to their spawning grounds, causing the local extinction of Atlantic salmon and leading to large declines in river herring and American shad. Habitat degradation is believed to be a factor in the collapse of winter flounder populations on Narragansett Bay-particularly thermal pollution and other habitat impacts from the Brayton Point Power Station in Swansea, Mass., as documented by the R.I. Dept. of Environmental Management.

In recent years, new approaches have been developed to help fix these kinds of impacts to coastal habitats, in order to restore fish and wildlife and improve environmental quality-benefiting ecosystems and communities. 

The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program is a leader in habitat restoration on Narragansett Bay-working with state, federal and non-governmental partners to restore rivers, wetlands, seagrass beds and other natural aspects of the Bay's ecosystem. Read full article and about ongoing projects.  http://www.nbep.org/restoration-why.html

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.

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.