Wind + Clouds+Bait = Feeding Stripers within reach!!!

I was able to get down to a favorite spot of mine in the bay this weekend.  The conditions were promising with a steady wind, cloudy conditions and visible signs of larger bait being present.  I started out fishing a secondary spot at the location as my primary spot was being fished by another guy.  I watched him chug poppers through the white water being stirred up by the heavy surf for about a half hour.  Finally, he gave up and left.

As soon as he moved on, I moved in.  The water looked great.  The tide was just right.  On my second cast I landed a nice, hard-fighting schoolie-sized bass of about 26"-27".  The success continued for the next 30 minutes or so and made for a very memorable afternoon of fishing in what is usually a very slow month for taking striped bass from shore.   All in all I landed 6 nice sized shoolies the smallest being about 14"-15".


So, what was I using?  A home-made casting egg with a short leader and a home-tied 3/4 oz. white bucktail with a pork rind attached!  This setup is killer in these type of situations as I found out for the first time today!  Thank you Dave Pickering for all of your posts about using this very effective method for presenting a small offering in windy weather and rocky locations. 

It was a very memorable afternoon that I was blessed to share with my lovely and beautiful wife Jennifer who took these wonderful pictures.
See you in the surf - jc

Bluefish!!!

The past three evenings have been very exciting at one of my favorite south shore locations.  There are tons of small bait and plenty of action using top-water and subsurface artificials.  I had the pleasure of catching some 2-4 lb. blues on some of my own artificial poppers that I made out of some downed tree limbs from the yard over the winter.  Pretty cool. Jen (my beautiful wife) was able to land a couple of nice blues last evening as well.  I was very proud.

The picture here was taken by Dave Pickering who was also on the jetty yesterday.   You can see more at his excellent blog:  http://ristripedbass.blogspot.com/  
Ferocious blitzes like this occurred off and on for the entire time Jen and I were there.

Two days ago Jen and I had to run for cover during a massive blitz that stretched from the shore to the first bend of the jetty in order to escape lighting and a monsoon type rain.  As long as the bait is there, I'm sure the fish will remain as well.  See you in the surf! - jc

Sealing the Deal

I was able to make it out this morning to a couple of good spots in Narragansett.  The first spot on the bay side had nothing happening so I moved on to my back-up spot.  I was only able to connect with one schoolie size bass this morning.  Wouldn't you know - I caught it on a white 3/4 oz. bucktail while working some rocky structure with a lot of good white water.  This is the most productive lure I have ever used!

While fishing this a.m., I also saw a small seal.  It scared me a bit as it did a quick flip in the wash near the lip of the shore just a few feet in front of me.  Be on the lookout for these dudes if your are fishing Narragansett.  I also saw a couple of nice rainbows in the sky as there was a sprinkle just as the sun came over the horizon.

This previous weekend I made deliveries of my casting eggs to Quonny Bait and Tackle and Cardinal Bait and Tackle.  I was really pleased with how these turned out and can't wait to hear how they are working out for customers.

Bucktailing Success!

So far this year I have landed 88 Striped Bass.  Every single one has been on some type of subsurface lure.  Cocahoe and jighead, soft plastic swimshad and jighead, or bucktail with porkrind trailer.

I have caught 5 keeper size bass thus far and all of them have been on a white 3/4 oz. bucktail with a trailer.  The picture above is of my most recent catch.  This bass was holding behind a visible piece of structure that was breaking the incoming current.  I dropped the bucktail just in back of that structure and WHAM!  Fish on!!!

I am really enjoying learning how to fish bucktail jigs.  I have fished them on sand beaches, rocky shores, rocks and inlets and continue to be amazed at the fish producing power of this lure.  If you haven't tried bucktailing - you should.  You will catch fish and losing jigs just doesn't happen as much as you might think it does.  I would also highly recommend John Skinner's new book Fishing the Bucktail.  This book has decreased my learning curve by a ton and helped me to make and dye my own bucktails for fishing. 

With bigger tides set for this weekend, I am looking to the bucktail to produce more keeper bass.  Hopefully my first 20 pounder!

See you in the surf - jc.

Full Moon Fever!

The big tides over the weekend also brought in some big fish.  I landed 4 keepers over the weekend in Narragansett.  The smallest was 9.5lbs 29 inches and the largest 35 inches probably 17-20 lbs.  All except one of these beauties were caught using my new favorite lure - the BUCKTAIL!  I am loving learning how to fish this lure.

I am looking forward to new moon fever later in the month.  Hopefully it will mean some even bigger fish for the taking.  See you in the surf - jc.

Schoolie Madness!!!

Yesterday I was down on the south shore at a popular spring schoolie fishing location - and what an afternoon I had!  In total I was able to land 50 nice schoolie bass.  The smallest were 8-11 inches in size and the largest were 12-19 inches. 

The majority of the fish were caught on cocahoe minnows, but I was also able to catch a few on some of the bucktails I tied up over the winter.  These were my first ever fish caught on bucktails!  Very exciting!

I am looking forward to the very near arrival of larger bass.  See you in the surf - jc

Plugs and Eggs

 In addition to tying up about a dozen bucktails this winter, I have also been busy building several casting eggs and wooden lure kits from Salty's Wooden Lures.  I even made some small poppers for spring schoolies out of some downed treelimbs in my back yard.

I can't wait for the fish to get here so that I can test out some of these winter creations.

See you in the surf - jc.