Fishing Forecast – October Full Moon

Could October be the new September? The past couple of years have had us saying so, and this year it seems to be truer than ever. The first half of the month brought some incredible fishing. It’s always a bonus to get decent fall weather to enjoy it, too. The hurricane swells from last week seemed to do more good than harm, which is exactly what we were all hoping for. The albie and bonito bite has been off the charts, the bass have been chewing, and the tog are really starting to fire up. Whether you want to throw tiny flies at funny fish, pencil pop from the rocks, or drop crabs on structure, you can have a good outing any way you want right now. Water temps have been holding nicely and as long as this upcoming blow doesn't change things too much, there’s no signs of anything slowing down at the moment.

Hardtails

The fishing for both albies and bonito is excellent right now. There are great numbers of both species blowing up daily in various areas along the RI coast. It depends where you are, but the predominant bait has been small bay anchovies for the most part. There is a healthy mix of silversides and peanut bunker too, with some squid mixed in at times. The bonito are still aggressive as ever, hitting anything within reason on most days. Metals/Epoxies, Albie Snax, and small Swimmers/Minnow Plugs are the favorites for the bonito. They haven’t been particularly picky. The albies, on the other hand, are becoming a different story. We’ve been fielding daily questions at the shop about what to do for these finicky albies. They don’t call them “funny fish” for nothing. That said, we have a handful of tips and tricks to keep up your sleeve when they seemingly won’t eat anything you’re throwing. 

Firstly, before you change what you’re throwing, change how you’re throwing it. For example, an albie snax can work great burnt in skipping across the surface. But it’s a very versatile bait, so take advantage of that! Work it slow, as if you’re bass fishing, and see if they want it like that during that particular feed. You can also try to land it into feeds and let it sit still - you may be surprised how effective it can be. If you’re throwing an epoxy, my go to move on finicky fish, if it’s deep enough to do so, is to drop it straight down and rip it back up to the surface. Think tuna fishing retrieve. You do need a decent amount of water to make it work, though. Anything less than 25ft or so makes it tough to pull it off. This strategy works particularly well on days when there’s a fleet, the sun is up high, and you know there are numbers of fish around but the feeds only last a couple of seconds. When they’re zipping around a million miles per hour and you have a hard time getting a cast into a sustained feed, try dropping straight down. Another tried and true method on picky albies is the “Float N’ Fly”. It’s a great way to throw a tiny presentation on your spin gear, rather than dealing with the joys of a fly rod. The Larry Lurz Casting Egg paired with a Albie/Bonito Fly can be super effective when the fish are on small bait. I see a lot of people throwing casting eggs and burning them in, or working them almost like a pencil popper. Not that there’s any “wrong” way to do anything when you’re fishing, but that’s not how they're designed to be most effective. The idea is to pop the casting egg so that it creates a similar splash and sound to an albie/bonito hitting bait on the surface. This gets the attention of fish that may be swimming around, and when they venture toward it to investigate, they see your helpless little fly dangling beneath the surface – a meal too easy to pass up. This makes it a great blind casting tool. If you do have good feeds, but aren’t having luck with the usual epoxies and plastics, try throwing the Float N’ Fly into a feed and work it very slowly, or even let it sit still in the chaos. You may be surprised how well you can do without having to retrieve it at all.

Ted with a slammer from this past weekend!

Striped Bass

The bass fishing seems to be pretty hit or miss at the moment, but there is some good fishing to be had. Topwater plugs like the Yo Zuri Mag Pencil, Cotton Cordell Pencil, and Tsunami Talkin Popper are all good bets whether you're fishing from the surf or boat. Smaller topwater baits like the Rebel Jumpin Minnowand Game On! X-Walkhave also been hot if you're looking to enjoy some light tackle. It has been the year of the Sluggofor many surfcasters, and that is still true as we push through the fall. Particularly if you're out on boat or kayak, you may come across "rafting" bass. This happens when bass, usually schoolie-sized (but not always), school together tightly at the surface. They'll almost look like a ball of pogies, just bigger. You'll see them slurping tiny bait off the surface, sometimes just swimming along the surface with their mouths open. These fish can be notoriously tough to catch, but it's a very cool sight to see, and it's been happening out front regularly. The Float N' Fly has always been my go-to in this situation.

The King kids with one of many big striped bass from a recent evening session.

Tautog

Prime fall togging is nearly upon us. With waters holding in the mid-upper 60s, I wouldn’t say we’re there just yet. That’s not to say the fishing isn’t great right now – but it’s only going to improve in the coming weeks as things cool down. We're in a goldilocks season for tog in the sense that you can catch them way up shallow, as deep as 60+ft, and everywhere in between. All of the above can hold not only good numbers of fish, but big ones as well. Whether you fish a Jig or Rig comes down to mostly preference, although your depth will play a role. It's much easier to feel a light bite with a jig in shallower water, say, shallower than 30ft. Rigs are more handy for deeper water in the 50+ft range. In that mid-range depth between 30ish and 50ish, you can get away with either and have good success. The current will also dictate which one will be more effective. If you have a strong sweeping current, you're probably better off dropping a rig to keep contact with bottom. On a slack or slow tide, or in a more protected area, the jigs will do just fine. As a general rule of thumb: deep water with heavy current = rig, and shallow water with little or no current = jig. With all that said, there are guys that will purely fish jigs or purely fish rigs. There's nothing wrong with that, but having both and being efficient at using both will grant you more success over the course of the season.