2024 Season Wrap Up

The 2024 season was a very strange one. From start to finish, things were just a bit weird. Every year, the beginning of the saltwater fishing season here in Rhode Island is synonymous with the arrival of river herring, generally some time in mid-late March. Their arrival was just about on schedule this year, and they were in decent numbers which was good to see. It was probably the best herring year, as far as numbers and consistency, in recent memory. It was odd to see bass blitzing on them in the middle of the bay well into the month of May, though. I’m pretty sure it was the first year I’ve seen a mix of mature pogies and herring getting blitzed on by bass. Generally, the herring thin out toward the end of April, at least in the areas that I frequent, and that’s just about when the first big waves of pogies tend to appear. This year though, the pogies were as scarce as I’ve ever seen them here in Narragansett Bay. They did their normal thing in small pockets, were very spotty in most of their usual locations, and completely no-showed in many spots. Luckily, the bass are hardwired to be where the pogies are supposed to be, even when they really aren’t there. So, I found myself fishing many of the same spots I would usually be fishing even on a good pogy year. Instead of throwing big metal lips, spooks, or live pogies, like I normally would be in May-June, it was much more of an eel bite for me during that period. Both live eels and soft plastic eel imitations like the 13.5” Gravity Tackle were very productive. Starting with spring, things were just weird, and that turned out to be a sign of what was to come the rest of 2024.

Jumbo May bass caught on a live eel.

As far as summer goes, the trend continued. We can usually count on calm, mild nights and early mornings come June and July. That wasn’t the case (for the most part) this year. It was like being inside a microwave – relentless heat and wind. As a kayak fisherman, this made for a pretty miserable month of fishing, with frustratingly small windows to get out into areas that are unprotected. June of 2024 also brought us probably the most ridiculous local catch in recent history – a 70-inch tarpon from shore. Tropical strays are nothing new to the Rhode Island coast, but they’re generally juveniles that get “lost” in the gulf stream in the later part of summer or fall. A mature tarpon in June is simply outrageous – and continues the trend for 2024 just being a strange year.

Local legend Thomas Czernik with his giant, shore-based, RI tarpon this past June.

Speaking of the gulf stream, that also acted a bit different than it does most years. We can generally count on getting an inshore push of warm, clean, deep blue water around August or September. It will often bring in a smorgasbord of juvenile tropical strays such as jacks, groupers, what I call “aquarium fish”, and more. It varies a lot from year to year, as there are many variables that dictate the gulf stream and which species it drags up north to us. Some years it stays offshore and we don’t get much of an inshore push. Although it can be different from one year to the next, this year was particularly strange. We got a great inshore push of gulf steam water very early on – right around the second week of July. This correlated perfectly with our unusually early wave of bonito. It’s not necessarily strange to get a push of gulf stream water that early on, but it was strange that once it dispersed, we never got our late summer / early fall push. Instead, the water temps dipped and dirtied around early August and never resurrected itself the rest of the year. Lucky for us, the bonito didn’t mind it at all, as that bite only got better and better as we approached fall. However, with water temps below 70 and not as clean as we would like, the albies didn’t come inshore like we’ve come to expect. As August rolled into September, we kept thinking tomorrow would be the day. Day after day. But the inshore albie bite just never came to fruition. As September continued to slip away, that ocean temp still struggled to eclipse 70 degrees for the entirety of the month. It’s impossible to pin the lack of albies to one thing, as there are so many variables to account for, but I can say confidently that the cold, dirty water we were stuck with inshore didn’t do the albie fishing any favors. If you could get out to certain areas with clean, blue, warmer water, you could still find them in good numbers – which just about confirms that theory. It's also hard not to mention the incredible northern lights show we got to see this past October. To me, fishing under the lights was perhaps my favorite highlight from a truly whacky year. 

One of a handful of small schoolies caught during the northern lights show this fall.

Although it was a strange year, it would be unfair to call it a bad one. Just a different one. If you had a successful bass and/or albie season, odds are you had to vary from your normal habits and spots to make it happen. The bonito fishing was the total opposite. It was as good and easy as I’ve seen since I moved to Rhode Island about eight years ago. There have been years recently where the bonito have been total no-shows, so we have to take the good with the bad! I certainly wouldn’t want to go on record with a prediction for the 2025 season, but I will hope for a spring full of pogies, some nice calm summer nights, and a bounty of both bonito and albies in the fall.