| e loves fishing for stripers, also known as striped | | | | you naysaying, but for those of us who dive in New |
| bass or linesiders. There is something magical about | | | | England waters, we can attest to the very poor |
| them that appeals to everyone who fishes saltwater | | | | visibility, especially as you go deeper. At 40’ |
| in Rhode Island. The Ocean state is blessed with | | | | depth, a good day and very clear water will give you |
| very good fishing overall and many people come here | | | | around 10’ of visibility. If it’s not clear, |
| from Mass, Conn, New York, New Jersey, and | | | | this can easily drop to 3’. If we consider the |
| Pennsylvannia to fish and vacation here. Knowing a | | | | average around 6’, you can see it might be |
| little about the habits of these fish can help you | | | | very difficult to get your offering within visual range |
| catch more of them. | | | | of a striper. Rattles, violent movement, hefty jigging |
| Bass are not high speed swimmers. They are good | | | | with a parachute jig, these all send out waves of |
| at short bursts of activity during which they can go | | | | vibrations that bass can detect and zero in on. |
| very fast, but cannot maintain those speeds over | | | | Virtually any plug designed for bass fishing has rattles |
| any distance. Like many migratory species, they will | | | | in it, so there must be something to it. |
| use tidal currents to help them get where they want | | | | In the early morning light does not penetrate very |
| to go. During the spring when they first arrive in our | | | | far into the water and bass can be found chasing |
| waters on Narragansett Bay, they are full of energy | | | | what bait there may be in very shallow water. The |
| and will chase large schools of bait for miles, feeding | | | | bait seeks the shallow water in an attempt to avoid |
| as they go. These are good times when pretty much | | | | the predators. As the sun gets higher in the sky, |
| anything you put in the water will catch them, and | | | | bass will move into deeper water to avoid the bright |
| they are very abundent and aggressive. Once the | | | | light. So when you first start fishing, fish shallow |
| bait settles in and finds places to hide out or moves | | | | water and as the sun gets higher you move into |
| on, so too do the bass settle in. Then it becomes | | | | deeper water. If the water is murky, the bass are |
| more difficult to find them during the daylight hours. | | | | more likely to stay in the shallow water and feed. |
| Bass have very large eyes and no eyelids, their eyes | | | | Where will you find bass? Usually around structure, |
| are not exaclty like ours in that they cannot adjust | | | | such as drop offs, high points, boulders, rocks, and |
| as well to the bright full-day sunlight. Striper eyes are | | | | reefs, especially where there is a good tidal current |
| very good for seeing in low light and night conditions. | | | | that runs past. The bait that bass feed on also use |
| They also feed more actively during the day when | | | | current to aid them when they travel and will also |
| its foggy or overcast, since this reduces the light | | | | use reefs and rocks to hide from predators. Bass can |
| level available. So if it’s a bright and sunny July | | | | be very aggressive and chase bait, but much of the |
| day and it’s around 11:00am, probably not a | | | | time they will wait in ambush for a bait to sweep by |
| good time to choose to get out there and catch | | | | or come out of hiding so they can pounce on it. This |
| stripers. If its going to be overcast and gloomy all | | | | is why current can be so important to feeding, and |
| morning, this is a great time to get out there and | | | | why when the tide runs out fishing can turn off like a |
| target them. Nighttime is also another good time to | | | | light switch. Stripers will often cruise the shallow edge |
| fish for stripers, but the low visibility also brings | | | | of the beach in the early morning, following the |
| danger to the boater and fisherman from rocks, | | | | direction of the tide looking for bait. Don’t |
| bouys, other boats, etc. Going down a narrow | | | | forget that a sharp eye should be kept for bass |
| channel at night that is lined with rocks on both sides, | | | | feeding on bait at the surface, since this happens |
| that’s a good example of white-knuckle | | | | very often and can hard to spot at a distance. You |
| fishing. | | | | should always have an 8x50 or 10x50 pair of |
| Striped Bass, like many Saltwater fish species, have a | | | | binoculars on board your boat for long-range |
| lateral line organ which they use to sense vibrations in | | | | searching. Anything stronger is very hard to use on a |
| the water. They can sense vibrations out to a good | | | | boat unless it is internally stabilized. Eventually you can |
| distance, because water is much denser and | | | | train your eye to notice movement on the water |
| transmits these vibrations much farther than air | | | | without having to look directly at it. |
| would. This is how they first zero in on a prospective | | | | In shallow waters, engine noise is something to |
| meal. Contrary to what most anglers may think, the | | | | consider as it can spook the bass and drive them off. |
| last sense they use to decide to make a strike is | | | | Very loud engines can still drive them away in deeper |
| visual. When in an area of extremely strong current, | | | | water. If your drifting and plugging or jigging, its best |
| the current itself causes so much vibration that the | | | | to turn the motor off and fish that way. The best |
| bass will be forced to use visual acquisition or smell | | | | thing to do is minimize the problem by never |
| only, making it much harder to catch them since the | | | | motoring over the top of the fish, always go around |
| strike zone will be very short. I can hear some of | | | | on each of your drifts. |