Grading the 2023 Season Here in RI

It was a very good year for slot and above slot stripers from shore and kayak in Narragansett Bay.

Stripers:

Schoolies- We continue to see a decline in the numbers of schoolies which is probably due to poor spawning over the last five years in the Chesapeake Bay. The lack of schoolies, mostly those fish in the 14-24 inch range, was evident in the spring as the spring run of these small fish was poor along the south shore. I knew we were in for a different type of season when I landed my first five stripers along the oceanfront on April 18.  They were all slot fish! It would be the first time in decades that I failed to catch a striper at the West Wall (hotspot in past years) in the month of April even though I tried there often.  The schoolies were just not around in any numbers. For me, the Bay fished better than the oceanfront in the spring.  It was mostly slot fish there with some schoolies mixed in.  In fact, I caught very few small stripers through much of the year except in the late fall when we did have fair numbers of 16 to 20 inch schoolies around. Grade for schoolies-C-

Slot fish- The year started off at a 28-35 inch slot and then slimmed down to 28-31 inches. Regardless of what size you are using, there were very good numbers of these larger fish. Once again, the Bay fished hotter for me than the oceanfront in the spring and early summer.  I was getting good numbers of these fish from both shore and kayak. May was especially good.  Mixed in with these fish were good numbers of large bluefish (more on that later). This was a year in which I found less big menhaden in the Bay, although these slot fish were very willing to hit plugs like Jumpin Minnows, weightless flukes and Finesse Fish and NLBN paddle tails. This hot fishing for slots carried right into the fall with September being the best month of the fall.  The big northeast blows from mid to late September brought super fishing along the oceanfront in the rough water.  Still, the Bay continued to produce real well since a lot of peanut bunker were holed up in the Bay which attracted big numbers of slots. October and November fishing overall was subpar along the oceanfront. Note that we saw very few schools of peanut bunker along the oceanfront in mid to late fall. Grade for slot stripers-A

Both slots and over slots were abundant in 2023. This one was taken in a September northeaster. September was the hottest fall month this fall.

Over Slots- Those bigger fish, mostly over 35 inches were also around in good numbers, though I thought there were less around than last year. In other years I would find these fish around schools of large menhaden in the Bay. With less of this large bunker around, there were less large stripers around. Still, I was catching fair numbers of those 35 to 40 inch fish from both shore and kayak in the spring. September was excellent for slots and above slots in the stormy weather. My biggest striper of the year from RI, a 45 incher was caught on a float and jig in a September northeaster.  I had quite q few fish from shore in the 40 inch during that rough September weather along the oceanfront.  I also got several 40 inch stripers in the Bay fishing around schools of large peanut bunker from my kayak. Grade for over slots- B

This monster blue was landed in  Narragansett Bay in May. There were some monsters around, especially in the first half of the season.

Albies- One word spells it out- SUBPAR. Overall, the shore fishing was way off, but you had a better shot at catching from a boat.  There were some around, but way off compared to other years.  In fact, this will be the first year in recent memory that I failed to catch even one albie.  In all my travels I never saw any within casting range.  Those sharpies who put in a lot of time and effort from shore probably caught less than half of what they caught in 2022. I threw in the towel on these and opted to put in my time chasing the far more abundant stripers. I think the lack of peanut bunker and the big storms along the oceanfront in September contributed to the subpar albie fishing this year. Grade for albies- C-

I caught good numbers of big blues from the kayak in Narragansett Bay.  They were often feeding with the larger stripers.

Catch Information

This Fishing Report was submitted on 12/21/2023 8:45:00 PM by Seamus and last updated on 12/27/2023 4:45:10 PM.

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