Just about everyone expected a shortage of schoolies this spring. Looks like that prediction is off, since we are in one of the best spring schoolie runs in years here in Rhode Island.
On Saturday I was fishing the upper Bay where I landed ten schoolies. I met up with two other guys who had about twenty schoolies together. My son, Ben, was at the south shore oceanfront where he landed twenty-five schoolies. Two other friends were at a different south shore spots, landing nine schoolies. Still another guy I know was fishing a mid-Bay spot and he landed three fish, one of which was twenty pounds.
Last week, I got my first keeper of the spring season. It came from the Bay, where I have had a great couple of days of fishing from shore. It was a skinny fish of 28 inches and nailed an albino Zoom fluke that was mounted on a half oz. round-head jighead.
Get the picture? THEY ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE! The hot lures have been Zoom flukes on jigheads up in the Bay and either Cocahoes on jigheads or bucktail jigs with curly tails at the ocean. Shrimp fly teasers are also hot at the oceanfront. That mid-Bay twenty-pounder hit a Slug Go right at dark. With the warm weather coming in the beginning of this week, expect the hot fishing for schoolies to continue with increasing numbers of keepers around. I’d be willing to bet the first blues will also be taken this week. Yikes, and it’s still April!
Photos of RI Coast Sees Hottest Spring Fishing in Years
