The first thing that will be most remembered for the 2009 fishing season, will be the absolutely poor weather conditions we had to deal with all season long. No one here has ever seen a season with so much wind and rain as we did last season.

 The fish arrived in late April as usual feeding on small herring inside Narragansett Bay. This fishing usually last for a few weeks and the top water surface action is simply unbelievealbe. Once the fish go deep you can still catch them with soft plastic's or flies fishing deeper. Just look for them using your depth finder and you will find the fish without much of a problem.

As the spring progressed, menhaden arrived inside Narragansett Bay and its coves and estruaries pretty much right on time. The problem was last season we didn't get the big run of adult menhaden that we normally get. The majority of fish were confined to the Providence River basin and were not that plentiful in many other traditional areas throughtout their stay here. Complicating the matter further, two new boats arrrived last spring from Gloucester, Mass. to take part in the menhaden bait fishery. Usually we only deal with one boat. There were many days when the recreational and commercial vessels from out of state had confrontations.

 When bait was available, the fishing was good in and around Prudence Island, Hope Island, the Providence River, the Flat Basin on the East side of the bay, the deeper water south in the East Passage and along Colt State Park. One thing we did notice last season that was also different from other years was how the striped bass would come to the bait, hit it, but wouldn't really eat it. Sometimes it took many passes and working the bait hard to get the fish to commit. Some of our Light Tackle anglers improved their success rate by going to lighter lines and leaders when this happened and caught fish. The problem they had was, it all depended on where we were fishing and how big the fish were that were hitting the live bait. A lot of fish broke off simply because the line and tackle was too light to hold and control them. I suppose that's a good problem to have though.

 Anglers who were fly fishing Narragansett Bay had similar success, although not a good as those who were using live bait or tossing big soft plastics or big swim baits to the fish. Fly fishing anglers had much more success when we used a live bait to tease the fish close to the boat. Those who had the ability to make a long and accurate cast, hooked up with some very big fish. Many the biggest of their lives. The largest fly rod caught fish aboard the White Ghost was 35 lbs last season. That's a big striper, when its caught in shallow water on fly fishing gear.

Monster size shallow water stripers were in close to shore for the majority of the months of May and June and then moved south to deeper water as the water warmed up and the bait supply dwindled. They didn't hang around long after the menhaden disappeared.

There was one segment of the fishery that a lot of anglers lost out on last year inside Narragansett Bay and that was the bottom fishing for fluke, scup and black sea bass. The scup and black sea bass fishery was the best anyone had ever seen inside the Bay. The number and sizes of fish were simply amazing. The fluke fishery was good but it became hard to get a keeper sized fish after the June 17th opening. Most of the bigger fish had already left the bay and headed for deeper water. This coming season (2010) will see new regulations in effect for summer flounder. Right now it looks as if it will open on May 1st and run throughout the entire season. The size limit is going to be 19 1/2-inches and six (6) fish per man bag limit. This will allow us to once again do bass and fluke trips in the same day. May and June is the time for big fluke insside Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. Fish can reach upwards of 14 lbs. at this time of year.

Switching to light tackle trolling with tube and worms was the key during the mid to late summer months. The fish weren't all that big but everyone caught fish.

The lack of bluefish towards the end of the season in Narragansett Bay was surprising, however, late June and July saw lots of action on surface poppers when no fish were apparent on the top. In that time frame we boated well over 800 bluefish from 3 to 13 lbs. The key was to go to an area and FISH IT, not simply drive by it and look for birds. There were very few days where any birds were present when we were catching fish.

Bonito and False Albacore fishing was good in July and through August around Sakonnet Point. A lot depended on the weather and if we could get the White Ghost to that area in relatively safe sea conditions. A few times we made the run and couldn't even stand up in the boat the surge was so big and the rollers were high. When conditions were good, the fishing was good. Once again, weather played a big part in this fishery like all other fisheries throughout the entire season last year.

Last year we started fishing with those new HARD-Swim Baits that are being made for largemouth bass fishing in freshwater. They worked so well, that we will continue to use them and introduce them to our customers this coming season. We were simply amazed at how effective they were fishing all areas of Narragansett Bay, especially when the fishing became tough later in the season.

Also for 2010, we will be doing night time eel trips. Trips will be for four or five hours and leave right before dark and return around 111 pm or so. For some reason the fishing was better at night than during the day last year, something we've never had to do before or deal with for that matter. There was alwasy plenty of fish available during the day, even into mid-day for many years. The times we went out under the cover of darkness were very productive. When we went back in the morning to the same spot, not many fish were in the same areas. So fishing at night seemed to be the key to more fish and better success. For those who visit Narrgansett Bay this season we will offer that option.

Hopefully this coming season will have much better weather and the pogies will hang around for most of the summer. But I suppose we won't know that until it comes and until it happens. In any case, Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island still has a lot of offer any angler whose looking to tangle with a monster striped bass in shallow water.

Captain Jim White