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How was your 2017 Season

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Kooky

How was your 2017 Season Overall  

18 members have voted

  1. 1. How was your 2017 Season Overall in RI (Canal fish dont count)

    • Best Season Ever
      1
    • Good Season
      3
    • Average
      1
    • Below Average
      6
    • Worst Season Ever
      7


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How was your 2017 season for bass fishing.  Let's keep this to RI (canal fish not included in this thread).  New lessons learned, new tactics tried, patterns, etc.

^^ I didnt even notice it didnt get censored, I guess anal is acceptable in SOL....
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For me being on the water and doing what i love from the surf is a win, but the fishing was not up to par this year.  I fished with some good folks, and met a few new ones that i will certainly be sharing tides with going forward.  Probably caught as many or more fish this year then in previous years but the quality was way off and it was often in waves with dead water in between.  I fished eels more this year then in previous year, especially over the late summer, and i feel that i got a much better grasp of how to effectively fish them.  I found myself falling into a trap of being lazy or just doing the same things (fishing the same plugs the same way), until later in the season when i started switching some things up with good results.  I had forgotten how good swim shads can be, and really focusing more on hitting all parts of the water column.  Caught very few quality fish, I usually drop more during the course of a season then i even hooked this year.  Fish from 34" and up were just completely absent this year except in very small pockets.  Best fishing period was late summer through start of the fall, found consistent fish in deeper areas and could always get a small keeper-32" in the mix.  The patterns were odd and very off from previous years.

 

People - despite tougher fishing still lots of folks fishing peak periods but when it gets tougher i am seeing less and less folks around, especially at night.  With less fish people seem to be flocking to certain spots that get a bite reported, some spots i fish frequently were more crowded then usual as people seem to like to tell people about a bite so they can get crowded out.  Folks crowding when you catch fish is also up, which is why i tend to move towards more isolated spots and work a little harder for fish. Less and less manners on the water, and lots more trash and lack of respect for taking care of spots is clearly evident.

 

Plugs - the larger SP has taken over the slots for the regular size, canal rigged it out fished the normal SP on all size fish.  Larger Magdarter - havent had great results. Swim shads especially bunker where a hot item.  Caught less fish on larger plugs.

 

Blues - except for a brief period in early June i never caught another one.

Weakfish - not sure what they even are anymore

Shad - lots of them and huge ones this year

^^ I didnt even notice it didnt get censored, I guess anal is acceptable in SOL....
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Disclaimer: I spend most of my fishing time (early June to early Oct) at the manmade channel in Massholia. So RI for me is confined to the early and late parts of the season.

 

Anyway a banner year in RI....for sea robins  :cool:. And loads of undersized bass, and I do mean shorts. :eek:  Had to work hard for anything over 30". No blues. A few albies, but in general could not fish daytime much anywhere in Aug-Sept-early Oct.

 

Fall run? What fall run? :shrug:

Pfantum Pfishah

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Worst season EVER!!( On SOCO beaches anyway), When was the last time you could count on one hand  how many bluefish you caught in a year,  unbelievable, 

Also the same goes for adult bunker, and  their is Your 1st problem, I know the Narragansett bay and the providence were loaded, But why didn't they come-down the shore like they have in the past? I have Been on multiple Tuna trips This year SO of Block, and Had to Battle threw  big blues on Every trip,

NO BAIT NO FISH!!

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hammered fish in the spring for the entire month of may.  left on vacation came back a week later and it had slowed down through early june.  fall was banner fishing....for small fish.  found blitzes of schoolies almost every time i went out with one morning being better sized fish 24"-36"  no huge fish for me this year but plenty 38"-42" here and there if i looked hard and spent time in the water.  all fish for me were from shore.  im realizing patterns are changing and if youre not changing with them youll have a bad season.  throw lures youve never thrown before and fish spots youve never fished before . also fish spots during times you typically wouldnt.  i found some of my best fish this year when i was the only person fishing the spots i was at because throughout history it has been a "bad time to go" 

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below average for me, but I put that on myself as much as any of the other factors listed (which I agree with)...my kids are at a great age and involved in so much stuff that it has really really made fishing tough for me (a good problem, no doubt)...fishing like id like to anyway...seems like sports travel trips coincide with good moons :squid:

also, admittedly, I just cant recover from an all nighter like I used to :o

 

just glad to break 30 pounds to get the yearly streak going again, after breaking it two years ago....again, because of the got damn kids!

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Below average.  I realize I'm getting a tad older with less time in the surf but the lack of consistency with any bite of even slightly larger bass in my home waters is an alarming trend.  Unlike others here I noticed more inshore bait fish than in many years but it did not translate into success.  I'm one who believes we have plenty of forage... just not enough bass inshore to be attracted by all the bait.  Encouraging was the amount of very small bass present in Oct-Nov for the second year in a row.   Bluefish continue to be an enigma - didn't catch my first until mid August, then only a handful or so more throughout the fall despite a surf loaded with peanut bunker.

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I certainly did not get the hours in that i have in previous seasons and that is certainly a factor.  My kids (8 and 5) are very busy and i value family time so i dont want to be a zombie or not present due to fishing (and since fishing is not on an Ipad they rarely want to go) .  All my trips, except for a very select few, are at night when the family is in bed and so i rarely if ever fish during any daylight hours.  Work has been crazy so i can't fish early am's because i cant recover the way i used to and be fully functional talking to executives.  Basically i am stuck with the 9pm - 1am shift fishing 2-3 times a week, which for most of the season works just fine.  Always wish i could fish more, but its fish when you can and make the best of it.  The toughest part this year is when it finally all aligned, tides, moon, weather, and my timeframes the fish were really just not there.... Those were deflating trips

^^ I didnt even notice it didnt get censored, I guess anal is acceptable in SOL....
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Seriously the worst.  Every species targeted, fluke, bass, tog, 'noids...either a big fat skunk or short-short-short-short-short-short-short-short...draggers clawing away at inshore habitats like flies on a schit-pile. I didn't launch my boat because of concerns of domestic unrest.  Weather kept invites onto other boats at a premium and just an over-all sense of defeat-induced apathy.  I'm swearing that '18 will be different. I said the same thing about '17 back in '16...  Maybe I'll take up golf...not because I like the game, but because if I do, golf will then suck and fishing might be reborn...

"When the government's boot is on your throat, whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of no consequence."

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1 hour ago, DZ said:

...Bluefish continue to be an enigma - didn't catch my first until mid August, then only a handful or so more throughout the fall despite a surf loaded with peanut bunker.

Interestingly, the few fluke runs that I got to enjoy on boats found more blues and the odd bass on the bottom than I could yank out of a few lucky blitzes this year.  Blues aren't exactly uncommon when dribbling squid along the pan but it was odd that we'd hit 1/2 dozen or so on nearly every trip, and where finding a keeper fluke was my enigma.  Could it have been simply the majority of the bait were holding on the bottom this year?  That could explain picky (wise old) fluke and heavier than normal dragger traffic inshore.  All guesses for me.  I didn't dive at all this year so I never got a look around at the bottom.

"When the government's boot is on your throat, whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of no consequence."

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Everything was Off this year . We did the Fluke till ya Puke tournament in my boat and FAILED Miserably. Not from a lack of trying either . Went down the beach from Watch hill to Chucktown and then went to Block still nothing all the spots i had had starfish or Dogfish .

The rest of the year the same except for Sea Bass . I didn't target stripers but i did bring some nice 10 inch Snapper blues to feed them at Block with no friends but there cousins Biting them in 1/2 .

Noticed everthing caught was in Deeper water . Global ?  I think it was more Dragger action then ever and closer to shore then ever . Everyone has a right to fish and i have plenty of Comm fisher and Dragger Friends . 

I do think it had a impact on inshore and shore fishing 

SEA ROBINS on the other Hand . Incredible 

Top Drawer Sport fishing " We Put Everything Into It "

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