RI Fish Report Blog. Oct. 6 - Oct 13

[flyphoto]

No signs of life and water still dirty on a popular rock wall this morning.

[sandbars]

4 hours ago, flyphoto said:

No signs of life and water still dirty on a popular rock wall this morning.

That’s for sure it was dead. Some nice tog and sea bass being taken up in the bay thou.

[rst3]

8 hours ago, MakoMike said:

Togged yesterday. Water to the west side of the harbor of refuge was extremely dirty. We found some cleaner water just east of the light. Limited out by 1:30 Pm,  No DDs, biggest fish was about 9 pounds.

Nice rpt.

9lbs is a real solid tog. 

[rst3]

11 hours ago, fishinbill said:

I'm also guessing that the migration is running a bit later this year.  The water temps. are still pretty high, and on many days it feels more like late summer out there than fall. Of course, that could change very quickly. I found a ton of bass this week near the mouth of the river and caught more than I have in a long time. On the first day, some large over-slot fish were mixed in. Since then, the action has been good, but the fish are smaller, and there seem to be fewer every day. I'm still hopeful for at least one more wave of fish.

One idea I came across this year that piqued my interest had to do with the schedule of the moons, and migration. Obviously...bass have zero clue what the date on the human calendar says. They only know moon phase, tide, food, and water quality+temps. 

 

Because moon phase seems to be strongly associated with migration/movement/arrival/departure.. and since these phases differ on the calendar year to year... the actual calendar days bass tend to show or bounce likely varies year to year, based on the shifting lunar schedule. Very warm falls may alter this pattern somewhat, but probably not a ton, imo. If bass come across a large slug of food in the fall, they do seem to hold awhile before bouncing.

 

So one year the moon might bring fish in around Oct 1st. Another year it could be 10-14 days later. Just a theory I came across this year that seems logical. 

[charliestriper]

13 hours ago, rst3 said:

One idea I came across this year that piqued my interest had to do with the schedule of the moons, and migration. Obviously...bass have zero clue what the date on the human calendar says. They only know moon phase, tide, food, and water quality+temps. 

 

Because moon phase seems to be strongly associated with migration/movement/arrival/departure.. and since these phases differ on the calendar year to year... the actual calendar days bass tend to show or bounce likely varies year to year, based on the shifting lunar schedule. Very warm falls may alter this pattern somewhat, but probably not a ton, imo. If bass come across a large slug of food in the fall, they do seem to hold awhile before bouncing.

 

So one year the moon might bring fish in around Oct 1st. Another year it could be 10-14 days later. Just a theory I came across this year that seems logical. 

Seems like I read something similar in Kenny Abrame's "Striper Moon", and several other places, and nodding my head and thinking that sounds right.

 

I guess "Great minds think alike."

 

(Wish I had one.)

[Sleve]

Why the absolute DUCK is it 75⁰ today???

[NewEngBoy011]

16 hours ago, rst3 said:

One idea I came across this year that piqued my interest had to do with the schedule of the moons, and migration. Obviously...bass have zero clue what the date on the human calendar says. They only know moon phase, tide, food, and water quality+temps. 

 

Because moon phase seems to be strongly associated with migration/movement/arrival/departure.. and since these phases differ on the calendar year to year... the actual calendar days bass tend to show or bounce likely varies year to year, based on the shifting lunar schedule. Very warm falls may alter this pattern somewhat, but probably not a ton, imo. If bass come across a large slug of food in the fall, they do seem to hold awhile before bouncing.

 

So one year the moon might bring fish in around Oct 1st. Another year it could be 10-14 days later. Just a theory I came across this year that seems logical. 

I disagree somewhat, moons are incredibly important, but calendar dates, certain sun rise set angles combined with length of days all factor into play. I have caught all 4 of my biggest fall bass on a single specific date and location(s) in October 2010,2011,2015,2017, all had different moon phases, weather patterns etc - may not be as specific as one date but a certain week span in October, big fish push through the area I fish. I used to take a week off around the new moon in Oct, then several years ago, (fall specific) I switched to taking off the same specific 7 days on Oct during each calendar year, it still produces the biggest fish of fall, although often not the greatest numbers of fish,

On the contrary, late May/June is all about the moons ….good convo

 

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by NewEngBoy011

[JfromRI]

My colleagues who work with Fundulus (mummichogs) tell me that you can keep them inside a building with no access to moon or sunlight and they will still time their spawning with the moon that they cannot see and tides they cannot feel.  I doubt they’re sensing the moon’s gravitational pull but I guess it’s possible.  Either way, internal biological clocks are real and there are species that are are evolutionary hard-wired to do things according to calendar, or to enter a state of readiness for response to local stimuli like light, tidal action, temperature, etc.

[fishinbill]

Humans tend to be reductionist in our thinking and we try to find one thing - or the most-important thing - to explain a situation. Therefore, some will say the moon is most-important, or water temps, etc.

 

Nature, however, is more complex with built-in overlaps and redundancies, so it’s likely all of these factors working together. 
 

Bottom line: I have no idea what drives the migration, but I do know that I’m going fishing tomorrow morning. 

[rst3]

5 hours ago, NewEngBoy011 said:

I disagree somewhat, moons are incredibly important, but calendar dates, certain sun rise set angles combined with length of days all factor into play. I have caught all 4 of my biggest fall bass on a single specific date and location(s) in October 2010,2011,2015,2017, all had different moon phases, weather patterns etc - may not be as specific as one date but a certain week span in October, big fish push through the area I fish. I used to take a week off around the new moon in Oct, then several years ago, (fall specific) I switched to taking off the same specific 7 days on Oct during each calendar year, it still produces the biggest fish of fall, although often not the greatest numbers of fish,

On the contrary, late May/June is all about the moons ….good convo

Whoops I forgot about photoperiod.. doh!  

39 mins ago, JfromRI said:

My colleagues who work with Fundulus (mummichogs) tell me that you can keep them inside a building with no access to moon or sunlight and they will still time their spawning with the moon that they cannot see and tides they cannot feel.  I doubt they’re sensing the moon’s gravitational pull but I guess it’s possible.  Either way, internal biological clocks are real and there are species that are are evolutionary hard-wired to do things according to calendar, or to enter a state of readiness for response to local stimuli like light, tidal action, temperature, etc.

That's very interesting. Yeah I doubt mummichogs can sense gravitational-tidal effects of the moon&sun when stuck inside a building. 

[WindAndWater]

5 hours ago, NewEngBoy011 said:

I disagree somewhat, moons are incredibly important, but calendar dates, certain sun rise set angles combined with length of days all factor into play. I have caught all 4 of my biggest fall bass on a single specific date and location(s) in October 2010,2011,2015,2017, all had different moon phases, weather patterns etc - may not be as specific as one date but a certain week span in October, big fish push through the area I fish.

 

I can relate to this somehow. Fishing for largemouth bass in the fall can be tough. But this lake I was fishing most of the time was pretty popular and after a few years of living in the area, it seemed like every year reports would always pop up of one or two giant 11-12+ pound bass being caught during October during a very specific 7-10 day period. And I tried to fish harder during that time period, but eventually moved out of the area.  It was ok because I had the springtime dialed in really well and caught a few giant fish during that time. But that lake was tough in the fall!  

 

[JfromRI]

30 mins ago, fishinbill said:

Humans tend to be reductionist in our thinking and we try to find one thing - or the most-important thing - to explain a situation. Therefore, some will say the moon is most-important, or water temps, etc.

 

Nature, however, is more complex with built-in overlaps and redundancies, so it’s likely all of these factors working together. 
 

Bottom line: I have no idea what drives the migration, but I do know that I’m going fishing tomorrow morning. 

Yeah same here. I’ve been fishing AND studying animal populations and migrations pretty much my whole life. Despite all of that, all I can say is that I too am going fishing tomorrow.

[Quonnie]

Fished out front of SoCo breachway and beach today We caught sea bass and sea robins 

in 4 hours we did not see any other fish 

great day to out on the water