james shaughnessy

Arguably some of the most productive fly fishing in New England is along the Rhode Island Coast. The open shoreline is exposed to cool clean water of the North Atlantic while islands, bays, and beaches provide prime habitat for bait and predator fish. In Early Spring, stripe bass migrate into the area and inundate the waterways in search of food.

On a recent visit I was able to explore and fish some of the tidal salt ponds that dot the RI coast line. These massive tidal ponds are rich with life, bait, stripers, and incredible fly fishing opportunities. Expanses of flats are punctuated by deeper channels and small grassy islands. Tidal fluctuations and current present an ever changing landscape and huge variety for fly fishing stripe bass.

The ponds flood and ebb twice daily. The tide brings cool nutrient rich water, an abundance of bait, and predatory fish. Stripers swim in and out of the ponds through breech ways which open out to the Atlantic. Understanding the tides is key to fishing the ponds successfully. These ponds hold huge volumes of water and take so long to fill and empty that they have their own schedule for high and low tide. Tidal differences in the front of the pond can be 3 hours different from the ocean tides, and even 5 hours difference towards the back of the ponds. It might take a day or two to figure out exact time of the tidal change, but it’s absolutely necessary for knowing when and where to fish inside the ponds.

Much of the flats become exposed at low tide and fish will either exit the ponds, or lay in deeper channels and holes. The dropping tide was most productive for me and I would time my outings to begin an hour or two before the high tide and fish for 2-3 hours into the drop.

Shore fishing from the breech way jetties, or walk wading can be productive, but the ponds are best accessed with Kayak or shallow draft boats. This will allow you access to flats and back channels. Most people I saw pond fishing were trolling from boats in the channels, leaving the flats virtually unfished.

When Stripe bass do come up on the flats, they can be very challenging to take with a fly. They will spook easy and are often more selective than not. As with Permit, bonefish, or any flats quarry, presentation is everything. Anticipating the fishes’ movement and having a fly waiting will increase your odds. The ponds hold sand eels, crabs shrimp, and small baitfish; flies should be a close match.

We used Kayaks and rowed from spot to spot casting from the bank or sometimes getting out and wading the flats. Unfortunately, on this trip, grey skies during high tide hours made spotting fish difficult, but I have fished the ponds under better conditions and would put it right up there with the bone fishing I’ve done in the tropics.

On cloudy days, I found myself moving between rips and deeper troughs searching for fish. I adopted the belief that either they are there or not and would not spend too much time if fish weren’t showing or biting. After pulling the kayak up onto a point or beach, I would cast step cast until I found fish or exhausted the spot and moved on. The ponds are uncrowded and pressure is light. Site fishing on the flats is virtually untouched on the ponds and you can easily get away and have entire flats to yourself. Night fishing under the full moon was also very productive casting black Clousers into rips and troughs.

On our best day we landed 10 and lost another 5 fish in a 4 hour span, and even found time to harvest some littleneck clams for dinner. The fish were not big on this outing, most in the 25-30” range, but super fun on 8 & 9wt rods.

 

Gear Talk~

RI Saltwater Ponds~

Opal 8wt – Perfect for the flats and delicate presentation casting small bait patterns and crustaceans.

Line: Serum 300gr w/integrated sink clear 12’tip. The smaller size Serum lines have extended rear tapers to soften the presentation, but cast quick and accurate yet still powers decent size flies.

Opal 9wt – loaded with 300gr sink was used in deeper water situations casting sand eels and baitfish.

Opal Surf 7/8 & 9/10 – The only choice for blind casting and covering water.  Opal Surf rods make distance casting easy and covering water a cinch.

Line: Serum tip system – Throughout the tide cycle I was able to adjust the sink rate by changing the tip and kept the fly in the zone through the full tide cycle.

For slideshow click Here.

 

The rains have begun in Oregon and with them come a bounty of fish and mushrooms. Last weekend’s adventure began mid river where water temps have dropped enough to hold steelhead that have followed spawning salmon into the mid and upper river. I was fortunate enough to have my good friend Bryce up for a visit and a couple days fishing.

A late start had us on the water at the crack of noon. Surprisingly we had the river and an incredible display of fall foliage to ourselves. After less than an hour of searching, we found fish. Bryce hooked and landed a nice 6lb adult on the Platinum 12’6” Spey rod using a Tonic head, 10’ of T-11 and a black intruder. Less than 10 minutes later he had another nice steelhead in the same area. After a few photos, and Bryce let me take a shot at the run and I waded out into the same spot. I was fishing on the surface with the Onyx 5wt Spey rod, Elixir switch 350, floating polyleader and a spey style green butt skunk. The fish were not picky and I hooked up immediately. After an energetic aerial display had an 8 lb buck to hand. We traded off turns and landed 4 out of 5 nice, adult steelhead.

After the fishing slowed, we packed it in and headed West over the pass to the coast. Our host Jamie and Ashley had been having good luck with Chinook salmon on some local coastal streams, where fresh fish are entering the system.

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We enjoyed a relaxing morning and a beautiful drive to a local coastal stream. Fish were rolling at the put in and our spirit levels high. For gear we used Opal 10 wt rods with Serum 350 tip system, one set up with clear intermediate tip, the other with T-8 tip. The flies varied from small Clousers to Crazy Charlie’s. The trick was finding where in the water column the salmon were suspended, then swinging the fly in and ever so slowly stripping it back. The strikes came both soft and hard, but all good. We ended the day hooking 4 and landing one Chinook on a float that started 4 miles upriver to within a half mile of the Ocean.

The following day a sobering hike in the mountains yielded 10lbs of Chanterelles and the dinner menu was set.

Check out the Baja Mexico slideshow.

For those who braved the hurricane devastation and threat of Dengue fever, the Baja bite was wide open last week. Sardines have rained down on the peninsula and with them came hungry fish of all kinds.

Our trip started at team Beulah’s usual Baja haunt.  Flyfishing, by any other standard, would have been considered excellent but by Bahia Buenos standards it was so so. A reunion with old friends at the quincinera of a very good friend’s daughter made up for it. After much celebration, and a couple days of fishing, we decided to chase our commercial fishing compadre down the coast. The rumors of a tuna bite in the area had us packing up and heading out early. It proved a great decision and ended up being one of the most productive 24 hrs. of fishing I have experienced in Baja.

A pre-dawn ride, complete with ten miles of hurricane thrashed dirt road lead us to a primitive winter fish camp with some of our local captain friends. The greeting was curt; “Hay Atun?” Response: “Si …muchos!”, and he wasn’t lying.

A hundred feet from shore lays a blue hole and in it, 40-80 lb. yellow fin tuna were jumping and commercial pangueros had rods bent as they doubled over in exhaustion battling the big fish. We rode past the spectacle with Capt Texas confident we would find a more suitable sized fish for fly fishing. Ten minutes later it only took a couple handfuls of sardines to get the 15-30 lb. tuna popping. We had Beulah Opal 10 and 11 wt. saltwater fly rods rigged w/Serum fly lines at 350 and 400 gr., 20 lb. tippets and sardine fly patterns. The yellow fin tuna were hungry and plentiful. These fish are as beautiful and strong as they are tasty. They kept us busy all afternoon and we even had a few Dorado 15-25 lbs. come to our party as well. If that wasn’t enough sea life, we watched a 200 lb. blue marlin chase one of our hooked tuna beneath the panga. I know this all sounds too good to be true, but it got even better.

The next morning we were flying out at 2:00pm, but had a couple hours to fish in the am. With Texas’s convincing, we decided to stay in close and go for roosterfish. Again, it was only a couple minutes, a few sardines tossed less than a hundred yards from where we launched, and we were casting to roosterfish. Fish 15-60 lbs. busting all around us. These fish were aggressive and seemed not quite as educated as the fish to the North, which see flies all spring long.

We landed a couple Roosters, lost a few and even landed some large skipjack for commercial sharking bait. Within a couple hours we exhausted our sardines and it was time to get cleaned up and head home.

The ten mile ride down a dirt road into a primitive fish camp, along with the rides in beat up pickups and worn commercial pangas, was a throwback to old Baja and simpler times. The trip was a re discovery of what Baja used to, and still can be with a willingness to venture, explore, and trust the word of old friends who have fished these waters since childhood. Thanks to Texas, Mark, Marcos, Marisol, Hugo et al for laughs, beer, fish and friendship new and old.