Newsletter- March 8, 2016
 
I'm psyched... it's March 8th and we are a mere two weeks away from the official start of spring. It's been a very easy winter on-balance, nothing by comparison to last year. The Snowdrops are up and flowering. The shoots of the Daffodils are poking up adjacent the front wall. There are also reports that herring are in some of the runs! All great signs. I'm not so naïve however to believe we are in the clear from spurts of snow, icy winds and nights when a fire will still feel good, but clearly the worst is over (knock on wood).
 
Ocean and bay water temperatures have been on a steady climb and we are currently warmer two weeks earlier than we were in 2015 and 2014. These are great signs that the start of our fishing season is just around the corner. I will begin my personal fishing as early as next week with an excursion into a few spots that hold winter-over striped bass, and I fully expect to make a trip or two to several favorite Cape Cod ponds for open water trout fishing.
 
I fully expect that we will see the first wave of school striped bass by the end of March at several of Rhode Island's early season locations, such as the Pawcatuck River near Westerly, the West Wall in Matunuck and Sachuest Beach in Middletown. You will want to use small fly patterns on sinking lines using a painfully slow retrieve to connect with these early season fish. If you are a light tackle spin angler, small plastic baits such as the Cocahoe Minnow or several of the great soft plastic baits from Hogy might do the trick.

Thanks, Jim Barr


  Capt Jim Barr
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Capt. Jim Barr
401.465.8751
Skinny Water Charters  
 
In this Flybox
Rhode Island Temps Suggest an Early Start
Cinder Worm Hatch Open Dates
Casting Corner- What Casts/Techniques Should You Know
Tips to Keep in Mind on a Guided Fishing Excursion
General Angling Tips/Techniques
When in Doubt- Fish on Structure
"Cinch Tie" Tying Tool
Trout Fly Fishing Presentation
Quote
Pro Guide Affiliations
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Rhode Island Saltwater Temps Suggest an Early Start
In January I start to monitor and record Narragansett Bay and near-shore water temperatures. (Don't worry I'm not out in my boat dipping a thermostat in the water). I view a NOAA website to check water temps at a variety of nearby weather buoys. I plot these temperatures on spreadsheets I have maintained for about four years. With these records I try to forecast when we might see the first arrival of striped bass from their winter hold-over waters of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays and the Hudson River system. I use these records to help decide when I will begin my guiding season, specifically the cinder worm hatch angling that typically starts in late April, continuing through May and the first half of June. The earlier the water temps approach the "comfort zone" for striped bass, the earlier I expect the bass to arrive in the Pawcatuck River near Westerly, RI, the West Wall near Pt. Judith, RI and Sachuest Beach (Second Beach) in Middletown, RI. These early arrivals are typically the smaller school bass that in short order are joined by their larger brethren.

At the end of January we were about 6.5 degrees warmer (averaged over 8 buoys) than on the same date in 2015. We then experienced a severe cold snap that temporarily set us back to the ice age, but then by March 4th we had rebounded and were warmer than mid-March temperatures in 2015 and 2014. Barring any currently unforeseen and prolonged cold weather we should continue to track warmer and sooner than the past three years. In my estimation we should see striped bass in our salt ponds taking cinder worms beginning the first week of May.

Summary prepared on 3/4/16
The chart below continues to tell a good story.
* Ocean and bay water temps are warmer at all buoys from temps sampled two weeks ago. (However we are still not as warm as we were on 1/30 due to the cold snap we had a couple weeks back).
* Taking a longer view, we are warmer at all buoys today than we were on March 26, 2015 (3 weeks earlier) by an average of 3 degrees. We are also warmer today by an average of 3.5 degrees from March 15, 2014 (11 days earlier). Compared to 3/15/13 we are about the same.
* Next week's forecast is predicting considerably warmer air temps that if true, should make our waters warmer than the two prior years at roughly the same points in time. If this trend continues, count on an early push of striped bass.
 
Cinder Worm Hatch Open Dates
Steve Key- Worm Hatch

I have  good dates still open for fishing the Cinder Worm Hatch. With water temperatures starting to climb we should see worms and bass early in the first week of May. Generally the first fish that arrive are the smaller school bass that are very quickly followed by larger fish with the larger population of big bass arriving about mid-May.
 
Open dates as of 3.7.16:
May 1-13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 24, 29, 30
June 3, 4, 6-9
 
The days near the end of May and June are generally the best in terms of weather, worms and the largest fish of the worm hatch season. If you have never fished the Rhode Island Cinder Worm hatch, you should, I have maintained for a long time that it affords the closest thing to dry fly fishing in salt water. I guide in three salt ponds on Rhode Island's south coast. This provides considerable flexibility to target the best fishing in the least pressured water. For more information visit the RI Worm Hatch page of my website: www.SkinnyWaterChartersRI.com
Casting Corner- What Casts/Techniques Should You Know?
This short article is addressed to the fly angler who has a good grasp of the basics of fly casting but who aspires to get better. What follows are a lit of casts and techniques that I instruct in my Advanced fly casting lessons. Most apply to fresh and saltwater environments but typically are used more frequently when fishing in saltwater where we typically need to achieve greater distances and with faster presentations, and are less concerned with the need for accuracy (i.e. dropping a dry fly on a rising trout's nose). None of them are difficult to learn and typically most can be picked up in a couple of two hour lessons. If interested and you are in the southern New England area, please contact me for private casting lessons.

Casts:
  1. Saltwater Quick Cast- typically used by an angler on a flats or bay boat who needs to make an accurate and fast cast to moving fish in relatively calm water. This cast is imperative to know when fishing for Bonefish, Tarpon and Permit, and for Bonito and False Albacore in New England waters.
  2. Single Haul- this is "one-half" of a double haul. It is designed to help speed-up a number of types of casts and to quickly achieve higher line speed and distance.
  3. Double Haul- used to achieve higher line speed, greater distance and with less false casting. This cast and the Single Haul are imperative for anglers fishing in windy conditions and who may be casting large air resistant fly patterns.
  4. Off Shoulder Cast- this cast is helpful to the angler who has wind blowing against their casting arm/shoulder where the fly line passes perilously close to the angler on both the forward and back casts, and when the angler needs to present a fly when a traditional back cast cannot be made due to wind or obstructions.
  5. Roll Cast- typically used to cast the line when there is no room to make a traditional back cast due to obstructions such as bushes, trees, a boat's center console, another angler on the boat etc. This can be combined with the Off Shoulder casting technique. The Roll Cast can also be used very effectively to quickly reposition line and to assist in stages of repositioning a sinking line closer to the water's surface in preparation for a cast.
  6. Single Water Haul- using the surface tension of the water to load the rod in preparation for the backcast to achieve additional distance.
  7. Double Water Haul- using the surface tension of the water to load the rod on both the forward and back cast as a setup to a high overhead forward cast.
  8. Long-Line pickup- a casting technique used to pick up very long lengths of fly line in preparation for a forward cast.
  9. Casting with the Wind at your Back- a variety of techniques to take advantage of wind blowing from behind the angler to achieve significant increases in casting distance.
  10. Casting into the Wind- techniques to help the caster achieve higher line speed and presentation angles to be able to mitigate the distance shortening effects of wind.
  11. Belgian Cast- a wind casting technique that utilizes an oval shaped path of the fly rod starting with a low casting plane for the back cast and coupled with an "angled-up" forward cast in order to take advantage of wind at the casters back.
  12. Change of Direction Cast- a casting technique that allows the angler to make a quick change in direction after a cast has been initiated.
  13. Extra High Back Cast - a casting technique designed to get the fly and line above an obstruction to the rear of the caster or to insert the back cast into an opening behind the caster (such as a space between trees) to allow for a longer forward cast.
  14. Barnegat Bay Cast- a backhand fly casting technique that allows the angler to present a low angle (plane) cast in windy conditions and/or to keep the fly line on the forward and back hand casts outside the interior of the boat.
  15. Dapping- a simple way of presenting the fly at very short ranges using a "high-stick" approach.
Other Techniques:
  1. False Casting uses
  2. Why we overline a rod and by how much       
  3. Casting heavy lines
  4. Slipping line
  5. Casting Shooting Heads
  6. Controlling long line with coils
  7. Controlling line on the Shoot
  8. Open v Closed Stance
  9. "Fishing the Hang"
 

Tips to Keep in Mind on a Guided Fishing Excursion
If you've never been on a guided fishing trip the following points should help you be better prepared and make your trip more enjoyable and hopefully productive.
  1. Fishing unfamiliar waters? ...save the first day of going fishless, and up the odds that on successive days and return trips by hiring a guide. Guides are expensive but they spend a lot of Time on the Water. Learn from them and if possible, guide yourself on the following days or on your next trip.
  2. Guides know their waters at all times of the day, at all tides, and in all seasons. They know what fly patterns to use and which presentation techniques work.
  3. Before casting,  understand the wind direction and check your back casting room for obstructions- such as the guide, your fishing partner, the boat antenna etc. Use the back hand or off shoulder cast to keep the fly line from crossing over the boat and getting hung up or worse-yet, causing injury.
  4. Use stripping baskets on boats for line control, particularly if you are experiencing windy conditions. 
  5. When the guide tells guests to pull their lines as he is about to move, do it immediately- lines can get tangled in the prop very easily that results in losing valuable time, and worse yet causing equipment damage.
  6. As an angler you should always have at minimum 10 feet of fly line (no including  leader and tippet) outside the tip top and a minimum of 30 feet of line at your feet or in a stripping basket. You need to be ready to make several false casts to get your 30 feet of fly line aerialized to effectively load the rod to make the cast.

    7. Things to do before and during your fishing each day:

  • Cast for several minutes to warm-up especially if sight casting. This improves your timing, loosens you up, develops confidence, and shows the guide how you cast
  • Have your terminal tackle prepared if using your equipment
  • Make sure hooks are sharp
  • Stretch the fly lines you are going to use
  • Have already cleaned your line and leaders and inspect them for nicks and frays and change them if necessary
  • Check that all knots are strong
  1. If you have hired a guide...help the guide. Be upfront and honest about your experience and particularly your casting abilities. Don't be locked into using a fly rod if your skills are inadequate or if conditions make it difficult to use a fly rod i.e. too much wind, too bumpy, or a low tide that does not allow the guide to position the boat close to productive water.
  2. All eyes and ears are focused on the job at-hand. When fishing difficult areas with rocks, swells/waves- help the guide with input on water depth, an oncoming swell, and alerts about navigational and lobster pot buoys.
  3. Your guide is not your butler. The guide's principal job is to put you ONTO fish. He cannot catch fish for you.
  4. If you are on a guided trip and you're into Bluefish... let the guide handle the fish and to crush the hook barb, do not risk injury that requires a trip to the Emergency Room to remove a hook or stitch a laceration.
  5. Tell the guide in advance if you cast right or left handed, this will help the guide attempt to position the boat best for each of you given your respective casting skills.
  6. If your guided trip is mostly about learning a fishery and less about catching a lot of fish...advise the guide accordingly and ask him to spend more time than usual talking about how best to fish that fishery. The good guides will help you, the selfish ones will be closed-mouthed.
  7. Some anglers are trophy hunters, others just want to catch a few fish and others may just want to learn a fishery. Discuss your preferences at the beginning of the outing.
  8. If you have any special medical, dietary or drinking restrictions, they need to be discussed with the guide before your fishing day begins.
  9. If you are going to use your equipment, tell the guide in advance of your intentions. You will frustrate the guide and yourself if you are fishing with equipment not up to the task.
  10. Sometimes a guide acts as a referee between two anglers who are competing for the optimal casting position on the boat. Accept the guide's recommendation, he can allocate the preferred casting positions fairly.
General Angling Tips/Techniques
  1. Fish where flats meet deep water breaks.
  2. Fish where current meets or leaves a ledge and other structure.
  3. Fast moving water & turbulent water provides ambush points for stripers.
  4. Scout boulder fields and shoreline contours during low tides and mark them with your chart plotter. This is particularly helpful at night for wading anglers with a handheld GPS to allow you find these spots at night.
  5. Mark structure not on your chart with your GPS so you won't run afoul next time.
  6. Use "drift socks" (drogues) on your boat to counter the effects of wind and current.
  7. Use top water hookless lures as teasers in shallow or dangerous waters to prospect for fish.
  8. Use a heavy "river anchor" in muddy soft bottom areas where a traditional fluke type anchor will not hold.
  9. Stripers will stay on the flats all summer as long as the water temperature stays below 75F.
  10. Tides are critical, a flooding tide is typically more productive than an ebbing tide.
  11. When the flat is emptying, fish are hastily retreating off the flat to get to deeper water.
  12. When flats fishing from a boat look closely at the dark grass patches on the bottom where bass will be spending more time than over the white sand.
  13. Drape fishing nets over your outboard, hydraulic lines, cleats and any obstruction that can foul a fly line.
  14. Use blue painters masking tape to cover smaller fly line fouling areas such as cleats, rod holders, etc.
  15. Stay put when fish blow up. Resist the temptation to do large moves. Where possible drift through active areas several times. Some fish (False Albacore/ Bonito for example) will repeat a feeding pattern. The bait that fish crashed just minutes ago is still there and the predators will often times circle back.
  16. When fishing a surface frenzy, particularly tuna species, it often pays to dead-drift your fly pattern or use a very slow retrieve and to also vary the retrieve.
  17. During windy fall fishing... 8wt rods are generally not up to the task.  Go with the heavier rod and the sinking line to power through the wind.
  18. Fish creating swirls may actually be 2-4 feet below the surface but because of their size and large tail fins, they are moving a lot of water.
  19. Feeding fish signatures- mornings generally provide the best conditions for spotting fish feeding during flat water conditions. Look for swirls, breaks, birds looping/hovering/dipping, baitfish spraying.
  20. Have your fishing partner cast into the immediate area of a fish being played. Oftentimes others will be closely following a hooked fish and they can be easily caught.
  21. Use a kayak or inflatable in combination with your "mother ship" to access hard to reach or private and delicate waters.
  22. On the Rhode Island flats you will rarely see bass feeding on top, they will be on the bottom scouting for crabs and shrimp.
  23. Always bring binoculars to spot fish and birds. Binoculars with a built-in compass allows for pinpointing a bearing in open water having few or no landmarks or navigational aids for reference.

When in Doubt- Fish on Structure
No doubt you have found yourself with the opportunity to fish in unfamiliar water. Sometimes that means you are going with a friend or maybe you will be with a guide. There will be those times however when you will be solo, whether on foot or in a watercraft of some sort. If you prefer to fish shallow water as I do, you will always be on or near what we refer to as "structure". Structure comes in many forms, in saltwater we consider rocks, ledges, coastlines, reefs, sand bars, shallow water flats as forms of structure. If you fish in fresh water structure can mean rocks, sand bars, underwater brush piles, downed trees, docks, weed beds- the list goes on.  As you plan your excursion to unfamiliar water, do some homework first. Find a map or chart, access on-line resources such as Google Earth, scout interesting waters at low tide or if in fresh water, survey streams and lakes when water levels are down...and look for structure. Structure provides nurseries for bait, protection from fast moving water and predators, ambush points for predators, and food collection areas for drifting forage such as insects in a trout stream.
Pay attention to the following:
  1. Near shore reefs/ ledges
  2. Shallow and protected salt ponds 
    Fish breaks between shallow and deep water
  3. Smaller bays
  4. Estuaries
  5. Salt rivers
  6. Beaches
  7. Flats
  8. Boulder fields
  9. Docks, wood and concrete pilings, rock piles, ledges, dropoffs - they all hold bait- Fish on and near them.
  10. Fish where current meets or leaves ledge and other structure.
  11. Scout boulder fields and shoreline contours during low tides.
  12. When you spot boulders and ledges not on your chart or chart plotter, set waypoints for return night time excursions.
  13. Break down large sections of water into understandable and manageable (fishable) pieces.
  14. Think of the saltwater environment like you would a trout stream or a freshwater bass pond- fish cover & structure.
  15. Bass will be moving toward or away from structure as current changes and bait repositions.
  16. When flats fishing from a boat look closely at the dark grass patches on the bottom, bass will spend more time on dark areas where there may be more bait and where they are camouflaged.
  17. Look for "highways" that bass use for access and egress to/from the flat. They don't always follow defined channels.
Fish rock piles and reefs


Fish coastal points, bars and breachways
"Cinch Tie" Tying Tool
For years I have used a very handy tool to tie on fly patterns, in both salt and freshwater. The Cinch Tie (not Clinch) has been worth it's weight in gold. It makes extremely quick work of tying on a fly pattern using the Clinch and Improved Clinch knots.
The plastic version can also be used to thread your tippet through the eye of your fly pattern.
This product is available at Bass Pro Shops and at a variety of internet sites. If you have difficulty tying on fly patterns due to fingers that don't work well, cold weather, and low light conditions, this tool (at less than $10 if you shop right) will help you spend less time tying on flies and lures.
 
The following link is a YouTube video demonstrating how this little beauty works.
 
Link to the manufacturers website:
 


 
Trout Fly Fishing Presentation
  On March 12th I will be presenting a program on Fly Fishing for Trout at Bass Pro Shops in Foxboro, MA at 11:30 and 3:30. Please stop by and say hello if you are in the area.
                

Quote
"Certainly no aspect of fly fishing is as enjoyable as those which have a good, firmly based and well established myth or two for company."
Conrad Voss Bark
A Fly on the Water
(1986)
 
I hope this newsletter contained information of interest to you, and again I welcome input for future topics you may be interested in knowing more about. Newsletters are produced whenever I can find the time.
 
My best,

 

Capt. Jim Barr
Skinny Water Charters
Certified Fly Casting Instructor