Good one Gives a nicer meaning to "see it, say it"

Never get in an argument with a fool...bystanders might not be able to tell the difference. Mark Twain

I took my whaler to Third Beach area Sat. and Sun. Tons of silver dollar pogies in residence. Occasional individual fish coming through crashing bait. Managed a big striper, bigger than slot, and a couple of +/- 4lb. blues on Saturday.

Sunday got a slam of sorts, a 27" striper, a small blue, and an 11 1/2" scup. I didn't know that scup would hit a fly. I had downsized my fly from a 4" deceiver to a 2" rain bait imitation trying for some of the albies that had showed up. Got two hookups, one spit the hook, and the other broke me off. When I paused during one retrieve to untangle a loose knot in my line, the fly evidently sunk down to where the scup were lurking. Good hookup, right in the corner of the mouth, it definitely hit the fly. Who knew? Still working towards my first albie on the fly.

Saw a ton of bait by the Third Beach boat ramp area being harassed by small blues on Thursday. Went by this afternoon (Friday), and the beach was lit up! Half a dozen surfcasters hooking up repeatedly with decent sized blues.
Multiple fish crashing the bait. Heard that the bigger fish found them this morning.

Gina, I can offer no cure for the addiction. I can, however, offer another outlet for a "fix". Winters are long here in the Northeast. I don't do ice fishing, so it's a long time between seasons. An important part of my obsession with fly fishing is fly tying. All winter long I catch fish in my head, as I work at the tying bench, restocking the flies that got chewed or lost during the past season. It helps to get past crappy weather in-season as well. If there's a hot fly working on whatever is running at the moment, you can tie up a few to pass the time until better weather comes.

There is no cure for the adiction, this suggestion just offers a balm that can help to scratch the itch.

Worth pondering Neil. Always a good thing to try and think outside the box. In this case perhaps, outside the box of frozen fish?

Tuesday night was more productive. I tied up a couple of Rhody flatwings before heading out. There must have been better than 20 fishermen, with the majority being flyrodders. The whole beach basin was loaded with sand eels, and the stripers where happily rolling on them for hours. My first hookup popped a 20lb leader after a good fight, but before I could get a good look at the fish. I later landed a 22 in. very fat striper. They certainly seem to be eating well.

Sun. night: Plenty of bass just off the end of the stone pier. They were rolling on bait for hours. I threw everything I had in two fly boxes, using both sinking line and floating. The best I could manage was a follow. One other guy was there using an all white flatwing and he landed three keeper size stripers.

Went to King's Park again Fri. night. Plenty of shad rolling, with occasional stripers slapping. There were only a couple of other fishermen probably because of the rain squalls. While I was there not one of us hooked up. High tide was later than I could stay, around 1:30 am. Maybe the bight turned on after I left, but for me it was a frustrating outing. Some nights are like that.

Fish were very active last night. I got seven shad on the fly. Had a friend along who is new to flyfishing. He had previously only caught freshwater panfish. He got a nice shad, and then hooked into a striper just under slot size. He was using a 6wt setup, and the fish took him for a ride! The light suddenly went on about my fascination with the flyrod. After a vigorous battle with several sizzling runs, he netted the stocky schoolie and was able to release a healthy fish. Gentlemen, I believe we may have a convert.

Mixed school of shad and schoolie stripers was active at King's Park in Newport last night. I got a couple of 6-7 lb. stripers on the fly, and also caught two nice shad, my first ever! Really enjoyed how scrappy they were. I assume that they would be a real hoot on lighter tackle.

Blues on the smaller side are the tastiest. The bigger they get, the more oily they are.

I love smoking bluefish, it's just kinda hard keeping them lit...LOL

If you're bait fishing, don't you need to be using a circle hook? LOL

Fortunately, no sign of the impending seaweed problem. Unfortunately, family obligations left me little time to go prospecting with my flyrod.

I was a bit shocked at how little access there is without a boat. When I went to a large and very well stocked tackle shop in Inverness to get some local knowledge, the first question the owner asked me was "do you have a boat?". When I told him that I didn't, his face went blank and he started looking around to see if anyone in the store might have an idea. Finally, he mumbled that there might be some wadable shoreline out at the end of the Fort Island Trail nature preserve.

An hour and fifteen minutes later I arrived at the location and found a juicy looking shoreline which appeared to be a miles-long wadable flat. Even then, there was only one access point immediately adjacent to the small beach. With limited time, and an afternoon 25+ knot breeze, I managed to get in a few casts, thereby fulfilling a bucket list item of wetting a fly in the gulf.

Here in Southern Rhode Island, you can walk into any store that sells any kind of fishing stuff (Walmart or whatever), and ask the pimple faced kid at the register who doesn't even fish, where to go and he'll give you ten spots with ready access. The staff at any tackle shop needs a half hour to tell you about all of the spots he knows about.

I assume that it's a different story down in the keys, but I'm absolutely shocked at how little shoreline access there is. In northern Florida it's apparently all about the boat.

I'll be in Florida the week of 3/20/23. I'm bringing my saltwater flyfishing gear with me and would like some advice about where good public access to the shoreline is. Also, I'd like to know what species I can expect to successfully target at this time of year. (Yes, I said "successfully target" not necessarily have actual success in catching. I'll leave that part up to the fish Gods and whatever skill I bring with me.) Any info. would be helpful and much appreciated.

Mike