Your boat is drifting with the current through a fog covered rip line and you hear the high pitch squawking of terns just a few yards away.

Could they be working over a school of fish?

There they are!

Is it just one fish and a couple of birds?

No.  It’s going off!

Two terns wait for their opportunity to feed on the silversides that stripers are herding.

What are they feeding on?

Could it be squid?

It might be bay anchovies.

It’s spearing!

A tern makes a quick meal from a single spearing it snatched off the surface

Wait, there are some big bass mixed in with the schoolies.

Both a single tern and a single striper feast on silversides near the surface

I can see the bass opening their mouths and gulping down the bait.  It’s really starting to heat up now.

A striper clears the water as it gulps down a meal of silversides

Wow!  The stripers are coming right out of the water as they suck down a quick meal of spearing.  Awesome!

Just how much bait is down there?

Silversides or spearing packed together near the surface.

Another big fish just flew out of the water!   This is insane…I’ve got to get a cast out there.

A large striper feasts on a silverside it sucked off the surface

But, I’ve got a big pink, squid fly on…what the hell, no time to tie on a smaller fly.  Where are they?

Over there!  The birds are gathering.

The focus of attention is a school of silversides being harassed by stripers

Get the boat closer.

Common terns hoovering over schooling baitfish

I’m on!  He took the squid fly!

Sometimes you should't 'match the hatch' but instead go large

If you’ve ever experienced a similar occurrence, whether alone or with friends, you know the excitement of having a a mini-blitz all to yourself.  It’s amazing to watch the dramatic trials of life unfold right before your eyes; the almost irritable timber of the terns squawking, the sounds of tails slapping the water, fish crashing bait, birds diving, and bass flying out of the water…all  happening in your very own room, squared off by a curtain of fog.  And just as quickly as it erupted, it’s over.  Even if you can’t connect with a fish, the sights and sounds have to arouse your emotions and  leave you in awe.

Call them mahi-mahi, dolphinfish, dolphin, dorado, bulls, chickens, or peanuts, but tie into them on light tackle and you’ll call them one amazing gamefish.  Mahi are among the fastest growing fish in the sea with a short lifespan of only four or five years.

Big bulls are hard to hold, but easy to grill

They don’t match the strength of a tuna, wahoo, amberjack, Cubera, roosterfish or other highly sought after gamefish, however they are sensational on light tackle.  Did I mention stunning, dazzling, beautiful, gorgeous, and radiant?

A big bull dolphin stretches the mono as it runs from the boat

These slides are a tribute to a wonderful sport fish that I enjoy catching, filming and eating.  These photos were taken over the past 12 years and they feature dorado caught off the coast of Costa Rica.

Click on any thumbnail to enlarge, once opened you can navigate all the images by clicking on the image or using your right and left arrow keys.

These amazing game fish are members of the tuna clan and can reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.  This slide presentation will give you a close up look at six distinct albies that put on a show for me as they fed in one area for over an hour.  They allowed me to take hundreds of pictures and 36 minutes of awesome video.

 Another hunting party, this time it’s dolphin following yellowfin tuna 20 miles off the coast of Costa Rica .

Another pod of six on the hunt — only this time it's mammals.

Striped Bass Lurking in the Waves

Wednesday, July 25 at 6:30 p.m.

North Kingstown Free Library, 100 Boone St.

Underwater photographer and videographer Mike Laptew will present a high definition, multi-media presentation highlighting the saltwater game fish of Rhode Island, as well as techniques for catching them. Laptew has been diving the Ocean State for over 50 years and his unique, fish-eye perspective seminars have delighted audiences for over two decades. The show will feature breathtaking close-ups of striped bass, bluefish, tautog, fluke, false albacore, and many different species of bait fish. This is a presentation the whole family will enjoy.

Free, but space is limited. Please reserve your seat by contacting Tracy Kennedy at
(401) 874-6800 or e-mailing tkennedy@gso.uri.edu.

This lecture is part of the annual Community Lecture Series sponsored by Rhode Island Sea Grant, the URI Nutrition and Food Sciences Program, the URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences, and the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council. This lecture is also sponsored by the North Kingstown Free Library.

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Herring ready to spawn

Snow forecasted  for this afternoon.  I wonder where these river herring are right now?  I will project that the first river herring will be seen the second week of March at Gilbert Stuarts birthplace and museum.

Spawning

There are two species of sand lance recognized as living on the east coast of North America: an inshore and offshore species.  They have been spawning along their range since November and spawning will continue through March.

Importance

A scool of sand lance or sand eels are important baitfish for stripers and other game fish

In recent years this has become a significant biomass component on the Atlantic coast of North Atlantic.  Cod, haddock, striped bass and many other important commercial and recreational fish depend on these snakelike fish, commonly referred to as sand eels.  They also help sustain whales and sea birds.

When will the river herring return to Bissel Cove this year?

This photo was taken during an early morning outing last fall.  This area has a very steady flow of water and it didn’t freeze up very much this past winter.

The big question is when will the herring first show up this year?  How many will return?  How many were intercepted at the mouth of the bay by the industrial fishing fleet?  

Pair trawlers don’t belong in our state waters, never mind Narragansett Bay.