Be sure and check out the video in High Definition by changing the quality setting button.

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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Tautog or Blackfish next to a rocky reef in Narragansett Bay

 Good luck, but please toss the egg laden females back.

The Lion’s Mane Jellyfish is the largest jellyfish in the world

When does Jellyfish season open?

Look at the RI landings

Top 10 seafood landings (by pounds)

In 2010, more pounds of squid were brought ashore in Rhode Island than any other seafood.

When I was young my family and I ate all of the above, but we also had a steady supply of cod, haddock, flounder, halibut, pollock and even swordfish—the majority of which could be called “local” with a straight face. In the fifty years since, overfishing for these prize species—those that fetched highest ex-vessel prices—has done huge and well-documented damage to both our once-abundant groundfish and the habitats that sustain them.

Now that we’ve pummeled the stocks of bottom dwellers and longlining has dramatically reduced apex-predator stocks like sharks, tuna, marlin, swordfish, and so on, the race is on to catch every last critter that can be consumed. Look at the above list of commercially landed species and consider: In my childhood—heck, even now—most would fall neatly under the “bait” heading….

If we don’t get our regulatory asses in gear, we’ll soon be dining on spider crabs and jellyfish. Speaking of the food chain—its bottom links in particular–did you take your krill oil today?

Will the Longfin inshore squid (Loligo pealeii) spawn early?

I’ll be diving this week to see if I can find the first wave of squid to invade Narragansett Bay for the 2012 squid spawn.

Last year was a mad rush for these valuable eatables, with draggers from all over—some of staggering proportions and horsepower—pummeling the south shore beaches relentlessly, April into July.

Why?

two extremely different colored squid

Squid landings amounted to six times the volume of lobster that crossed the Ocean State docks last season, but both generated roughly the same revenue: $12.4 million.

pink and pearl colored squid

By some estimates, Rhode Island’s commercial fleet produces the largest volume of domestic squid landings on the Eastern Seaboard (some would suggest that Cape May, NJ comes close). Pretty impressive for what once was an underutilized resource (a kiss-of-death designation that generally transitions—at a breakneck clip—to “fully exploited” and soon thereafter to “crashed” or “collapsed”).

squid blows jet of water into the sand

squid eating blueback herring

squid lined up in a row

macro shot of a squid eye

Point Judith is now the Loligo squid capital of the Eastern Seaboard—its product regarded as among the world’s finest, and in constant high demand, particularly in southern European and Asian markets.

For what it’s worth, the old exit sign off Route 1 to Galilee once designated the port the
“Tuna Capital of the World.”

Galilee was home to the Atlantic Tuna Tournament and even Frank Mundus would weigh in a fish or two.

This collage of shots shows what happens in less than half a second  

Sandpiper pulls out a worm

Sandpipers stalk the surf line and when the waves recede they look for meals in the mud and sand.

Yesterday, I also found a number of ducks at the southeast corner of Mackerel Cove, Jamestown, Rhode Island…including this rather vocal specimen.

A red-breasted Merganser with something to say

The recent mid-March heat wave led to a trip down memory lane

Do you remember that one special bait shop from a long, long time ago?  I sure do.

On a warm spring day, I renewed my fresh water license and my acquaintance with Dick, the long-time proprietor of Dick’s Sport and Hobby Shop

Dick's Sport and Hobby Shop

Richard Byer, owner of Dick's Sport and Hobby Shop

Richard Byer has been doling out fishing licenses and advice since the early sixties and both Captain Jim White (from the Fairlawn area of Pawtucket – just down the street) and myself (living in the Woodlawn section of the City) would visit the original location of Dick’s Hobby Shop.

Now, 50 years later, we returned to say hello to Dick and rekindle old memories.

Dick still remembered Jim’s 1962 special order for a rod and reel combo .  It represented the very best value and performance at the time and he bought one too.

It didn’t take Dick but a few minutes to produce an original invoice from a wholesaler that went back to 1964.

A wholesaler's invoice showing the purchase of 2 reels, 3 rods and 72 other items for $19.93

These days the shop is crammed to the rafters with new and old products for fresh and saltwater fishing.  Over the years Dick has done business with four generations of Whites as well as countless other kids in the neighborhood.

We told a few stories, had some laughs and then we headed out to do a little fishing in the ponds we loved to explore 50 years earlier.

Here’s a slideshow of the old shop
slide show

Check out my next post “The Sucker Run Re-Visited”