I set foot on Block Island for the primary time within the late fall of 1983, trying to find the faculties of large striped bass I had been catching from the surf on Cape Cod again in 1981. At the moment, nobody had realized that the historic striped bass blitzes of Pochet Gap and Monomoy Island, and the beaching of a 73-pound striped bass in November, would mark the closing of the best period of striped bass surf fishing on Cape Cod.
I used to be on Cape Cod for that ultimate nice 12 months. In 1981, I used to be 23 years previous and dwelling on Lengthy Island. I used to be between jobs and had no household tasks; I had on a regular basis on this planet to fish. My fishing companion and I made the choice to go away for Cape Cod in early September of that 12 months, and we left Lengthy Island with no return date in thoughts. As soon as we arrived, we instantly knew one thing very particular was taking place – an incredible variety of massive fish have been being taken. We had arrived proper in the course of the legendary ‘81 surf run of striped bass on Nauset Seaside.
That 12 months, my fishing companion and lifelong greatest pal, Marty, and I had many nice nights on Nauset. All of the fish we caught have been taken on stay eels, and the fishing was spectacular at spots like Pochet Gap, Lengthy Bar and Outdated Chatham Inlet. I keep in mind making the lengthy, 12-mile journey over the sand to Outdated Chatham Inlet night time after night time with Marty, and we’d spend all the journey strategizing for the night time forward. I miss that journey a lot! If I shut my eyes, I’m transported again to a brisk early-autumn morning on the Chatham co-op fish market, the place all of the surf fishermen got here to promote their fish and discuss in regards to the earlier night time. I keep in mind seeing legendary native Cape Cod fishermen with their pickup vans crammed to the brim with big striped bass. What a sight!
The spectacular fishing on Cape Cod, mixed with the distinctive magnificence and altering character of Nauset and the again seaside, turned me right into a lifelong surf-fishing fanatic. However as 1982 got here
and went, the fishing was nothing just like the 12 months earlier than. The October blitzes by no means materialized on Nauset Seaside, leaving me a Cape Cod surf-fishing refugee. I had misplaced my favourite spot, and I had nowhere to go. What can be the subsequent Cape Cod?
Whereas surf-fishing again in our house waters of Montauk Level on Lengthy Island, my crew members and I might typically marvel about somewhat island seen within the distance. We knew it was Block Island, however that was about all we knew. Little data was shared in regards to the fishing on Block Island, and there gave the impression to be a veil of secrecy surrounding its shores. That was sufficient to catch our consideration, so we determined to pack up and make a journey to fish the island. We made reservations for the ferry from Rhode Island, and we booked rooms on the New Shoreham Home.
The Nice Kingdom of Striped Bass
After we arrived, it didn’t take us lengthy to appreciate that the times of simple fishing on the Cape Cod sand have been over – Block Island had cliffs and rocks in all places. Not many individuals lived on the island, and despite the fact that the calendar mentioned it was November of 1983, we felt like we had stepped again in time to the 1950’s. Block Island life appeared easy and pure, and I keep in mind seeing the old-style Land Rover vans driving across the island. The waterfront house constructing increase had not but begun, so we had no entry restrictions in any respect. We explored all the island, and the extra we explored, the extra impressed we have been by it. Each fishing spot seemed higher than the final. There have been deep bowls and lengthy, rocky factors, all of which had sea birds sitting within the water. What stood
out probably the most, nevertheless, was the odor of bait within the air. We may see massive sand eels trapped in rock swimming pools behind the dropping tide, and we seen previous rusted pipes popping out from a few of
the rock boulders within the water. Later, we realized that the pipes have been the remnants of the bass-fishing stands of the late 1800’s. My creativeness went wild with ideas of the years passed by: Perhaps this was the identical Block Island bass stand the place Francis W. Miner caught his undocumented 86-pound striped bass in 1887!
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After we began to fish the island, we realized that we had stumbled onto one other particular bass-fishing phenomenon. A handful of native Block Island guys have been fishing a wierd lure that seemed like a pencil. It was referred to as a needlefish. These native fishermen have been catching extra large striped bass than we had ever dreamed of; a few of them had landed a number of 60-pounders. The locals by no means mentioned a phrase to any fishing report or newspaper. Till we got here alongside, they’d the fishing to themselves. Needlefish in 1983 have been like uncommon diamonds; there have been only a few round and each was invaluable.
Needlefish in 1983 have been ready for a birthplace, and so they discovered it on the rocky shores of Block Island. My crew of fishermen had solely eight needlefish amongst us, the classic-style Boone
Needlefish constructed with screw eyes. A lot of the guys fishing Block Island solely owned one needlefish – the one tied on the tip of their line.
We joined the Block Island locals in a blitz of stripers at Southwest Level at midday in the future, and all of the fish have been giants. Each one was over 30 kilos, and most of them have been within the 40’s. These striped bass tore the screw eyes proper out of our needlefish – in the event that they didn’t straighten or crush the hooks first. We knew these fish needed to be from the identical tremendous college we had fished at Nauset in 1981. Because the fishing wore on, blitz after blitz, all eight of our needlefish have been utterly torn aside by the cows.
All of the fish wished have been the needlefish, however you couldn’t discover a single one on Block Island. One in every of my buddies had an thought: he would discover a payphone and name Don Musso, the plug maker on Lengthy
Island, and ask him to ship in a single day no matter he had in needlefish lures.
The subsequent day, we waited on the Block Island Submit Workplace like youngsters on Christmas Eve. Santa Claus ultimately got here, wearing a postal uniform and carrying a postal bag loaded with 24 wired-through needlefish. Don Musso got here via for us large time, and we went to work on the cows.
The fish have been in all places across the island, and we caught uncountable numbers of mid-30 to high-40-pound stripers. Ballards Seaside, Grove Level, Southwest Level, Cat Rock Cove and
Black Rock all gave up fish. A blanket of enormous sand eels surrounded the island, and the massive college of large bass stayed proper on them. The daytime blitzes at Southwest Level have been unbelievable.
Forty-pound stripers have been thrashing on high, their entire our bodies popping out of the water. I had by no means seen such huge bass hitting in the course of the vibrant sunshine of day, and these fish tore up our new wired-through needlefish and demolished our plugs. We had an empty espresso can available to carry all our straightened and crushed hooks, and in between tides, we’d study all the scale 4/0 and 5/0 treble hooks within the espresso can. There was a fantastic fishing story related to each crushed hook.
My crew and I spotted one thing very particular was happening right here. This was the nice striped bass’s kingdom, and Block Island had forged a spell on us.
A Thanksgiving Blitz
Better of all, it was not crowded and all of the fishermen on Block Island have been gents. Along with our crew from Lengthy Island have been some locals, a number of guys from Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and a father-son crew. We have been fishing within the midst of the true glory years on Block Island, however none of us knew it on the time.
November wore on, and shortly Thanksgiving ‘83 was upon us. Everybody was leaving Block Island for the vacation and a storm was advancing up the coast, however the considered leaving the island
by no means entered our minds. We knew there was a chance upon us that shouldn’t be missed. Our crew had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner that was over by 3:30 p.m., after which we determined to begin
fishing at Southwest Level.
After we acquired to the spot, the entire rock bar was white water and the bowl seemed black, and we had Southwest Level to ourselves. As quickly as we began fishing we have been into fish. All via the night time, from 4 p.m. to six a.m., we picked away on the striped bass on Don Musso picket needlefish. It was a black night time, with rain and wind sweeping into the bowl, and it felt superior. One crew member hooked a monster that he battled for a protracted whereas, lastly touchdown it deep within the bowl at Southwest Level. Within the morning, this cow dragged the dimensions all the way down to 59 kilos. One other crew member weighed in a fish of 55 kilos, and we had many fish between 35 and 50 kilos. It was such a particular night time, with simply the 4 of us at Southwest Level, on their lonesome apart from the moby stripers. When morning got here, the stripers have been hitting needlefish on the finish of every forged so quick that we had hassle getting the road onto the handbook pick-up. It was an unbelievable expertise.
Return to the Block in ’84
We left Block Island a number of days later, and as winter settled in, the Block was all we thought of. We have been in whole awe of the island. We had stumbled upon a few of the biggest striped bass fishing ever, and we had no concept that it was going to get even higher. After we returned to Block Island within the late fall of 1984, there have been extra fishermen round, but it surely was not crowded
like it will be within the years to come back. The island waters have been loaded with massive sand eels and mackerel. I had by no means have seen a lot bait – the harbor water was black with it. I knew we have been within the midst of a really particular pure occasion, as the most important migrating colleges of large striped bass and big colleges of enormous sand eels have been colliding in Block Island waters.
After we began to fish within the late fall of 1984, the climate circumstances have been downright frigid. The puddles on the seaside trails have been frozen, and we have been utilizing skinny scuba diving gloves and
hoods to fish. This arctic climate made the fishing more difficult, and ultimately, extra rewarding.
The fish have been hitting Don Musso picket needlefish in fluorescent glow inexperienced in the course of the day and black needles on these darkish, black nights. That 12 months, we fished in lots of calm water on the south aspect of Block Island. We found that the fish liked 7-inch Crimson Fins, Bombers and Hellcats. We acted like mad scientists, loading these lures with completely different quantities of weight for fishing completely different spots across the island. In our vans we saved crates stuffed with spray paints in numerous shades of inexperienced, blue, yellow and plum. We’d paint the plugs proper on the seaside and
then grasp them within the truck with the heater on so they might dry. Seven-inch Crimson Fins have been spray-painted fluorescent glow inexperienced with chrome sides and loaded to a particular weight. We fished them sluggish, reeling simply sufficient to really feel the present.
The bone-jarring hits from 40-pound stripers on these plugs have been unbelievable within the calm water. We caught many 40-pounders, and never one fish weighed lower than 30 kilos. We’d begin fishing at 4:30 within the afternoon and finish at 6:00 within the morning. We’d transfer everywhere in the island, feeling utterly tuned in to the island’s tides and currents; all we talked about have been
the island’s tendencies and the place the fish can be at what time.
One night time, my companion and I walked down the cliffs of Southeast Gentle to fish Lighthouse Cove, Sand Financial institution Cove, Southeast Level and Cat Rock Cove on a falling tide. There have been one or two giants in each considered one of these bowls. It was an evening of a half moon, and the define of each bowl was seen. We battled moby stripers all the way in which again to Outdated Harbor Level, totaling 9 fish between 35 and 45 kilos, all on loaded 7-inch Crimson Fins and Hellcats.
The east aspect of the island had a few of the most traditional striper water on this planet. We walked again to the truck and nonetheless had 8 hours to fish. The nights have been limitless, and so was the fishing.
One other Thanksgiving Blitz
On Thanksgiving night time in 1984, we have been hoping for one more blitz just like the 12 months earlier than, however we by no means may have guessed that we have been about to have the best two days of fishing of our lives. My pal Marty and I made a decision to begin the night time on the Southwest Level rock bar. After we acquired there, we discovered it abandoned. The circumstances have been flat calm and the tide was simply beginning to exit. The fishing was sluggish. We saved wading farther and farther out on the bar, till I began getting little bumps on the black-and-chrome loaded 7-inch Crimson Fin.
I made 5 extra casts and felt 5 extra bumps. They saved tapping the plug. I switched to a fluorescent inexperienced and chrome Crimson Fin and forged it out, barely reeling and letting the present transfer it very slowly.
BANG! Successful of explosive energy, and the fish took a run all the way down to the backing on my reel. He stopped and I reeled somewhat, after which he took off once more a number of instances. This was a fish of a lifetime!
Ultimately I acquired him as much as the shallow a part of the rock bar, but it surely was such a giant fish that I couldn’t get it over the shallow bar. It ran once more, and I spent one other quarter-hour working it again in. With my coronary heart pounding in my chest, I used to be lastly capable of seaside the fish on the rock bar. Once I bent to select it up, its weight informed me it was a particular fish. It took me a second to gather myself, and with the enormous fish in my hand, I gazed round at the fantastic thing about Southwest Level, whispering aloud, “The rock, the rock…”
The primary forged after the cow, I used to be immediately into one other fish. This turned out to be a 46-pound striped bass. My companion was touchdown a fish as properly, a 48-pounder. This blitz went on via the
total outgoing tide. These fish tore aside a lot of our Crimson Fins and needlefish plugs, crushing and straightening most of the hooks. Our fishing deal with was no match for these large striped bass, and we misplaced as many as we caught.
They bodily tore us aside, too. To catch this many large fish within the rock-strewn waters of Block Island was a fantastic problem. In my innermost ideas, I nonetheless pour over all of the stripers of ’83 and ’84 that I hooked after which misplaced – I imagine a few of them may have been world data. They have been so big! I’ve little question that these fish have been from the identical college that hit Pochet Gap
on Nauset Seaside within the blitz of 1981.
When morning got here, I weighed my fish on an authorized scale. It registered at 61 ¼ kilos. I had joined the “60” membership! I used to be solely 26 years previous, and I had already lived a charmed striped bass fisherman’s life from the seashores of Cape Cod to the shores of Block Island. I knew instantly that I might fulfill a dream of mine and go to the best taxidermist of our time, Wally Brown, to mount my 61-pound striped bass.
The ultimate tally for Thanksgiving night time for my companion and me was 23 large striped bass, starting from 37 to 61 kilos. The subsequent night time I walked all the way down to Southwest Level, and on my first forged of the night time, utilizing a big picket Don Musso needlefish, I caught a 51-pound striped bass that I launched within the bowl at Southwest Level. As I revived the 51-pounder, I felt the energy of its large
tail push off and swim away – there aren’t any phrases to explain the sensation. I left a bit of my soul on Southwest Level that night time, feeling so blessed to catch a 61-pound striped bass after which launch a 51-pounder the subsequent night time.
The blitz was the identical on that second night time. My companion and I had 21 extra striped bass from 35 to 51 kilos. Nearly all of fish from these two particular nights have been within the mid- to high-40’s. One week later at Southwest Level, a surf fisherman shattered the Rhode Island file for striped bass with a 70-pound large.
For these two years, my crew and I have been a part of the nice Block Island period of surfcasting. It was a present to us.
A number of years later, on a sizzling and calm day in July 2007, I sat with my spouse and two younger youngsters on a quiet, abandoned Southwest Level. I mirrored on how 25 years in the past, this sleepy island was accountable for a few of the greatest striped bass surf fishing ever skilled. Because the years proceed to roll previous, I can solely hope this nice period is not going to be forgotten. The lads who fished then knew properly the spirit of this island, and it will likely be in our hearts without end.
