Weather: Calm and cool at sunrise. Sunny and breezy later in the day. 1-3 waves on the bay. 2-4 on the ocean.

Methodology: Topwater plugs on medium tackle. It was run and gun in the boat, chasing the birds and bait fish, casting and catching until the fish moved. And then, on to the next spot.

King of the Boat: John.

Fish of the Day: John

Guide Information: Capt. Jerry Sparks from Northeast Boat & Kayak Charters was excellent. A true professional. Just enough stories and instruction to make the most of the time we had, but none of the "all about me" chatter you sometimes get with other guides. What was most impressive is that Capt. Jerry called us 3 times after we booked the charter to check in and provide travel information. The last call was the evening before to move the launch time up to 4:30AM to account for the tides and weather. It was very obvious that Capt. Jerry loves what he does and is works hard to make it the best trip he can. We would go again in a heartbeat.

http://www.sparksfish.com

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John’s Thoughts on the Day: If you watch way too much discovery and science channel, as I do, you probably are vaguely aware that the prevailing view in the scientific world is that life emerged from the oceans and onto land about 425 million years ago. Notwithstanding any debates regarding the role of the deity of your choice in this event, or hair splitting about what you mean by “ocean”, this is the generally accepted wisdom. I tend to believe that’s why tens of millions of us migrate annually in lemming like droves to the coast. It is hard wired in our DNA to visit the place of our origin, or as they would say in the Matrix trilogy, back to the source. So it only seemed natural that Mike and I would conclude our most excellent fishing adventure with a salty sortie on the Atlantic, (Little Narragansett Bay, Fishers Island Sound and Block Island Bay, to be exact) and “get back to source” and tangle with some salt water fish that live their lives by the cadence of the tides.

Mike had done a great job on the finding fishing guides so far and he did not disappoint on our final charter. The first indication we were in good hands was when we checked in by phone with our guide the evening before he asked if we were OK moving up our meeting time to 4:30 AM at the ramp, because the rip would be running hard by 5:30AM and he did not want to miss the frenzy when the rip started. Little did he know, he had me at “rip”. We had selected this guide because he ran guided kayak fishing trips and we really wanted to do our first saltwater kayak trip. However the distance from the ramp to the optimum fishing was extreme in kayak terms, and that’s before you factored in tides. We opted for discretion and fish catching over kayaking and we met our guide at the appointed time and place, a little tired after our 9 hour drive the day before which originated in the mountains of Maine and New Hampshire. We motored away from the ramp at 4:45AM, braced by the perfume of salt water, seaweed and the first glow of sunrise clawing its way over the low clouds on horizon as we followed the buoys down the channel and around the south end of Sandy Point spit. As soon as we round the end of the spit and headed north, the gulls circling and diving made it clear, we were just in time for the party! Soon we were casting shallow running plugs (that had the stock trebles replaced with over sized replacement trebles) on perfectly matched spinning rods and then BAM…BAM  we were both hooked up and battling feisty 20 to 22 inch striped bass (Rockfish to those of us with any time on Chesapeake Bay) which we soon boated. The action was steady for the next 45 minutes, with hard battling rockfish taking turns with vicious bluefish that fought like fish twice their size on the tackle we had. We literally floated back and forth across the border between Connecticut and Rhode Island the whole time. During a pause is the action as we scanned the horizon for the next stop of the prowling and caterwauling gulls, we noticed a very odd silhouette against the low sun, at first we thought it was a person in the water, but as we grew closer it was a…..deer!! What was a white tailed deer doing here in the middle of little Narraganset Bay? It was almost a mile from the mainland. It was still swimming strong and our approach herded it in closer to the beach of Sandy Point spit. Hopefully it went ashore and rested, but who knows what became of that deer. We had to depart and keep up with the moveable feast the fish were chasing, eventually taking us our around Napatree Point and into the Atlantic proper. We ended up fishing the roiling waters in the lee of the lighthouse on Watch Hill point, catching fish on and off until the ebb tide slackened and the party was pretty much over. We then went back in the bay and up the Pawcatuck River, trying to pick off the occasional bigger rockfish we saw rolling on bait here and there. Unfortunately the wind started to come up, making boat control and accurate casting difficult. We agreed to call it a day a bit early, we both had wondrously aching arms from catching so many fish, a great day by any objective measure and a fitting end to our Thunder Run of New England. If you ever find your self around Stonington, Connecticut, and want to fish with a great guide, who is just as excited as you are to be out fishing that day, contact Capt. Jerry, a great guide who will put you on an adventure!