What is it like to go on RI Striper Fishing Charters

Learn about a Striper Fishing Charter in RI

Getting up early in the morning.   Getting on the boat and pulling away from the dock.  Cruising along with the drone of the engine in your ear.  This is some of what you’ll experience on a fishing charter trip.  In Rhode Island there are around 100 vessels that offer fishing charter trips for groups of 1-6 people.  Trips have a variable length depending on what the boat offers and what the client wants, usually half or full day trips.   Half day trips are 4-5 hours long, full day trips are 7-8 hours long.  Typically the charter starts early in the morning.  You drive down to the marina where the charter boat is located.  Get your stuff out and go down the dock to the boat, meet the captain.  Get on board and stow your stuff.  Then the boat is undocked and on its way.  After about a half hour or so of cruising you can be into fish.  Some boats troll, others cast and retrieve plugs, or diamond jigs or any of a variety of fishing lures.  However, the vast majority of boats troll wire line.  After you catch all the fish you can for the day, the boat heads back to the dock.  Often the fish will be filleted on the way back to the dock, so after the boat docks there is little to do before you can be on your way.  Many captains have no problem socializing  with their customers after a fun fishing trip.  Some captains will keep you out longer if you like and the bite is good, others are clock watchers and bring you back to the dock no matter what when the time is up.

Generally it is a good idea for fishing charters to leave early in the morning.  Most fish are very active in the early morning, especially striped bass and bluefish.  As the sun comes up, the bite slows down and eventually dies off.  So if a captain is trying to get you to leave early, you really want to listen to him.  This is someone who wants to catch fish.

Trolling wire line is not really a fun way to catch striped bass if you are an experienced angler.  For the casual angler or beginners, it works fine and can be a lot of fun.  The expert will likely feel that it is more like winching in fish than real fishing.  The best way to catch striped bass is using topwater plugs.  See the swirl behind the plug, and the splash as the hit it, then the tail in the air as they roll, there is really nothing like it.  Definitely beats jigging a parachute jig on wireline.
 

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