The Fish Wrap Writer Blog
For more than 20 years, we have been learning from and writing about outdoorsmen and women who fish, hunt, hike, pause, and sometimes just look around. Fish Wrap has been published over 480 times. Here you will find articles, interviews, reports, laughs, a few stretched truths (that’s true), and an unfortunate number of obituaries from good folks we have lost.
Please search, enjoy, and let me know if you know someone who we should meet.
A second look at a few characters from 2019
Each year we take a few weeks to look back on not just the calendar but more significantly, the characters who make this weekly stew pot of news, predictions, sarcasm and marginally accurate reports occasionally readable. This week is no exception; we get to meet...
A year full of characters, present and past tense
Each year it’s fun to reflect on some of the fishing characters we met on the water. Randy Julius is a favorite one, who left us far too soon.
One last look before closing the barn door
Winter, with her drapings of snow, curtains of north wind and blankets of ice to freeze ponds and pines, is near. She is challenging sportsmen kicking withered leaves against breaths of cold air and long nights. Wood stoves are replacing beach fires as daylight...
R.I.P. Randy Julius. You made the NEOWA undeniably amazing
None more dedicated, none more focused, none more passionate about the power of words and the organization who celebrated them. The Captain who kept our ship right, Randy Julius has left us. I am a better man and writer for having known him and his loving wife...
Bob Buscher & 1000 largemouth
Bob Buscher has done it. Numbers don’t lie, Bob Buscher is the best of the best. With just a few weeks before we start new fishing calendars, he finished his journey. South County Rhode Island’s favorite fisherman and media star has at last caught and released one...
Dave Henault has gone east for the winter
Dave Henault has left us. For the winter and for Southeast Asia. Dave’s the owner of Ocean State Tackle in Providence, a very well known figure in the fishing community and a total character. This winter, he’ll be riding his bicycle across three countries for...
How to catch tautog for a lifetime with Greg Vespe and Capt. Silvia
Greg Vespe and Captain BJ Silvia stood in front of a packed Elks Lodge to talk tautog. As guest speakers for November’s RI Saltwater Anglers Association meeting, lots of antsy fishermen were eagerly awaiting their words of wisdom on how to find, catch and release...
Surfcasters bragging rights sure have changed
Rich Heffernan smoothed his perfect grey mustache and surveyed the crowd. They were cold, hungry fishermen in fleece hats and sweatshirts, the salty uniforms of those who spent long nights in the surf. Rich was helping host the breakfast banquet of the 26th Rhode...
Neither wind nor rain nor anything else
I came because I love to fish,” said Pat Green. Sitting in a stark white Cape Cod conference room with an impromptu bar on one side and a plate of smoked salmon on the other, Pat was happy to be out of the rain. Fall was delivering a third day of biblical...
How to help Trout Unlimited, see muskets & a fly fishing movie, have a beer & look inside a deer's mouth
Fall provides so much so this week, we offer opportunities to catch fish and possibly take home a few bucks, celebrate the season, inspect a musket, take in a movie and look inside a deer’s mouth. That's not bad for the middle of October. Snug Harbor Marina is...
How to stay safe and fish hard all winter
The tautog bite is crazy good. Trout have been stocked statewide. A few stubborn bluefish are patrolling beaches. Bait fish are holding tight. Rivers and salt ponds are filling with stripers uninterested in a long swim south. It’s a treat fishing for bass chasing...
350 miles versus 39 fishermen; a tale of two fishes
Max Appleman shook my hand pretty hard. We hadn’t met previously but both recalled a Fish Wrap piece from last year in which readers were encouraged to contact him regarding a potential change in striper regulations. A similar Fish Wrap piece with his contact...
Hoping for more big bass, fresh and salt
September is such a sportsman’s month. Fish are in big time, goose and deer season opens and the Fall archery season for turkey begins. Waters are warm; around 66 off the beaches and as high as 72 in southern salt ponds. Days are warm, nights are cool. Provided...
RI Kayak Bassin’s Dean Powers wins first place and the Twesten boys catch a peck of perch
Last week’s RI Kayak Bassin’ tourney stop at South Kingstown’s Indian Lake was a fantastic opportunity to go fishing with some of the best people on the water and realize how fishing is important to all ages. Fourteen kayak fishermen hit the water at 7:00 am ready...
There’s no time to ignore the striper in the room or vote for the status quo
Here's a link to the ASMFC Amendment VI which is all about protecting striped bass. There are several options in there and I would suggest the Status Quo option only ignores the obvious and does nothing for a fishery we love and even depend on....
Competition or not, September fishing is top notch
The world of competitive freshwater fishing is exciting to say the least and the Ocean State is lucky to have several groups who take advantage of our many freshwater resources and in many cases, relatively low fishing pressure. Most groups have semi-regular...
Fish Wrap gets to join the Woman Angler Podcast
This week I was fortunate to be a guest on the awesome mid-western podcast, The Woman Angler and Adventurer. If you have a minute, give a listen please. The two hosts certainly know a lot about fishing, share our excitement for finding and catching fish and they're...
New winds bring albies, bonito and chub mackerel
And just like that, leaves are falling. Barely September and that north wind is blowing back in windows for months hidden by shades and drying out dark garage corners where snow shovels lie forgotten. For now. That north wind has brought in bonito and bonita and...
Warm water means fishing is getting hotter
Summer is full on, waters are warm, September is here, fishing is hot and there are plenty of spots with lots of fish to keep you cool under the collar. NOAA has determined that July was the hottest month ever recorded. According to their scientists, “The average...
Summer is for fishing, Fall is for hunting and fishing some more
Don’t let the dates fool ‘ya. Just because deer hunting season opens in a few weeks and the Fall turkey season happens shortly after does not by any means mean that summer is over. Fishing fresh and saltwater is red hot right now and given all the heat we’ve been...