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.
How To Protect Stripers & Chat With Max Appleman
Please call Max Appleman immediately. Max is the Fishery Management Plan Coordinator for the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Council and his phone number is 703.842.0740. Max is the man taking calls from people opposing or supporting a move the ASMFC is considering...
How To Go Nowhere at the D.M.V.
Trailer Trash Spoiler Alert: Nothing Happened at the DMV. This is the second installment of one man's journey to register a small boat trailer. The first piece, which is pretty important to the big picture of the problem, can be read here. A sandwich walks into a...
How To Buy Gear, Catch Carp, Shoot Clays, Roast a Pig & Fish 27 Miles
The Narragansett Surfcasters held another hugely successful Used Tackle Sale this past Saturday. Hundreds of people streamed through the Narragansett Community Center, to pour over new and used rods, reels, lures, tackle bags, needle fish and classic collectible...
Trump, Trout Unlimited & The Cape Cod Salties
With that voice, that posture, that presence behind a table, Jack Creighton didn’t need to tell me he was a retired police chief. His service was as obvious as an unmarked police car. Jack’s the President of the Cape Cod Salties fishing club and it’s pretty clear...
Summer, cooler. Winter, calendar
Winter really hasn’t taken a good grip on us yet, which surely means we’re going to pay for all this calm weather next month. In the meantime, it’s time to fill the calendar with events to remind us of all those fishing days on the other side of March. The...
Ocean State Trailer Trash
This week, we meet regular Joe's who want to register a trailer without being labeled Ocean State Trailer Trash. It's not too much to ask.
Al’s Goldfish, Coming Back To a Tackle Box Near You, Thanks To Mainer Mike Lee
Last year, I had the pleasure to meet Mike Lee, a small business owner from Maine who was promoting his fishing products at an outdoor writers meeting. He’s an engaging guy and we had much in common. A few days ago, we talked for a very long time about his...
Brother Geoff Comes Out Shooting, A Shooting Range In Progress & Cooper’s Hawks Shooting Down Pheasant Seasons
Winter’s arrival has not slowed Sven and the crew at the Peace Dale Shooting Preserve in South Kingstown. The foundation for a 16 lane indoor shooting range has been poured and is curing. This important step means construction of the facility will follow and...
An Important Correction
I need to make a correction regarding our story about Al’s Goldfish Lure Company. Founder Al Stuart passed away in 1984, not 1978. Changes in company ownership did not occur until after his passing and the new owner, Mike Lee, made a purchase offer to an owner not...
New Year*New Look*New Hope
We have a new look to the website, which I imagine you have noticed by now. Now it's 2017. A new year with all new opportunities... Thank you all for a fantastic year meeting the finest and craziest characters anywhere. And here's to an even better...
Stocking Fish, Burning Spots & Why Maine is So Awesome
A few weeks ago, RIDEM placed 2,000 brook trout into four regularly stocked ponds: Barber, Silver Spring, Meadowbrook and Wyoming. Depending on who you ask, stocking hatchery fish is contentious, necessary, a nuisance to local wild fish populations, tax funded...
Codfish, Head Boats & Maybe a Meeting or Two. That’s So Winter…
It’s cold. It’s windy. It must be time to go cod fishing. Block Island has long been a key place to start drifting given areas of hard bottom for tasty codfish. Like many New England fishing communities, the island had a history of reliance on the mighty Gadus....
Fishing For Salt Ponds and Public Access
This season, before the ice takes over, salt ponds are where it’s at. Salt ponds are teeming with ducks, geese, stripers and bait fish. Roads have cleared, parking has eased, boat ramps are open and there’s plenty of big pond-side windows with their shades drawn...
From the Point St. Bridge to Middlebridge, We Find Fish
More catch up this week. The onset of cold weather has slowed the fishing and my knack for uploading columns in a timely fashion. Then again, it's always fun to look back... Thanksgiving, come and gone, has left a bit of void on the beaches. The big charge over the...
Swim Shads, Seabass, Shotguns and Skateboards. Man, Rhode Island has it all this week!
This week we get caught up with a Narragansett Times piece from a few weeks back. Sorry, it's the whole busy holiday season thing... With seawater temperatures holding tight in the low to mid-fifties under falling air temps, fall has opened the door to excellent...
‘Gansett, B.I. & Monterey Bay: Albies, Stripers & Plastic Get The Hook
Tautog season looks to be winding down but false albacore are speeding through our shores. Albies are part of the mackerel family and beloved for their speed and power. Like tuna, they have no swim bladder so are in constant motion and will corner bait where there...
Bay Scallop Season & the Bright Green Lawns Which Destroy It
Saturday last opened another sagging season steeped in stories of great harvests, piles of bushels of glistening shells and an aging promise of a paycheck by noon. While the fleet worked hard October bottom offshore, baymen rowed dories and sailed skiffs to drag...
Our days are numbered & hold the beverage cart
Our days days are numbered. Partially in an eternal sense but also in a closer sense of shorter days, plastic holiday trimmings in the fishing isle and the specter of purchasing gifts for people you haven’t seen in years but your wife insists really are close...
Domoic acid and Captain Jim Gritman, RIP
After a few weeks away casting for tree limbs and rainbows, we are catching up on blog posts from the Narragansett Times which should have been posted last week. As always, thanks for reading!
Phishing with our presidential candidates & what our future might hold. (hands shown actual size)
Phishing with our presidential candidates & what our future might hold. (hands shown actual size) Donald Trump has a conceal carry permit. Consider that for a moment. Or ten. He says he supports the Second Amendment and that Democratic Presidential nominee...