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.
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...
toxic algae closes shellfishing & an albie keeps a flyrod
This week: how to avoid toxic shellfish, where to catch a striper and how to lose a fly rod and smile about it. Narragansett Bay has been closed for the first time due to a bloom of the toxic phytoplankton Pseudo-nitzschia. From the mouth of Narragansett Bay to...
Fall is here and salt ponds are on fire
Fall. October. Wind. Striper migrations, salt ponds on fire, piles of mullet and a hurricane? It’s good to live in New England. This new month with it’s black moon and drenching rains quenching a season-long drought just may be a most perfect month to go fishing....
Public Lands Must Always Be Public
We the people have 650 million acres of federally managed public lands in this country waiting for us to discover or rediscover. We possess endless potential to catch fish alongside hundreds of thousands of acres to hunt, camp, rest, recharge, be silent for a vista...
R.J., Jon and a new perspective on waters
This week we meet two fishermen who have never met but have remarkable similarities. R.J. is a Providence high school student and Jon Fallow is a Brockton middle school teacher; together they show how fishing can erase backgrounds, ease differences and bring peace....
Even when fishing gets complicated, Capt. Rene Letourneau finds the fish
Fishing and weather can be complicated. In the wake of a lethargic swirling post-cyclone tropical whatever, waters have largely cleared and the fishing has finally turned back on. Stripers, blues, sea bass, scup, fluke and racing hardtails are feeding in the face...
Elise Torello offers us peace on a salt pond
“Striped bass fishing could be on fire as they can handle the rough water well. Anglers need to be cautious, wear Korkers but still be mindful of waves and slippery rocks”. That’s a prediction and recommendation from Ocean State Tackle’s Dave Henault, who...
You can learn a lot from 6″ of water
Always an outdoors column on the move, this week we go electroshocking catfish in Attleboro, Ma., find out how much you can learn by looking into a five gallon bucket and enjoy a quick discussion on Napoleon's wallpaper. Seriously. It’s difficult to connect an...
It all starts here, on the banks of a river
Peter Van Noppen organized his folding tables, behind him, the Woonasquatucket River. Peter was the fulcrum for a big day of cleaning, clipping and hauling along this one stretch of the historic river just behind the gloriously restored Rising Sun Mill. The Woony...
Billy Carr Tourney This Weekend
The Billy Carr Midnight Madness Striper Tourney is this coming weekend. Boat and surf divisions are available at $50 per angler. Boat division is one night only, Saturday from 6pm to Sunday at 7am. The surf division is Friday from 6pm to 7am Sunday. Don't Miss It!...
On Patrol with RIDEM Law Enforcement
RI Department of Environmental Management Environmental Police Officer Mike Schipritt was again gracious enough to allow us to shadow a patrol, as we did last summer. For this patrol, we joined Marine Unit officers Jeff Mercer and Kevin Snow at their Wickford...
These 6 Fantastic Kids Really Know How To Fish
If you want to know what’s happening in the fishing world, you have to ask the right people. At Snug Harbor Marina, we brought together 6 young fishermen and fisherwomen to talk fish, tips, secret spots, favorite gear, stories and stretched stories. A few were...
RISAA’s Next Meeting Announced
The West Valley Inn has closed unexpectedly so the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association will hold their next meeting at The Villa, 272 Cowesett Ave, West Warwick. Meeting starts at 7:00pm The guest speaker will be Captain Mike Roy with a lively presentation...
Bonito? Bonita? Whichever, They’re Coming!
Deadly Dicks, deceivers, frustration, exuberance; these all share one thing in common: Atlantic bonito. Based on the fishing logs and water temperatures, these members of the mackerel family should be migrating here very soon so to be ready for the challenge,...
TU 737 leads the way, teaching good kids about fish and fishing
Some would have you believe it’s a grim, hugely horrible world out there, but it’s not. In a sleepless, loud 24 hour news cycle we are bombarded with bombings, shootings, terrorists, ancient politicians who just won’t go away, those pesky immigrants who want a...
Talking Turkeys This Week with Wayne Barber & Saying Goodbye To A Good Man
Just this side of the Harrisville Mill Pond dam, a few people leaned over to cast worms into some roiling waters, a few others stumbled around, palms up, squinting while waiting for some silly, animated pseudo-life to appear on tiny screens and across the street,...
Hot Reels wins it all, a fish bust & 5 million eggs. that’s a lot for one week
The 35th Annual Snug Harbor Marina Shark Tournament was another success. 47 boats registered with 7 women and a record of 8 kids signed up in the 15 and under division. By Saturday night’s weigh in, the leaders in the thresher category were Bull Dog, with a 225...
jim’s dock, some weighty math & spraying for milfoil
Jim’s Dock was busy all holiday weekend. There’s a solid crowd there of first shift local fishermen with extra-large coffee’s, buck tails, faded tattoos and lots of stories. The second shift shows around 10 a.m .and is more the tanning oil, swim noodle, surf rod...
Missing it all in Maine
Maybe I missed it all back home, but in the woods of Maine, for a week, I watched life fast forward. From a canoe and over a coffee, we met new, good people, caught fish and watched as a young child grew to become a young man. Maybe I didn't miss anything at all.
Fluke, Squid and Josh Miller. Wow.
Josh Miller knows fish, he hunts, he dreams of packing up a trailer and hauling himself back to Alaska, back to where everything is big and wide and open, where people live off the land and there are options for a smart guy. He also knows how to catch fish. Big ones.