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.
big water, little fish & a hard wooden bench
Writing a fishing column requires lots of time looking to the water but not out the window, lest you see how much fun everyone else is having catching actual fish. In spite of this and my editor’s looming deadline, four of us waded into the Salmon River last week,...
wayne kenyon, fishing all day and those lost forever
With a new September light behind him, Wayne Kenyon walked the path from Moonstone Beach, carrying a bucket and pole. Since he was a boy of five and first walked to fish the Beaver River, he has been a fisherman. He fished through his years working at the Kenyon...
surf contests, bass regs and some friendly competition
If you have spent any time fishing the beach for stripers this year, you know it’s been slow. Really slow. One here, one there with the occasional keeper to keep you in the game. It’s been slow enough that even the great surfcaster Steve McKenna might get skunked...
False Albacore, kayak frustration and courtesy on the Narrow River
Albies are here in force. From the Harbor of Refuge to the east side of Narragansett Beach and Monahan’s, fishermen are lined up hoping to catch a ride with these bullets. Long revered for the great fight they give, they are loathed for their ability to disappear...
sunset explained, old school rocking fish guys & sweaty town workers. seriously.
Talk around the docks this week has been all about sunset. These new days of a waning summer seem to have made the fish a bit uninterested once the sun sets, even when they were actively feeding. This temporarily flies in the face of something we know best, that...
Addendum IV, crappy politicians and anchovies…
In the midst of all we consume from radio, television and the printed word, there is a reminder of what we, as Clay Pell would say, “ordinary Rhode Islanders”, can do to shape an important piece of our favorite pastime or paycheck. The Atlantic States Marine...
robbed us blind, they did but some can help us see
August 22, 2014 The soft sand along Cards Pond can make for tough walking, especially in waders. When the pond is breached, exiting brackish water carries small bait fish and often there are bass and blues waiting for a meal delivery. It’s hard to make eastward...
postcard from the ledge-narragansett times, 8/15/2014
8/15/2014 POST CARD FROM THE LEDGE The pre-dawn commute to Block Island has been heavy with calm seas and favorable winds, drawing fishermen state-wide with hopes of securing a parking spot over the boulders and holes by sun-up. As first light made her first...
it’s common sense, man-narragansett times, 8/8/2014
One way to get a fisherman thinking is to make him wait. You get that time at a two lane boat ramp when a freshly detailed crossover with a yellow plate is parked in the middle of both, while the driver provides a lesson in roof rack ratchet straps to the...
a most amazing young fisherman-narragansett times, 8/1/2014
8/1/2014 Islamic militant’s detonated explosives last week, destroying the Prophet Jounis’ eighth century tomb. Jonas’ life story is depicted in the Old Testament as he disobeyed God’s instructions, taking to the sea to avoid his responsibilities, being called out...
the bluefish are here-narragansett times,7/25/2014
It’s good to be in a good groove and it’s good to know there are lots of fish around, even if they are not really around you. The big bass we pined for all spring and early summer apparently passed on hanging around our beaches and for the most part, went directly...
The Way We Were and A Table Talk Van
In the Fifties and Sixties, access to the beach for fishing and relaxing was far easier compared to these modern times. Many fishermen who wanted to cast through long stretches of shoreline for bass would drive there and spend a few days hunting for bass and blues, living out of their vehicles. They needed to be resourceful, and boy were they.
all kinds of tips-narragansett times, 7/11/2014
Some waters have warmed and some fishing has cooled. Stripers have started their expected travels from the upper reaches of Narragansett Bay towards Newport, South County and Block Island. There are still fluke in plenty of regular spots and the sea bass season has...
some thoughts on politican & eels-narragansett times, 7/4/2014
Our Governor Chafe, that’s with one F, was in town Friday last, declaring squid to be our official dinner starter and to cut the cheesy blue ribbon at the new Galilee boat ramp. For starters, plenty are the questions and insufficient is the page space, to...
our favorite color is cement-narragansett times,6/27/2014
Block Island is awash in south side weed, sand eels, wandering tourists and a decent crop of honeysuckle a few weeks out. Wild roses have blossomed bright in outside white with blackberries soon to follow. Fluke are thick from the upper bay to the center wall to...
there is so much happening…6/20/2014
Fish have us surrounded. There are fluke to the south and east, blue dogs in the dump, pogeys at the mouth, bass on the ledge, largemouth on their beds and blues all around. If you have any personal days left, this is the time to cash them in. If you have any sick...
preparation is everything, i think-narragansett times, 6/13/2014
DAD “Ok Honey, we are headed out for the lake. Everything is packed and ready to go, see you in a week.” MOM “Ok Dear. Be safe. See you in twenty minutes.” It’s painful, but sometimes that’s the way things go when we get up to go. Properly packing for a fishing...
it’s all about the squid-narragansett times, 5/30/2014
The holiday weekend has brought warming waters and strong catches of stripers fluke and even a few blues. Freshwater ponds are giving up some heavy largemouth as they are defending their new beds. Coastal air is tinged with clam cake essence, parking spots...
wickford harbor & weakfish-narragansett times, 5/23/2014
Either drifting green crabs beneath a warm sun or casting the shoreline under the slim light of a waning crescent moon, all those magical colors of spring are really intensifying now. Fishing can often be best in those forty-five minute windows around the sun and...
seeing red in a school of blues-narragansett times, 5/16/2014
These weeks of spring have a very special early morning light. It shines for just a few minutes for just a few weeks and then it’s different. Not better nor worse, just different. We wait so anxiously for summer and those long days but her light is fixed for...