Some folks believe that the first real signs of summer are when the string bikinis start to show up on the beach. Others when the boats with all the carpeting on the decks appear in their marina. For my buddy Craig & I, the first true sign of summer is “Welcome to Newport”.

Each year for the last 14 years, my closest friend and partner in Steelfin and I load ridiculous amounts of tackle into my Toyota Sequoia, and embark on what we affectionately refer to as our Annual Rhodie Trip. Three days jumping around on the rocks in Newport, Narragansett and Jamestown and then over to the Point Judith ferry for another three days on Block Island.

The second half of this trip used to be a pilgrimage to the striper sight fishing capital of the world, Monomoy Island. The white sands of Monomoy allowed all of us with a flyrod and a dream to wade the shallow flats stalking 30# striped cows like they were stealthy bonefish in the tropics…. but when a few million seals and just the right number of great white sharks (more than none) started regularly showing up in the channels just a few yards away, that pretty much put a cap on that. (Read more about that here.) No problem with Block, the fishing there the last couple of years has been just terrific, including 30+# Stripers on a 10wt flyrod!

I hope you will follow along here on the TackleDirect Blog as we “Hit the Rhodie”! Our trip kicks off just after midnight on Monday June 13th, and I’ll be updating you throughout the week with tackle tips and hopefully some great pics of many of the truly fantastic areas that our annual tour takes us on…. including Hazard Ave. in Narragansett, which unfortunately claimed yet another life this past week.

From Sand bars to dive bars, craggy rocks to stripers on top… the back seat is open, jump right in!

Join us….On the Rhodie!

Stay Tuna-ed!
Capt. Ed