SACHUEST POINT, NEWPORT, RI
Once again, they’d beaten me to the punch. Didn’t those guys ever sleep? In fairness, it was greed that had put me in that position: I just couldn’t resist making a few casts at the Island Rocks and that little beach in the boulders along the eastern shore of Sachuest Point. It was just about 40 years ago when I made my first pass around Sachuest Point, trolling a tube and worm, and I never made it around the corner. A fish slammed that tube and dumped the remaining two colors of lead, then over 75 yards of backing before I could stop its charge. That fish came to the surface, then turned into the boulders where it shredded the 50-pound leader. Two passes later, I finally tamed one of those wild 35-pound stripers on steroids. That was all it took to move that spot up into my top ten, where it’s remained ever since.
The roiled water and broken bottom where the mouth of the Sakonnet meets Rhode Island Sound were created with striped bass in mind. Many years ago, we parked our cars off the road in the northwest corner of Second Beach and when we were abeam of Sheep Pen Rock, we’d hike out toward the shoreline. We took our share of decent stripers casting plugs with one rod and fishing fresh squid on another, but whenever the Newport-based bass boat approached at dusk, we held our collective breath. There were usually three men aboard: the skipper who skillfully positioned the boat upwind of the wash and the two men on either side of the cockpit who, with stout rods, heaved big wood into the turmoil. I don’t remember too many nights when their efforts went unrewarded.
From that time forward, I worked toward acquiring my own boat and the skill that would let me imitate what I’d witnessed. When that desire became a reality, I pointed my bow across the Sakonnet only to find that popular spot occupied by other bass fishermen or a couple of boats anchored up fishing for tautog. That was when I began exploring around the tip of the point and began to catch fish trolling along either side. When I first began fishing Sachuest, I usually had the place to myself but it wasn’t long before the surf fishermen saw the potential of this spot and began arriving earlier or sticking around much later. I never attempted to fish in tight to people who lacked my flexibility to move off and work another location, but something about those guys always bothered me. I watched them reaching back to get a little bit extra on their casts, yet those fish were right in close to the rocks almost under their feet.
The tip of Sachuest Point isn’t for the faint of heart. There was a time when you could drive to the point, but not today. It’s a long hike out there and you will seldom get there in time to beat the regulars who claim that location early in the afternoon. If you plan on fishing there after dark, you’re required to purchase a parking pass. From the tip of Sachuest north, there are numerous locations to set up and soak bait or cast lures. When the fish trap leaders are out, I troll and cast my way up from Third Beach to the point and back again, but if no one is fishing the point, I’ll get in tight and toss a live eel or big plug tight against that craggy face. Quite often, a striper or bluefish takes exception to my trespass.