Mike Laptew, “The Diving Fisherman,” has been filming migrating bass and bluefish most mornings this fall, and he says, “I haven’t seen this many small fish in four years.”

One of the wonderful aspects of fall fishing is that an angler can fish bankers’ hours and catch bass and bluefish in the middle of the day.

Schools of bass and blues have been blitzing bait along the beaches, but they disappeared Thursday afternoon.

“This is binocular-fishing season,” says Laptew. “Fishermen go to a spot, pull out the binoculars, and if they don’t see a fin in the water, they leave.”

Not a good move, says Laptew.

This season, he has been spotting large schools of stripers in shallow water, with absolutely no signs on the surface that the fish are feeding.

“In the fall, it’s feast or famine,” he says. “I’ll go to a spot one day and there is nothing. The next day, there will be thousands of fish in the 20- to 28-inch range. Their numbers seem unlimited. Many times, they’re only a roll-cast away.”

Based on what he has been seeing beneath the surface, Laptew believes that big bass may be on the way.

His advice: Cast where you have caught bass in previous years — even when you don’t see fish working.

“You can’t catch fish with binoculars,” he says.

Wolfenden wins berth

Warwick angler Mike Wolfenden finished 12th in the Bassmaster Weekend Series Northeast Regional Championship on Kerr Reservoir in Henderson, N.C., last weekend. There were four similar events in other regions of the country, and the top 20 percent in each tournament qualified for the national championship on Lake Norman in North Carolina Nov. 9-15. Wolfenden’s catch, weighing 16.36 pounds, won him a berth at the nationals.

“As the water temperature drops on Kerr Lake, huge schools of shad make their way into the backs of the creeks from the deeper waters where they spent the summer,” he said. “The shad in the shallow waters become easy targets for the bass looking to add on some weight for the winter ahead. By fishing half-ounce, white spinnerbaits and half-ounce Ray-L-Traps in shad patterns, I was able to catch many of my fish early. As the bite slowed down in the afternoon, I was able to catch several more fish on a Carolina-rigged green pumpkin eight-inch Zoom lizard dragged slowly in the 12 to 15 feet of water.”

The weekend anglers of the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series will vie for a seat for the world championship, The Bassmaster Classic.

An unusual gun

Rich Barbour, on his 29th Prudence Island deer hunt for disabled hunters, shot a deer this week with an unusual gun.

“I researched and had a flintlock rifle built [by gunsmith Roy Stroh] similar to one that could have been made right here in Rhode Island in 1808,” Barbour says.

“It is based on the work of Welcome Mathewson, a well known gunsmith who lived here in Rhode Island.

“Well, I just took my first deer over on Prudence during our annual disabled hunt with it. Can’t tell you how happy and proud I am about it. I’ve pretty much given up hunting with modern guns now as flintlocks are all I want to spend time in the woods with now.”

Barbour has posted a series of photos on how the gun was built at http://www.nimrodsplace.com/nerifle1.html.

10 bass: 529 pounds

Statistics from the Striper Cup fishing tournament are final: Team Striper, a group of anglers from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, weighed in 10 fish with a cumulative weight of 529.01 pounds. It was the heaviest per-fish average in the event’s three years.

Rob Taylor netted the July Shore Division title. Chris Daniels’ May monthly win was made all the better by his son Tim Daniels’ weekly win in the youth division. In September, Keith Salisbury won the boat division, and “Iron” Mike Everin took the shore division. In addition to his monthly win, Salisbury posted a five-fish cumulative score of 253.95 pounds, clinching the Boat Angler of the Year.

The lion’s share of Team Striper’s heaviest catches were weighed in at Boater’s World in Old Saybrook, Conn., an indication of the quality of fishing in Long Island Sound this year.

Island bite improves

Striper fishing off Block Island is improving, especially at night.

Mike Lanni reports: “Fished the incoming tide last night south of Block and the bass were in a frenzy. Had a bunch of fish 25 to 47 pounds drifting eels in 50 feet of water. Fish were very aggressive — brought one 30-pounder to the surface, and two 40s chased it trying to pull the eel from its mouth!

“The harvest moon seems to have really turned on the bite. My suggestion to anyone having trouble hooking up in the daytime is to try to fish at night. The bright moon this week will help those who are otherwise a bit leery about navigating at night. Fishing the deeper water will be more productive the next few nights, as shallow-water fish will be easily spooked by the bright moon.”

tmeade@projo.com