01.26.11 Hit the boardwalk and then checked out some water temp data

     Today I had to go to Canon to pick up all of my photo equipment from the service desk. It seems that since early December I have been taking pictures with cameras that can't focus or be focused. That's a big problem. My 5d Mark II and 7d both had to be calibrated with the four lenses that I use. I've never had this problem before, but I am glad I investigated it and took care of it during the slowest time of the year. After I ran down to the Point Pleasant boardwalk to give them a quick test. While I was there I was looking at a pretty nasty surf, and I wondered what the water temps were.

     After I got settled back in front of my computer I went to the NOAA NODC site, HERE, and checked out Sandy Hook and the surrounding waters. The Hook was 35.1 F. Here is what some select locations are coming in at,

Portland Maine        38.8

Newport RI             36.3

New Haven CT       32.7

Montauk NY           33.8

S Hook                    35.1

Cape May                36.7

Lewes MD              34.0

V. Beach VA           47.7

Cape Hatteras NC    61.0

*I din't see a reading for Cape Hatteras on the NOAA website, so I went to Duck NC, and it said 38.1. I went to another site I check often for surf reports, HERE, and it listed water at Cape Hatteras, NC at 61 degrees.

     The reason I am looking into water temps is because I am trying to figure out when we might start to expect bait in the back bays in our area. Here is just an example I found of water temps from last March through today.

                          

     I sat in on Jim Freda's lecture at the F.F.S. on spring striped bass and learned more on that fishery. Alewife's and herring move into the back bays followed by bunker and stripers and blues. If it's mid March to April then the waters are low to mid 40's, and then as the temps hit 46-50, that's when the predator fish move in and turn on.
    I am extremely lucky to be positioned where I am near Asbury Park. I can hit the beaches along the bay from Cliffwood Beach around to Sandy Hook, the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers, and then drop down to hit the Shark River, Manasquan, and Barnegat Inlets. One area where I plan on targeting this spring is the Delaware River near Trenton, which it seems to start around the second week in April.