We were in Long Branch for work and that put me in a good spot to visit two of my favorite long Branch places.......Aji for sushi and Pullman Ave for a chance to watch the ocean and breathe in the salty air.
Didn't see any birds are signs of bait or fish but the water was clean and green and just rough enough looking very bass.
Hearing the first fish being caught in the bays and rivers, from Absecon to the Maurice, the Toms to the Raritan, gannets are diving and the first bass are eating worms and clams. usually the school bass show first, then the bigger pre-spawn fish arrive. They are here in the channels and gdeeper water, and the boat guys are on them and taking them home already. Below was a grab from a Facebook fishing group from this pst week........These fish, females, are fullofeggs, and in prime breeding age, shape, and readiness. We will never learn. The fish are being harvested, and the full Raritan Bay onslaught and pressure hasn't even started.
Below is the Raritan Bay at Keansburg. Water temps of course depend on the air temperature, and how much the sun bets down on the mud and warms the water up, also how high and hot the sun is, how low the tide is when the warming occurs and the flood tide that brings the bass to the warmer water to root around.
