In a recent post I predicted that some cold weather would be coming and the rivers would drop in temperature from the mid-high 40's down into the high 30's by this week. Well that came true and will no doubtedly affect the opening-dayers hitting the rivers and bays tomorrow on March 1st. No doubt they'll be out there. In this day and age everyone has to be first, because first is knowledge, first is power, first, really, means nothing. Except you caught a fish and froze your ass off.
We had some snow overnight which is a good thing for the health of the rivers and bays. Cool, fresh, filtered snow does water good, and good water is good for good fish. Parts of the Poconos got 6 inches of snow, Sussex County up to 4.5 inches, and Bucks County 2.5.
Water temperatures and bait, that's what you should be thinking about if you have switched your brain over to think like a striped bass. I usually check out the mid-Raritan Bay temps in Keansburg but above is the Raritan Bay at the Arthur Kill. It's funny when you start talking about striped bass. Most
anglers will have some opinion, usually based on experience, about where the striped bass are and what they are doing at any particular moment. Most honest and humble ones will always add the caveat at the end of their dissertation by saying, "But what do I know", meaning, no matter how much we think we know about striped bass we really don't know much as these fish move with the tides and are as unpredictable as the weather.
While this blog is about fly fishing, mostly for striped bass, it's not only about how and where, but, for me, more of a love and study of striped bass. I believe that we, here in New Jersey, have the best striped bass fishery on the East Coast. Yes, bigger fish in the Chesapeake, more, as far as concentration of fish in the Raritan Bay and way up the Hudson Rivers, along with a great summer fishery up in Maine, but more so for New Jersey because of the extended season, say March till December, and the varied locations you can find striped bass. I really believe the best fisheries are in the bays and rivers now, and that includes some of the nastiest industrial and urban waters around New Jersey.
I also believe that our best beach fishery days are a thing of the past. Does it still exist, yes. But not like it was. I believe, again, what do I know, it is due to a multitude of factors. First, the fish have minds of their own, and I'm not in their heads, although I try to think like a bass. Here's a few more reasons. Beach replenishment has killed the beaches. Structure is gone, natural habitats for mussels, crabs, and other baitfish has been decimated. When's the last time you've heard of anglers raking crabs? That's a thing of
the past. There's the proliferation of bunker, now, or again, from adults to peanuts, that arrive in the spring and are present through the fall. Healthier bays and rivers that have become places where baitfish migrate to and striped bass winter over. Warmer water, and I'm not all-in on the climate change thing, but when's the last time we had ice over conditions in the rivers and bays? And yes, while all those juvenile baitfish that grow and then move out in the fall have to, or we hope to, get intercepted by bass, even that has changed. Fish used to stay, and wait if you will, but now it's baitfish, like mullet, spearing and rain fish emptying out, and the passing bass are either there or not. Remember those good old mullet run days, it was a thing of when and where, not if. October, and maybe now as late as mid-November, has become the new September.
I know the beaches connect, but more like a highway these days, natal waters like the Chesapeake, Delaware and Hudson with the bass's summer retreats up north of Montauk, Block Island, Cape Cod, and Maine. In recent years the New Jersey summer fishery has diminished. It used to be that crab flies and poppers could consistently catch first-light bass in July and August, and keeper plus sized bass,but that seems to have dropped off. I'm not trying to be a Danny Downer, and people still catch fish, but the fishery has changed.
For anglers in the know, who put their time in and keep their findings off of social media to avoid spot burning, there are bites now that can last for weeks, in places you can't even fathom. But these are the night time creeping while you're sleeping only room for a few buds spots. They're not picturesque, not connecting you with nature, can be sketchy, but that's where the fish are, consistently. Yes, you can hire a guide or take your boat out and fly fish more gentlemanly or ladylike, but who wants to do that? I'll save that for when my body starts to break down, well a little more.
Yes, this past fall we had an incredible chasing-down-the-beach bite from top to bottom along the Jersey Shore, but I'm not talking about fast moving fish blitzing on bait. What I'm talking about is fish that settle in, stay for a bit, and can be caught on different tides, time of day and moon phases, and pretty consistently. To me that is what demonstrates a healthy fishery.
With my anticipation building all winter for March 1st I think this ill-timed cold weather will surely affect any chances of me catching a fish tomorrow. That's okay, it's part of the game. Every year, to my dismay, Dave Showell from Absecon bay Sportmen's Center, who I hear is a great guy, holds a contest for the first three legal bass weighed in at his shop. I hate that there's a bounty on bass, but, legal bass are legal bass, and anglers are allowed to keep one for the table, so I have to shut the %$#@^ up about that. But even though the temperatures have dropped in the last few days I believe this year may be the quickest these checks are distributed. Surely some angler from New York or the Raritan Bay will take the two hour ride south with that fish that's been on ice all night to collect their prize. Or will it be the locals who fish the Great Bay the ones to score a few hundred after soaking bloodworms throughout a cold and damp tonight? We'll know by tomorrow afternoon for sure.