So it seems it wasn't all that bad. After taking some sand paper to the tank the other day I was able to salvage it with some plastic polish and buffer pads. I was feeling sick after leaving it all frosted the
other day but after an hour or two it came back to life. One thing I learned is that I really never have to
sand inside the tank, which I had done. The scratches are outside the tank so no need to mess with the inside. After the fix I headed down to the river to give fishing a shot and fill it up with water. I really wanted to see one swimming in it today, but, conditions aren't all that good. With winter arriving
the cold air temps are not doing the river well. Now the fish, if they are here, are probably lethargic and not in the mood to chase food and eat, especially flies. I gave it a solid 90 minute effort on the top of the tide without a touch. No birds. No nothing. Below is the weather forecast for the rest of March.
I guess that's what they mean when they say March "can leave like a lion". My prediction of rivers temps at 50 degrees by St. Patrick's Day aren't going to happen. Last year we hit 50 degrees on March
19th which is a week from today. It's going to be 61 on Friday but that will be too little too late, hopefully we'll be over 45 if we're lucky.
And then there's the other migratory fish that we use as a gauge, the American shad. We'll as river guide Deiter Scheel stated in the below post, "...but they are here". And with that usually the bass and
herring aren't to far behind. In 2022 my first bass of the spring came on March 22nd and in 2021 it was March 27th. In 2020 it wasn't until April 29th, but that was in the thick of Covid and I was working at the Edison Expo Center Covid Hopsital. Now I got two last week but that was in locations unknown. It seems like this year, no matter what the winter we had was, will fall in line like the past four years.
And now hot off the presses, or fresh from the rumor mill. Meet Jeff Kaelin, Governor Murphy's new appointee for New Jersey on the ASMFC board. He replaces Tom Fote, the absolute worst friend to striped bass in the planet, which is a great thing. But the question is is this really good or is it just a lesser of two evils. Kaelin works for Lund fisheries in Cape May, one of the biggest commercial fisheries/processors/rapers of the ocean. Sustainability to him and his company all has to do with how
much they can kill and how much they can make. Above is a "story" in the industry on how this investment hopes, look at the caption, "double its daily processing capability". Lund puts food and stuff in your belly but they don't care about sustainability, although they make fake it. I have sat in meetings with these good old boys and they win by one way, indimidation. They are no friend to menhaden or herring and I'm not sure how he feels personally about striped bass, but I would think he'd be in line with anyone commercial, and Murphy's such an idiot he'll just sit there and listen and smile with those teeth. This, my friends, is not good, in any way.