Just because you can doesn't mean you should. It's Africa hot in New Jersey this week. It's a hot that is just miserable. If it's miserable for you it's probably miserable for the striped bass unless they have found an underwater spring, a cooler trib, a real rocky run with a dropping gradient or the bottom of a deep pool. You may see them, and they may eat, but at 80 degrees it's just too dam hot to hook, fight and land a fish. Now I did fish, more on that, but below is a bass from the other day that didn't make that days cut. I fugured a tank pic would just add to the post. They never get old, at least to me.
You see, in tidal waters, on low to incoming the sun beats down on the rocks and then the water fills in and that heat gets transferred to the water. So warm water gets warmer. But fish gotta eat. Kind of like a construction worker. Ask him if he wants to take a lunch break and eat, sure, in the shade of course. Ask him if he wants to take a break, run a mile, do 100 push ups and then eat? Not so much. Catching a bass today would surely do more bad them good as the lactic acid buildup would surely stress them to death. It's kinda like responsible angling that you hear about in trout waters.
So I'll bother them a bit. First I wanted to see if they were there in 80 degree water. They don't have to be, they choose to be. And they were there. I fished like I normally do. Stayed for about a half and hour. Three good swipes by fish that I would have caught. A few flashes. A few follows. And then I saw just three more swimming around. Night time may be the right time as the temps drop and they may come out to play.