It didn't really matter because there was nothing going on. You see, I forgot my iPhone because I was excited to get down to the river. My goal was to get to a spot, mostly before the pre-work guys showed up. I figured I better get to the tidal section while there was still water around so I went at 345 am, just at the top of the tide. Needless to say it didn't take long for the waters to start receding. There wasn't much for current but more of just an ebb and flow of tidal change.
I watched as a half a dozen boats crossed crossed around which to me is a sign that they weren't on any fish. The river is in pitiful shape for this time of year and with the water temps hitting that magical 60-65 degree spawning temp they may have shut down. There were fish, and some good ones, when the water was higher and on the cooler side. Those were the earliest big females, I don't know if the males ever showed up in numbers. They are smaller, of course, than the big cow females.
I don't think the herring are here yet, and if they are they are schooled up in the deeper water. There's no need for them to hug the banks and hide behind rocks where bass wait to pick them off. That usually happens when the water is up, and the bass put on the feed bags post-spawn. Like I said, I believe, these bass, at least up here, aren't eating, they're caught because you dangle an 8-inch dildo in front of their faces while they work to get up river to spawn. But, that's just my take on it. When the bait is around, and their stomachs can actually fit food in it after depositing their eggs, then they eat, before heading down river and off to New England for the summer.
Participation out here is low compared to other years. One, the conditions, and two, the east side of the state is seeing better fishing. The bays and rivers of Monmouth and Middlesex Counties are full of fish, and now out front from top to bottom are seeing fish. The river here dropped almost 1,000 cfs in 24 hours, now just about 8,400 at 67 degrees in the middle of the night.
Above doesn't show much hope coming up, if any, maybe it's towards the end of the month. We have a 74% chance of rain on Sunday with a cooldown, but it won't do much for the river levels. Starting on the 27th it looks like we'll have five days with some kind of rain. That'll coincide with a New Moon on May 1st. Water, moon, lower water temps, and maybe post spawn fish around. That'll give me a few weeks to concentrate on things around the house, and not those stupid fish.