03.22.21 It's started somewhere.....

       Found this photo on a Striped Bass private group site on social media. Not sure which bay it was caught at, but it could have been the Chesapeake, Delaware or Raritan, by quest is the later. Water is starting to heat up a bit, but slowly, as I am noticing a bump in the flows coming down out of the rivers. Over the weekend highs in the Raritan were 46 and the Delaware near me 44. 

     Also over the weekend a "memory" popped up on my Facebook page. It was from 2014 and it had to do with my first Jones Brothers 19'10". I really did that boat right. The only thing I didn't do was replace the tank, which is a common thing for the JB boats built before 2005 as they have metal tanks. It was that year I purchased a new dual axle trailer which I did because it would be the first, and only year, that I ran some trips out in Montauk. 

      Below are a few pics of when I first got that boat back in 2011. I put a lot of time and money into that boat and now wish I never had to sell it. But I had to, money was tight, reality hit, and with us opening a private practice you can't have it all. Some people out there can and do have it all, it takes a ridiculous amount of money and luck to be a successful full time guide. Full time meaning, full time, like you work in construction January through December. Now teachers work full time, but have a lot of time off. and generally aren't bank rolled by trust funds, good fortune, or luck with the lottery. But God bless those guides that can and do pull it off. 

     As I looked through the blog archives for some early pics of the boat I found this from nearly 10 years ago.....my heart skipped a beat. I know that feeling, I know that view, I know that nauseousness. 

     Prior to finding that Jones I had delusions of using an old family boat that was rotting in my Dads's construction yard. That was about 2009 or 2010. I spent too much time taking off the teak and cleaning her up, even naming her "Wet my Line", a phrase used often during my time in the fire department. In the above picture that's me and Erin, she's probably about 4 years old, now going on 16. 

     With spring arriving its time to take off the cover and see if anything hibernated in the engine cowling. I hope this week to charge the batteries, hook ups some water, and fire her up. I release after looking at the pics of my old boat just how much of a project my new boat, Jim's old boat will be. She'll be a fine boat, and hopefully I will be able to get more time out of her before the dreaded tank replace and deck repair have to be done, and then there's always that 24 year old HDPI that runs, but for how long. SANd then there's the radar, what to do. Last season, without knowing how it was stabilized, I almost ripped it off the deck and through the center console it a few big ocean days, once with Erin and once with Leif. I see more smaller boat guys going to the radar, so for now, it stays. I wouldn't even know where to begin to try and dismantle it anyway. 

     So hopefully in about a month she will be wet, in the Raritan and Delaware, and more hopefully, whatever I use to back her down the ramp doesn't get wet as well. 

03.19.21 I learn every time I go...

     So I had a bit of time to kill, just waiting for things to get going. Todays wasn't perfect, N wind bringing cold air down along the river. Outgoing tide. And, don't forget your stripping basket, which I did. 

      The other day in Walmart I pick up some 'Classic Bass" fish attractant, figured for the early season sluggish ones, hesitant to go after a fly, a dab of goo on the hook shank might tempt them into biting. Sinking line, slow retrieve down low, didn't garner a strike. That's okay, always good to get out, have the entire river to yourself, and dream of water temps and bass ready to bite in between a romp in the sheets. 

     Waters at just about 42 degrees during the warmest part of the day. Shad are here, not sure about the bass. Was hoping for a holdover or an early bird to want something to eat. Soon enough, soon enough. 

03.17.21 Funny how they mimic each other...

      Just a quick look at the early season temps are looking at the Raritan Bay and Delaware River. Look weeks warm temps had the temps around 48-50 degrees, but this cold spell now has them coming in around 40. For those fish that moved in with the warm water, they most likely are in a holding pattern waiting to continue to move in and up. Not easy to fool them with a fly just yet as they are rooting and laying low as things wait to heat up, no doubt those circle-hook-only bait fisherman will have the first shots at them this week. 

03.17.21 Happy St Patrick's Day

      Wow, St Patricks Day, we're getting closer to being in a full swing spring. No packed bars, no bands, low key celebrations. Tonight will be corned beef and cabbage at home with a bunch of Smithwicks. 

     On the striped bass ASMFC debacle, yesterday the still can't figurine out what bait means, and what needs to be included, or attached, to a circle hook. They're splitting hairs, not noticing the elephant in the room, dead bass. They want to skirt around it, thinking they can explain it away. Make it catch and release, make it artificials only, shut down the pre-spawn honey holes like the Raritan Bay for a few weeks, or days in the week, so they get a chance to spawn. Fisheries management, at least striped bass, and the ASMFC is a joke. 

03.15.21 Quick stop at the beach....

 

     Had to got to Red Bank on Saturday so I left west a little early and stopped at the beach. Steady W wind all day had it a tad cooler than the last few days and enough to keep the incoming tide from ever really filling in. 

     It was a short lived trip. I got to feel what its like to walk on a groin again. I got to stand Ryan's Rock and make a few casts. And I got to see how good the beaches are looking after having been ripped up by Mother Nature over the summer. No doubt Frank Pallone and ACOE or sitting down at the table or are on Zoom meetings tryin g to figure out how to get more sand up on the beach. The locals won't be happy Frank and won't vote for you if they can't have there spreads out on the sand, time to secure the votes!

     I also stopped in the back and gave it a look. A buddy of mine who paddleboards the river in the early season was out yesterday and he didnt see any bait nor catch any bass. I know its early, but the fish are starting to trickle in, Raritan Bay is giving them up as is the Toms River.

      In the Delaware there has been a slow steady pick for the anglers soaking bait, mostly blood worms. Overnight temps went back down, air temps, to 25 degrees out near me. Just as my bones were starting to get used to the warmish weather they were in shock this morning when I went to let the chickens out. Lucky we got one last oil delivery last week to keep the house tolerable in this never ending winter.

03.12.21 Nice little shakedown trip...

     It was a great day to get out after a long winters fishing nap. Water temperatures have risen and are now working their way up to 50 degrees. While the season is early, I can feel the fish on the

move. After leaving the office I made my way through the city working my way to the spot I dreamed about the night before. Dead low was 0845 I I got down there around 10, only to realize as I started to dress I left my tip section home. So a quick home and back had me starting a tad later. It really didnt matter as this was a early shake-off-the-cobwebs trip. 

     I started in Jersey and ended up in Pennsy. There were a few guys out throwing shad darts and tiny spoons looking for a shot at the early shad, and they are here. As I fished I saw about a half a dozen leave the water. That was promising. It was nice to fish before the vegetation grows in 

which helps with the backcast. It was also nice to see the below spot free of Corona, Modela and Fireball bottles which litter the bulkhead. There's also usually a ton of hook and plug wrappers, aluminum foil from the local take out joints, and always a condom or two. I aways wondering who's thinking about getting laid when you are fishing?

    Around noon I made the jump across the river and hoped the warming rocks and mud might tempt anything that was swimming in the deeper waters to come look around. I was throwing a bigger Hollow Fleye, nd thought I felt some taps, so I downsized and landed the above smallmouth bass. It wasnt what I looking for but it did feel good to catch something that swam. 

     If you're gonna go, no matter where you fish, go. Looks like it going to cool down for a few days after the weekend. This warm up will help get the striped bass on the move. I'm thinking my 30 pounder has already passed under the Commodore Barry Bridge. 

03.10.21 Liking it...

     Stuck at work this week as spring arrives, nice to see the water warming up a bit. Can't wait, you really have no idea how much, for the shakedown wade trip down at the river. Hopefully I'll remember where the holes and boulders are. 

 

03.09.21 Let's see where this warmup goes...

     

     Well we're all waiting. The anticipation has peaked. One of the biggest indicators of the start of the season is the water temps. While striped bass can tolerate falling water temps from the fall into winter it usually takes a little warmer temps in the spring to get fish moving. 

     At the end of the year we fish and watch the temperatures, some say above 45 degrees, some say 42, others 40. It depends on why would a fish tolerate cooler water temps and resist the move to search for warmer waters. Bait will keep them around, sand eels, crabs, a late herring push. In the spring its the primal instinct to procreate, which coincides the migration of forge fish, menhaden and herring. 

    

 In the spring anglers use a tad higher threshold to get out and meet the moving bass. Some say the magic number is 50, other 55, with 65 being the number for all out spawning and feeding. while the USGS gauges can be an indicator of water temps, that surface temperatures. There are deeper waters that have a higher temp lower in the water column not effected as much by the snow melt and run off. 

     I think the are coming, as they always do, for the Delaware, they make a move on the warmer days, and then pick a spot to hunker down if there's a cold snap. And the they move again. Check out the map below to see the mile markers along the Delaware, mid river. To note the Delaware River is 300 miles long from Hancock, NY, where the East and West Branches meet down to the Delaware Bay above Cape May. Researches say striped bass can travel just under 13 miles a day when they are heading up river(s) to spawn. 

     So now we wait, especially the fly rodders. Early anglers that are most successful are those using bait, bloodworms and cut bait, like bunker, or even clams. In the Delaware the bass will be following up the shad, and then the herring. They both may be around, but early on its hard to get one to eat a fly, and if so, its usually a larger fly that matches the bait hatch. There are smaller resident fish around, but those won't usually take a big offering. The anglers throwing plugs do well, maybe best, late April through May, and possibly into June. 

     How big do Delaware River bass get....big. Now the fishery is a hot mess. Less fish means less spawning fish, and less fish mean less anglers. Below is a fish caught and released in 2020. These are 

big egg laden fish ready to spawn. Now, catching one of these pre-spawn shouldn't be your motivation, and getting one a fly rod is, at best, slim. For me, I look to just enjoy fishing, to physical and mental addiction, and hope to catch the smaller males in the 28-34" range. These big girls come early, up, do their thing, and leave, the males will linger a bit longer just trying to get one more tryst in before they get the memo the girls are already out in the ocean and heading north. 

     Lookin at the USGS gauges we see the temps are around 38 degrees, but today it looks like we may get up to 60, which will help warm up those mud flats and get them out of their lethargic state. They'll be sniffing and rooting around for worms and smelly meals, but will soon chase plugs, and flies tied that match the hatch. And then, as far as the Rarity is concerned, there's the bluefish, who can invade the Rarity and Shrewsbury and Raritan Rivers chasing bunker. 

     Its been another year where I didn't go through my stuff, or spend countless hours at the vice. So my first outing will be done with some old-ass fly line complete with lots of nicks n memory, most likely a leader that has about 2 pounds of strength left, and some old nearly rusty and faded fly. But at least I'll be out there, and again getting stared at and questioned, "Can you fly fish for stripers?"

03.05.21 Blowout tides are a great time to scout.....

     I found this the other day on Facebook, and my apologies go out to the originator for not being able to credit. Its a drone shot high over the Shark River taken from Riverside Drive in Neptune City looking east to Belmar. 

     If you are looking to really see whats going on underneath the waterline at your favorite fishing spot there's better time then during a full moon low tide coupled with a hard west wind. When you see for the first time you'll say "Who opened the drain?". I have done this many, many times and usually after I have pounded an area consistently and have not caught many fish I quickly see why during the blowout/ low tide scout. Fish need structure and bait to hold, both forage and predator fish, especially ambush type predators, like bass and fluke, but not the pelagics like bluefish and albies. And speaking of bluefish, will they show up this year? Should be about a month from now if they do. 

     This image shows me a few things, these mud flats will surely heat up quickly on the right day, with a high bright sun and low tide, and the Shark River needs to completely dredged. But don't try and walk these mud flats, you'll get sucked in and down and your remains won't be found until Weeks Marine parks and excavator on a barge over your body. 

 

03.04.21 Nice evening with Ben Whalley....

      Wednesday night I sat in on a Zoom class offered by the South Shore Fly Casters. The featured tier was Ben Whalley from Maine. He's someone I have seen on Facebook in the last few months and have followed. What first caught my eye were his mackerel flies, seen below. I was thinking

this pattern might be something I could replicate for herring flies for the Delaware River. After I got through the introduction where Ben would be tying flies "That Popovics pioneered this man perfected" I sat with a drink and watched him tie. I had to leave before he tied a Beast, and learned this morning that Bob came in at the end of the presentation, would have liked to have seen that. What was interesting was his take on bucktails, in that not everyone has those super rare and long tails available to them, and one can still tie a Beast or a Hollow with lower quality and smaller tails. True is, unless you know how to pick through a super quality and large tail you're probably wasting it by cutting it down, or tying a poor version of the fly itself. 

     So here is one benefit to two things I dispise, technology and Covid. Up until last spring I never really heard of Zoom, it was only after Covid his and the world started to use it. With the shows cancelled this past year it is nice to be able to sit in the comfort and safety of your own home and still be connected to fly tyers and fisherman who would only get to see in person at the shows or local group meetings. 

     In recent years we have seen a change in where the bass show up. Those days of bass on the beach are less and less, and the days of 20-40 pound bass chasing bait onto the beach are far and few. We have seen the boat bite be red hot while in clear view the beach anglers watch and wait. The bunker have pulled those big fish off the beach, coupled with beach replenishment, so it is important to match the hatch. 

     When fish are keyed in on 8-14 inch bunker that have a wide profile, your 6 inch Deciever isn't going to cut it. Big flies, with big hooks, 6/0- 8/0 is whats required. Now those flies, while large, don't have to be "bulky" they just need to appear bulky. Tie too much material and its like trying to cast a mop head. So the idea, I think, is to have some bulk, as in "Bulk Head" in the front followed by long feathers out the back covered by sparser bucktail from back to front. Outside of Popovics, several tyers I know do a get job with these larger flies, Taylor, Stryker, and Warshauer. 

     If your going to fish from a boat, big bunker flies are the ticket, especially if Omega Protein leaves any around for the bass to take. When you're out near the three mile line in 50-60 feet of water and the bunker schools aren't showing a tiny fly swam 25 feet above where the bass are hanging isn't going to tempt one swim up and grab it. That is why the "Pop and Swap" technique works so well, a spinning rod with a barbless popper on it gets their attention, followed by the cast of a big fly, that'll get their attention to strike. 

     Well, winter looks its coming to a close. I said I would organize all my stuff and tie plenty of flies for the season. To this dat, no organizing and no production. This weekend I have to go through my stuff, I'm sure I have a broken rod that needs to go back to Orvis. 

Nicely done Ben!. He sells his flies but he states he has a long waiting list. You can look him up on Facebook or follow him HERE

03.03.21 Okay, call me what you like....

     The new March 2021 catalogue is out. Nice cover. Only one thing. Will cover shot anglers have a butt hanging out of their mouths next? Would someone smoking a butt on the cover send a positive message to kids and adults alike with all the research out there and a push to get people to stop smoking?

     Imagine being in a 12 step program, working it, doing well. You find that fly fishing is a release, helpful, a distraction- only to see and be reminded that you once indulged, maybe too much, while you participated in your favorite sport. Could this be a trigger for someone struggling with what is a disease?

Wait, maybe thats just urine and not an alcoholic beverage.....C'mon man!

 

03.03.21 Here comes the 'Shore Protection Fund" Bill S-1071.....

     So Bill S-1071 is going up for a vote tomorrow. It's titled the "Shore Protection Fund". It seeks raise the amount that New Jersey coughs up every year for beach replenishment from $25 million to $50 million. Have a problem you don't know how to fix? Throw more money at it. You can read the bill, sponsored by Tom Jean Jr and Vin Gopal, HERE.

     Where does that money come from? You. In what form...taxes. The money will come from the Realty Transfer Tax that is sucked from real estate transactions done here in New Jersey. You selling your house in Sparta? Well proceeds from your sale as you try and exit this state will benefit the rich homeowners along the Jersey Shore. That shack in the woods you bought 40 years go and are finally feeling for greener pastures? Well part of your sweat equity will go to save the beachfront paradises of those transplants from Brooklyn that have bought, knocked down, and rebuilt that multi million dollar home along Ocean Avenue in Deal. 

     Sounds fair right? Good idea? Sure. Please don't get me started, I've had enough. 

 

03.02.21 And we're off and another thing thats out....

 

     Well we're off. March 1st the bays and rivers open up for striped bass. In New Jersey that usually means it kicks off with striped bass opening the season down it south Jersey. In the past the first fish were usually caught on the outflow of the shuttered Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant. Cold water went in and warm water came out, and the fish loved the warm water. 

     The above happy angler weighed in the first fish at Absecon Bay Sportman's Center. Owner Dave Showell has run this, catch and kill, tournament for years. There are prizes, $300 now for the first keeper, and two second prizes. I have never met Dave, hear he is nice guy, and a proponent for doing the right thing for conservation and fish and environment issues. But is this putting a bounty on the first available bass of the season each year?

     To me, this is kind of like listening to charter captains spew about striped bass numbers and conservation and fisheries management and then post pictures of clients with dead fish, month after month after month, and, for a minute, losing their way on the navigation electronics and finding themselves, lets say, a little more due east than than they should be. 

   I used a word the other day.....hypocrisy. 

      So the Delaware River is open near me. Water temps 38 degrees, rivers on the low side even with all the rain and runoff we have had. Temps are 38 degrees. Its probably about 3 - 5 weeks before we see the bass making there way up mid river, mile marker 133 is about where Mercer County is. 

     I also stopped by the beach. Above are the stairs going out, well now down to Pullman Ave. That was "replenished" last year, spearheaded by Frank Pallone, someone who believes they are looking out for the environment, the fisherman and the surfers. Ha! He likes to protect his votes and his property by having hundreds of millions of dollars wasted every time the southern boys show up with their boats and their pipes and their machines. 

     So the question is, what will show up first, the spring bass or the machines and the sand. There's a lot of structure down there, which is good for the envirorment which makes it good for the ecosystem, including the predator fish, bass, blues and fluke. 

    And lastly I see that yesterday that Dr. Seuss is about to hit the chopping block. I haven't read into it much but President Joe Biden has scratched it from "Read It Across America Day". Now what I remember about Dr Seuss, well, is reading it to my kids, hundreds and hundreds of times over. I remember being it read to me, and I plan on reading it to my grandchildren. I even still have the books in readiness. 

     One of my deceased bi-racial sons favorite books was "Oh the Places You Will Go". The quote from that displayed at his wake. I can even remember former President Obama and the First Lady reading it to children, as other Presidents had done in the past. 

     So while Dr Suess is out, for now, I see that Hasbro isn't stopping the production or sales of Mr Potatoe Head. Maybe they are fighting back this cancel culture we have created. Maybe that is what needs to happen, before we lose our souls and our minds.