First things first…A report:

Blues, a decent class of fish, have been on the bite for the past three weeks. Last night saw long but skinny blues to 8 lbs hit fresh bunker in the middle of outgoing. This has been the pattern for the last three weeks or so.

The ratty bass that have haunted the back part of the bays in recent weeks have disappeared. I would venture to guess that chomping bluefish jaws are partially responsible. What is somewhat troubling is that the bass that were being caught weren’t breaking the 5 lbs mark let alone 10 or above that should be the norm for this time of year.

The lack of peanut bunker would seem to be the culprit. The fatty little guys would help the bass bulk up and the primary fall forage just seems to be missing.

Here’s to hoping that a large school of northern bass push into the bay in the next week or two. END REPORT

Moving forward, this site will begin posting weekly reports for SI fishing until the bay shuts down completely for winter. At that time, I’ll be switching to a bi-weekly format that will cover trips, tips, and thoughts that extend beyond the SI fishing community.

I am glad to be back and I hope that you will renew your viewing and interest in this site.

New pages, new features, and news coming soon.

Cold wind + Cold water = No Fish

What had been a promising week soured by 4am this morning.  Despite wishful thinking, sacrifices, and other totems…the water temperatures in the bay retreated a bit in the face of a stiff west wind.  As the graph of water temps dipped so did the hope of the bass bite starting in earnest.

For the second week in now, I hit the beach with clams and more hope than confidence.  The ridiculous daylight savings time changes also made it more problematic.  Had sunrise been at 6am, there would have been a whole extra hour of sun to warm the mud.  Alas, that was not the case.

Dawn broke cold and clear over Raritan Bay and lines were in as the first purplish hints spoked out over the horizon.  Three poles deadsticking clams in a known early season spot produced some possible nibbles but no real hits.  For two  hours before low and for forty minutes after, the pungent odor of clams drifted in the currents.  Nothing was interested.  As the wind began to go from breezy to gusty to downright unpleasant, we packed it in.

Still, I remain optimistic.  Reports (words no pictures mind you) from the local tackle purveyor are of “small bass here and there.”  The week ahead looks good on paper with warmer air temps, but there will be a pesky northeasterly flow to contend with the first part of the week that might keep it cool.  As of this report, the bay hasn’t recovered to its previous 47degree mark and has been holding steady at 42-43 all day.  If and when that changes, the first outgoing at sunset will see me out there.  Until then, I’m digging out my freshwater gear.

Word, from an extremely credible source, has the local ponds ramping up now that it is ice-out.  I, for one, might consider some pan fishing or even a bucketmouth trip as balm to soothe my frazzled salt-stained heart.

It is early and a darned sight better than a year ago when a Nor’Easter tore up the bay and set fishing back two to three weeks.

If you consider yourself spiritual in any way, I encourage you to pray to the deity of your choice for one thing this week…A south wind.

Taking advantage of the southerlies that drove the bay temps near 50 this weekend.

While the bay warmed up to near 50 degrees, the water was an ugly brown on Sunday morning.

The wind, a steady 10 knot southerly blow, was laced with a cold dampness and the rain would level heavy volleys every twenty minutes or so.  It didn’t matter.   I was fishing for stripers for the first time since November and it felt nothing less than good.  While the conditions screamed bass, the results were…well…no bass.  But then again, this is March fishing on Staten Island, great scenery, lousy conditions, and as a rule not a lot of fish.

Sunday morning broke with a nice choppy gust of a south wind that had been blowing across Raritan Bay for the past four days.  Only a short time ago, the bay was hovering at 35 degrees.  This morning at the turning of the tide, she was running 46 degrees at the mouth.  Had there been a shot or two of sun, that would have made the back-end mud-flats 50 or better  and I, have no doubt, someone would have caught a bass last weekend.   As it were, the clams I had out for about two hours went untouched.

A quick grazing in the flotsam turned up only one whole live clam, but there were plenty of smaller, freshly broken halves around.   Small very fresh bellies would be the bait of choice from now until the bigger clams start washing in. Last year that was around mid-April and that is also when the bass bite kicked in to high gear.  It may take another week, but the first bass is soon to be caught.  For my part, I will be trying again this weekend.

This time of year is a numbers game in many ways.  We watch the date on the calendar, we watch the water temperatures rising, and we watch the air temperatures too.   While a lot of fishing is about numbers, this is the time when the numbers take on a different weight.  All the pouring over charts and graphs and numbers I’ve been doing lately, has brought to mind my childhood distaste for math and why I’ve come to see it differently now.

Surf rods are sometimes discussed in terms of “loading strength”.  The term refers to how much force is used to load the rod for a cast.  While this measurement rests wholly in the world of math and physics, I would venture a less empirical measurement criteria for a fishing rod, surf or otherwise.  I believe there is a psychological loading strength of a rod.  While my theorem and formula have yet, and will never be, proven in a lab or test facility, I will put it forth here:

Theorem

Stress is reduced exponentially by the number of casts made with a fishing rod and the amount of stress-relief per cast increases with the size of the rod. 

Formula

N = Number of Casts      R = Rod Length/Size        S = Stress             H= Happiness

±N x R(-S) = H

The past week has seen a shift in the action…to some degree.

For the last 3 to 4 weeks prior, decent striper, with a smattering of blues, action could be found in the crystal clear waters from mid-island northward and around the bend towards St. George.  The boats had been finding them in the channels, but not in overwhelming quantities and they’ve had to work for them. From the sand, it had been an all clam and worm event.  With the new moon and the last round of storms, things have changed a bit.

First, the water has muddied up…at least in the back of the bay.  That doesn’t mean the bite has slowed.  Way, way, way back in the bay last night saw a good number of schoolies and a ten-pounder or two on the bite from sunset on.  Action wasn’t blitz-like…slightly more sporadic.  Small schools of bass seemed to drifting up and down the shoreline in 20 minute intervals.  It would be quiet and then there would be a rolling set of hits and then a lull and then more of the same.  In all, a good pre-Nor’easter bite.

The smaller forage, kings and lafayette, seem to have gone and the bass have moved in.  Larger bass have been reported under bunker in the pre-dawn hours mid-island, but the steadiest action is from schoolies.  Crabs have been calling the blackfish out of their holes in the slab piles in decent numbers too.

On the freshwater side of things, the panfish are still aggressive in all of the island’s ponds.  The carp and cats are a little sluggish, but can be coaxed with the right bait.  The bucketmouths, younger ones, are stacking up in the shallows and will strike on an assortment of lures thrown at them.  Frogs and darker colored worms would be a good selection.

Doesn't get better than this

It is still early, but from evidence (both personal and second-hand) the Fall run is about to begin in earnest back in the bay.

It has been a steady pick of bass from the beach and the kayak for the least 5 or 6 weeks. Obviously not every day all day…Outgoing tides in the dark seem to produce a little better than daylight hours, but some of the bass I, personally bailed, were done on a bright sunny morning.

There is some evidence of bluefish around too. I landed two over the weekend along with 4 schoolie sized bass to 10lbs.

The bay has dropped to 65 degrees and cold-water baits of clam and worm seem to be working well. The pluggers I’ve seen haven’t had a heck of a lot of luck, but I would imagine a good mullet run would remedy that.

Back of Raritan Bay has been a good choice for stripers, but smaller forage fish were prevalent for the past 3 weeks. I, personally, picked up over 10 kingfish over that stretch and managed 2 sea bass from the beach in that time too. I would think that the cooler temps have sent those species packing, but there’s always a chance of seeing them even now. Great Kills might turn on if the mullet come in. I would also assume that the inside edge of the harbor will be holding fish, but haven’t heard much on that front.

Boats have been doing well on lumpheads as well as out-of-season porgies in the usual locations.

With temps ranging down, a good moon, and okay tides, I’d spool up and try to get out this weekend.

Just in time for the Fall run and just as a teaser…

Multiple bass to 10 pounds with a blue in the mix!

The natives and gray-bearded fisherman I’ve been jawing with are claiming the best Spring in 40 years and from what I’ve seen and heard…I am inclined to believe them.

Bunker was thick enough to walk on in GK yesterday afternoon.

Thursday night it was that a steady pick of large bay bass little further toward the back on both bunker and AVA’s.  Storm shads had a little luck, but there were a lot of dropped fish.  My thinking is that these a bigger and more educated fish so they’re more likely to drop rubber baits.  Same goes for wire, with blues in and around—wire seemed like a good bet, but there were a lot of dropped fish before a change over to fluoro hi-lo’s put 2 20lber’s on the sand.  That is not to say wire didn’t need to be on hand…

Blues batted clean up in the slack water. Racer size not the gorillas of years past.

Up island fishing has been good as well, but the bunker are definitely in the back and so goes the bait so goes the stripers!

Word around the beaches is that it has been the best April in the last 20 years. Bass were being banked as early as the first week of the month and the bluefish have been holding off until this week which means bass of all sizes have been dominant.

With that, bluefish came in and are here but not in the sizes and numbers one would expect. Last night’s bite, personally witnessed, was sporadic and went off very very late. Magic hour was about 3 hours later than expected.

I hear birds working…I’ll be back with more today!