Rain bait must fall…and actual rain for that matter which has been playing havoc with the local fishing.
rainbaitWe seem to have made a very quick transition from the Spring pattern of decent bluefish and keeper bass to well…nothing at all from the surf.  Some notes here and there are trickling in about blues blitzing bunker pods close to shore, but no one has been in the right spot at the right time to confirm that there are game fish underneath the pods.  The last run of stripers two weeks ago seems to have signaled the exodus.  The far southern points of the island hit for a good night of bassing two weeks ago.  That was right about the time local waters shot up to 75.  Since then, they’ve dropped back to 69…but these wide swings aren’t helping matters much either.

It would seem, for the time being, the bass have left in large numbers and so have the bigger bluefish.

Fluking is improving when the bay isn’t chocolate-milked by the torrential rains that seem to be a weekly occurrence.   The local boaters have been doing okay when they can nail a good drift down and the flatties are liking the deeper waters in and around the 40-50′ mark.  That isn’t very promising for the surf fisherman, but a couple of rainless days might see them move into the usual haunts like Great Kills and Wolfe’s Pond beaches.

There’s been no sign of spot, croaker, or snappers yet. Here’s to hoping they turn on soon.  Rain bait, for the first time this season, was spotted all around on the incoming.  It remains extremely small, but its presence is a definite boost in hopes that there may be a better small fish season coming.  Absent are the bigger schools of peanut bunker as well, but it is a bit early.

The warmer weather of late and the general sense of an early summer has made anglers jumpy.  If things don’t switch over soon, it might be time to dust off the freshwater kit and try your hand at bucketmouths in the park ponds until something better comes along.

Advertisement