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03/31/2016 12:00 AMWhat a great start to this year’s fishing season! It’s not often that both briny and sweet water fish jump from a lazy, lounging winter into a fiery action-packed spring together. However, that’s precisely what’s been happening and it continues on the same path today. One can thank many factors, but above all, it has to do with this season’s warmer air and water temperatures.
No matter where one looks throughout New England, the occurrence is the same: early spawns, early foraging, and, yes, early hookups. For those of us who caught on to this phenomenon sooner rather than later and before social media woke up to that fact, we were out catching striped and largemouth bass. Sure, these fish had been caught pretty much throughout the colder months, but the surge of early activity created an electricity that only a true fisher can understand.
Tidal rivers teeming with peanut bunker that spilled into Long Island Sound alerted sharp-eyed folks that something odd was taking place. “Much too early for this to be happening,” one of them said. “Where did they come from?” retorted another. The truth is that Atlantic menhaden can spawn year round, develop in the estuaries, and, after one year, return as peanuts to open water. The warm temperatures just nudged this along.
Meanwhile, a few fishers connected the dots and realized that if peanuts, along with the holdover adults, are moving about, then striped bass can’t be far away. Add runs of river herring and a striped bass smorgasbord was born, along with a very early bite. Thus, the action continues both day and night with stripers bending fishing rods and running for structure in an attempt to outwit the fisherman that put all of this together.
Only time will tell how this season advances and what other surprises lie ahead. Last year, there were many visitors in from the Atlantic and the Gulf Stream who seemed to have an impact on the fishing. There was an abundance of baitfish throughout the Sound and some predators, as well. So far, it appears the canvas is painted with the same brush that had only dabbed the pallet earlier. Still, it should shape up to be another colorful season.
On the Water
Long Island Sound is logging water temperatures into the mid-40s and that’s sparking increased activity. The wind continues to play its part by bringing in either cooler or warmer sea water. However, with less ice melting in the upper reaches of the key tidal rivers, it’s not taking as long to warm things up.
Peanut bunker are flourishing in most rivers feeding the Sound and that’s creating many opportunities for foraging holdover striped bass. Some of these stripers are reaching 40-plus inches and need to fatten up, while smaller classes of fish caught are of the shorter, stocky variety. River herring is also on the list of top food choices and, in its place, soft plastics, swimmers, and dressed-up jigs have been successful.
For those fly fishers looking for some flats or beach action, clousers, halves, deceivers, and zonker-type flies are worth stripping. As the saying goes, slow and low is how you should exercise your retrieve. An eight-weight setup ought to produce some outstanding fishing, but be prepared for the one good one lurking below that will attempt to strip you clean. It happens every year.
While the birds that dive and circle schools of baitfish in the Sound are a dead giveaway, it’s the anglers hitting the sweet water who give up signs of the early bite. As smaller fish continue to get energized, larger predators like largemouth bass, pickerel, and perch are on the prowl. Live shiners, swimmers, spinner baits, and jigs are generating strikes, along with imitations of craws and worms. Inland water levels are up and flowing and that’s a much-better start compared to last year. Good catch and release trout action in several of the rivers and streams is also getting anglers’ interest up and raising hope of a good opening day on Saturday, April 9.
Trout Contest
Registration remains underway for our annual Codi and Bubba Opening Day Memorial Trout Contest on Saturday, April 9. We will have prizes for the three heaviest trout caught anywhere and weighed in at Captain Morgan’s, in addition to drawings for all non-winning contestants. Fishers under 12 years old can fish free with a registered adult. Maybe this year you’ll get to see your picture in print and on social media. Let’s get it on!
Note: Email us pics of your catches to share with our USA and international fishing friends who keep up with the latest fishing news and frequent social media.
For all things fishy including licenses, swing by the shop (203-245-8665) open seven days located at 21 Boston Post Road, Madison. Until next time from your Connecticut shoreline’s full-service fishing outfitter, where we don’t make the fisherman, we make the fisherman better...
Tight Lines,
Captain Morgan
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