I got down to the oceanfront again yesterday to fish with my son, Jon. Everything seemed to be wrong, and I had my doubts that I'd find good numbers of fish. It was sunny and tranquil with a light east wind and clear water, BUT loaded with fish. There are so many fish right now that conditions don't seem to matter. My first four casts produced 5 stripers (one double header on a teaser). Jon and I landed big numbers of schoolies in the few hours we fished.
Right now you have lots of stripers around and they are all different sizes. One cast might yield a 10 incher, the next cast it might be a 20 inch fish while the next cast could deliver a keeper. There seems to be increasing numbers of larger fish from 24 inches up to over 30 inches, though small schoolies still dominate the fishing (see photo of Jon with a good fish). In addition, there are increasing numbers of hickory shad in the mix (see pic of one caught yesterday). We landed 4 of them yesterday and they all fell for shrimp fly teasers.
The hot lure combination continues to be Cocahoes fished ahead of a shrimp fly teaser. Small swimmers are also working and tend to catch bigger fish.
I would rate the spring fishing right now as about as good as it gets. I don't know whether these are the same large group of fish just hanging around the oceanfront or whether there is a continuous line of migrating fish coming through. What I do know is there are lots of them. With the weather predicted to remain unchanged for the next five days, I suspect the fishing will continue to be very good.
