Will it Ever Get Started?

A lot of saltwater fishermen are itching to get out fishing after this brutal winter. While migrating fish have hit the oceanfront in late March in past warm years, don't expect that to happen this year.  There is still ice and ice flows along much of the coastal ponds and rivers from Narragansett Bay to the oceanfront. And, we can measure the snow in many feet that still has to melt inland which will send cold water gushing into the rivers and bays. Right now, NOAA is reporting a uniform water temperature of 35 degrees and that goes from Providence to Newport.
It will be a late start. If you took the average start along the oceanfront from the last 25 or 30 years, you would find that fishing usually begins about the second or third week in April.  But, everything is behind this year and the cold is not retreating. So, I'm guessing we won't see those first ones until the third or even fourth weeks of April.  Yes, it will get started eventually, but you'll just have to wait a while.