Sunday, April 3, 2016

Unexpected Cold Ends Chance of Early Start

How I wish this photo was taken this weekend. But,
I have heard of no fish. It's just not happening yet
and the cold will delay it longer.
I had my surf bag packed last week and I was ready to go.  I was looking for at least three warm days in a row (60's) and that might just do it.  We did get those three days but the wind was horrendous making fishing along the oceanfront impossible. So, I ended up fishing a backwater location along the south shore which had produced at this time in other years.  I got nothing. And, I don't know of a single fish that has been caught along the oceanfront yet.
As I type this the temperature outside is 25 degrees. And, we are forecast to get about 5 inches of snow tomorrow.  Add to that the water temperature at Newport is 44 degrees according to NOAA. It all puts the brakes on an early start to the striper season.
In past years, I had gotten fish along the south shore oceanfront when the water temperature reached 48 or 49 degrees. With that real warm winter behind us, everyone was hoping for the warm weather to continue and provide an early run of fish. But, hey, this is New England, and you never know what is going to happen.  Suddenly, long range weather predictions call for a much colder than normal April here in the northeast.
So, let's recalculate things and look toward a more traditional start to the fishing, say around the third week in April if we are lucky.
 But, that will only happen if the weather turns warmer.