After another week of unseasonably warm temperatures, many anglers watched their wintertime hobby slowly melt out of reach. However, a deep cold front moving through the state this weekend should lock-up many of the lakes and ponds that had become questionable. At the very least, it will be a brief reminder of what February should feel like for all of us. By Sunday, morning, temperatures in the Northern Adirondacks will be significantly below zero, and even the temperature on Long Island will be in the low to mid teens at dawn. It won’t make for comfortable fishing conditions, but this brief spell of arctic air should make an overall positive impact on many of the stalled fisheries throughout the state.
East End
The cod fishing southeast of Block Island improved significantly over the past seven days, as more fish push into the area to feed on the abundance of mackerel and squid build up in the area. There’s still a few of the heartier dogfish around, but they’re been much less of a problem than in past weeks and should be almost completely gone soon. The Viking Fleet made it to the cod grounds today, and it will be interesting to see how the trip turns out. Yesterday, the overall report summed up the day as “a slow but steady pick with flurries of a few here and there,” noting that by the end of the day “everyone went home with some fish.” The general consensus from the crew was positive, mentioning they were, “looking forward to spending more time in the more productive areas tomorrow.” The general trend is definitely moving in the right direction. In 2007 when the cod started showing up again southeast of Block in ernest, the bite was a lot like it’s turning out this year. A slow but steady pick through January and into first few weeks of February, then about a month of really solid fishing through the first half of March. It seems like we’re moving on a similar track this season.
South Shore
The groundfishing for the headboats along the south shore has also improved or continued to hold steady, as more cod and ling are pushing inshore to feed on the bait that’s collected in the area. The herring bite has also been good lately, especially at night, from the fishing piers along the western south shore. I called Ed from Jones Beach Fishing Station to see how his offseason’s been shaping up, and see if he’s seen any life in the back bays during this mild winter. “There’s been some sand eels around,” he told me and also mentioned the productive herring fishing. Ed’s been a little too busy with the offseason renovations of the shop to get out cod and ling fishing so far, but he’s been thinking about it and said he probably will get out in the next few weeks. He’s heard good reports, also mentioned that some of the local headboats have been hooking bluefish and even some striped bass, released of course, on some of their trips. Ed thinks there’s a decent chance this mild winter will lead to a good run of early-spring striped bass, hopefully right in time for first day of the 2012 striped bass season on April 15.
North Shore
I told myself I would to think of something worthwhile to put in this week’s north shore report, so I dug through last winter’s mental achieves and remembered there was some decent white perch reports from around this time last winter. If you want to give it a try, rig up an ultra-light spinning outfit with 4- to 6-pound-test braid, a 3-foot length of similar test fluorocarbon and a few packs of small white curl-tail grubs on painted jig heads, somewhere in the 1/8- to 1/16-ounce range. I like to fish two at a time, one at the bottom then another 12-inches above off a dropper loop. Any large estuary or river along the north shore where a freshwater inflow creates an area of brackish water should be holding decent numbers of white perch right now. Earthworms fished on the bottom should also work if you want to set up a bait rod.
Metro New York
Things are still going strong for the crew of the Marilyn Jean IV, sailing out of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Ling fishing continues to impress, and there was a few really nice market-size cod caught on the trips this past weekend. If you don’t mind the cold, I’m sure bite will continue through the weekend. Again, Friday and Saturday look like your best bet, with slightly warmer temperatures and calmer seas forecasted than on Sunday.
Upstate
The short-term deep freeze forecasted for the weekend is good news for the downstate ice fishermen that have been watching the hardwater with apprehension for over a week now. Hopefully a few consecutive nights of single-digit temperatures will lock things up for a while and help ease a few minds. With the condition of the ice on my mind, I made a call to Jim’s Bait up in Mayfield. When I talked to Jim last week, conditions on Lake Sacandaga were touch-and-go from almost a week straight of sunny, 40-degree days. Some of the creek channels were already unsafe to fish, and the word from Jim’s regulars was that the ice around the edge of the lake was getting ready to break up. “The ice is good-to-go,” Jim told me, “there’s plenty of ice out on the lake.” It was good to hear, especially with even colder temperatures on the way. Fishing has settled into a nice consistent pattern, with good amounts of walleye and northern pike caught this week. Best of all, Jim thinks the lake will add enough ice to make it through the rest of the season uninterrupted.
Up in the Lake Ontario region, I talked to Sharon from Narby’s Superette and Tackle in Kent. The great steelhead and brown trout fishing in the fall and winter of 2011 has continued on through the first two months of 2012. “There’s still no snow or ice anywhere,” Sharon told me this afternoon, “It’s really unbelievable.” When I asked her if she’d talked to any fishermen this week, her answer was a simple “oh, yeah.” Sharon told me some of the more seasoned regulars were doing better than others, but overall the fishing was unheard of for this time of year. Anglers are still drawing strikes from steelhead and browns in ice-free creeks. Egg sacs and egg-sac patters are still the offering of choice, but Sharon mentioned nymphs, wooly buggers and egg-sucking leech patters were also drawing strikes for the fly fishing crew. Although not too many in the area are complaining about this year, one of the things that has suffered is the hardwater season. Even the small ponds in the Kent area are not safe right now. There’s a good chance some of small, shaded ponds will be fishable by the end of the weekend, but you’re better off fishing for steelhead and browns. Just remember that it’s 2012, and it’s a good idea to stop in at a place like Narby’s Station to make sure you’re up to speed with all the current regulations.
Best Bets
Whatever you’re planning for the weekend, definitely pack an extra layer of cold-weather gear. I doesn’t matter if you’ll be fishing the rail of a headboat out of Montauk, or out of an ice shanty up on the St. Lawrence River — it’s going to be freezing this weekend, especially on Sunday. If planning on heading out to the east end of Long Island for some Block Island cod action, I’d plan on getting out there on Friday or Saturday. There’s a chance some of the bigger boats will off the dock on Sunday, but with 5- to 8-foot waves and 14-degree morning lows in the forecast, I would definitely hedge your bets. If you planning on tripling-up on socks, ice fishing upstate should be a good bet for most everyone from the Catskills north this weekend. If may be too little, too late for some of the counties downstate, but this weekend’s low temperatures should help lock-up many of the mid-state bodies of water that have started to get questionable. Either way, it’s good news for a productive end to the ice-fishing season. Especially for those who’ve been stymied by bad ice for a week now, I definitely include myself in that camp. I’m hoping to be back on the local farm ponds by Saturday, making up for the shiners I had to release through the bad ice with some nice slab crappy and yellow perch on micro-jigs. We’ll see how it goes. As always, use your better judgement when deciding if the ice is ready. I always remind myself when faced with potentially-unsafe conditions, it never a bad idea to come back another day.