We’re quickly approaching one of the most significant dates on the angling calendar for many New York anglers — the striped bass opener. For me, it ranks right up there with the new-moon tides of September and October. I’ve though about the bass I caught, and more importantly didn’t catch, all winter. This sunday it all starts again. The icing on the cake this season, the bass are already here in big numbers, and feeding aggressively on large bait. The winter flounder season is also off to a fast start, and many anglers are putting their two-fish limit on ice in less than an hour. There’s also been some real slob-flounder caught in the first two weeks of the season. If you’re gearing up for the bass opener on Sunday, at least consider picking up a sleeve of chum and a box of worms to making it a striper/flounder combo trip. Also, make sure you’ve got plenty of bunker-snags on board before leaving the dock. The 20-pound-class stripers are already keyed-in on the schools of bunker. It’s going to be a fast start to the spring run, there’s no doubt about that — and it all starts Sunday.
East End
When the cod bite dries up south of Block Island and the striped bass have yet to arrive, you’d think the angling options out east wouldn’t be worth traveling for. But world-class fisheries have a way of filling the gaps, and routinely surprising the most die-hard anglers. Right now, that “side action” has been the deepwater ground fishing out in the offshore canyons. Last week I mentioned that the Viking Fleet added an extra tilefish trip to their schedule, and again, despite less-than-perfect drifting conditions, the 25-hour “Express Trip” turned out to be another great trip. Captain Steven Sr. commented in his report that the trip also included “a special Easter surprise,” the came in the form of northern groupers in big numbers. High hook was 11. The groupers topped out at an impressive 28 pounds. The tilefish were also chewing heavily by the end of the day, and again reached into the 40-pound class, with the pool-fish at 46 pounds on the scales. With so much life on the walls of the Canyons this early in the season, the Viking has added yet another offshore trip to their springtime schedule. The latest addition is a 32-hour trip that leaves the dock a week from Friday, April 20 at 7pm. If you’ve never seen a northern grouper, it’s worth checking-out the pictures from this latest trip HYPERLINK “http://www.vikingfleet.com/gallery/gallery.asp?categoryid=1301” HERE. To me, they look like an enormous smallmouth — making this little-known fishery even more intriguing.
In Hampton Bays, things are on the slow-side for the most part, with water temperatures still hanging in the uppers 40s. Steve at East End Bait & Tackle said “the flounder haven’t moved in yet,” although he’s heard about the good action to the west. It shouldn’t be long until the flounder start setting-up in decent numbers in the Shinnecock Canal when the locks are closed. I’m sure there’s already a few hanging out in the area, shaking out the wintertime sluggishness. If you’re planning on giving it a shot this weekend, I’d recommend going heavy and consistent with the chum, and make sure to shake-up the chum pot from time-to-time or cracking a fresh handful of bank mussels. Also consider salting a few of the bigger mussels for hookbaits if the sandworms aren’t getting any action. Steve also mentioned he’s heard some reports of schoolies in the area, so it shouldn’t be long before the first keepers show up.
South Shore
The western south shore is definitely the place to be right now. With plenty of “lemon” flounder in the area, and thousands of big striped bass in place and feeding aggressively on balled-up menhaden, just days ahead of the season opener. Most of the action is still to the west, although schoolies are showing up as far east as Hampton Bays. If you’re heading out on Sunday, concentrate your efforts in the Jones Beach area. There’s been bass and bunker both inside and out of the inlets, so if you’re in a boat is a good idea to get out at first light when it’s much easier to spot the nervous water on the surface from the bait ball of menhaden.
North Shore
Although the sea-surface temperatures in Long Island Sound are now pretty much on par with the western south shore, it’s got more to do with the water cooling down off the south than anything else. Either way, it won’t be long before the bass and blues start pushing bait up through the sound. In the mean time, the flounder fishing is starting up in the western sound, but most angler’s attention will be focused on the western south shore for the time being.
Metro New York
It’s a big weekend for urban surfcasters, and I’m sure there will be more than one set of Korkers clicking on the subway platforms by Sunday morning. The bass are already pretty-well scattered out around the city, so putting in the time and finding some fishy water is the best options. The bass have been aggressive in general, so they should already be willing to hit a variety of offerings. Even hard-plastic lures should be getting some action after dark, including from bombers and darters. Soft-plastic swim shads should also do the trick, and are more likely to get action after daybreak. If you’re not yet to the point to where you’re navigating subway cars with a 10-foot Lamiglas, the ling fishing on the Marilyn Jean IV out of Brooklyn is still going strong. On Tuesday’s trip, the fares averaged 20- to 40-ling per angler and the crew only had to make a handful of moves to stay on the fish all day. On Monday’s trip, the wind kept them inside Jamaica Bay most of the day but they were able to find enough keeper-size flounder to make a day of it.
Upstate New York
Depending on where you live upstate, in the Catskills, the spring trout season is picking up fast. “I’m anticipating some pretty good fishing coming up,” was the quote from Matt at Beaverkill Angler in Roscoe. After a week of showers and high-winds that limited fishing opportunities, conditions look to be setting up for a great weekend. The bugs are hatching big numbers and the trout are finding them through the wind-swept surface. Matt told me fish have been coming up despite the wind for the ongoing Hendrickson hatches, and mentioned that some anglers have been doing well with emerger patterns. Although at times, particularly in the late afternoon, the hatches have been so thick, even dry fly patterns were catching fish. Olives, caddis, blue quills and paraleps have been hatching on the West Branch of the Delaware River in recent days, and rising fish are being caught on dry flies throughout the system. Although there’s been sporadic action in the mornings on nymph patterns, the best action and most attention has been on fishing dry flies in the afternoon. “From one to six,” Matt said. For me, sight casting to large rising trout with big dry flies epitomizes fly fishing, and it’s setting-up to be the perfect weekend on the Delaware to do just that.
Fishing Forecast for the Weekend
After 11:59pm on Saturday night, this week’s “best bets” become pretty simple — go striped bass fishing. Even if you have to travel. The linesiders are already stacked-up along the western souths shore, and they’re gorging on schools of bunker in most places, feeding with their usual “reckless” springtime appetites. If you can get out on a boat for first light of opening day, I’d label that the “can’t miss” option for the weekend. Get over a school of bunker and live-line these baitfish. The first few baits probably won’t make it very far before they get inhaled. If you won’t have access to a boat on Sunday, consider doing some late-night chunking from shore in the opening hours of the season. Get to the bait shop before they close on Saturday and setup on the sand beaches or one of the fish piers just after midnight. There’s plenty of bass moving from one school of menhaden to the next right now, and at this point in the season they’re likely to stop for an easy, pre-cut meal — especially if you keep some chum in the water to get them going. If the bite gets hot, and I’m sure it will for a lot of anglers fishing the South Shore on Sunday, consider releasing lip-hooked fish at the beginning of the trip and keeping the 1-in-10 that inevitably will end up gut-hooked when livelining and chunking. It’s also a good idea to switch to inline circle hooks after you’ve iced your catch and it’s time to play catch-and-release with the linesiders. I think a few simple precautions like these, especially if adopted on a wide-scale, could go a long way to help maintain, and hopefully expand, populations of migratory striped bass. Tight lines.