Fish on the Move

The weather still never ceases to amaze everyone. It’s hard to believe that there were a couple of over 80-degree days in the beginning of April. It made folks get out their beach umbrellas and beach chairs, plus bathing suits and shorts. Some went in swimming — but the bay is still under 50 degrees. It brought instant life to the flowers, lawns and shrubs.

This week, we came back into reality, with seasonal temperatures. We need some rain, and the wind now has moderated.

The warm weather inspired people to take the covers off their boats and start getting them ready for the water. Every day sees more boats returning to the marinas.

It’s only two weeks until the opening of the May 1 fluke season. Striped bass season opened on April 15. There is a 28-to-35-inch slot limit of one fish per day. There are rumors of some local holdover striped bass. Some early migratory fish have been caught.

There are very quiet rumblings of some weakfish around. Large fish were in the fish markets last week, and I presume they were taken commercially. I have not heard of any early porgy reports, but it should start any day.

The ocean still is giving up some codfish and some spring blackfish. Montauk remains quiet. The New England boats are catching haddock and pollock. With more warm nights, everything should break wide open.

Freshwater fishermen are having success with a variety of fish being caught. On the bay, the trap fisherman have put their traps on, which is a good sign that the fish should be on the move. Lobster pots are in the water, and they should be crawling as well.

As always, enjoy the beach walks with the ospreys!