New York Metro &
New Jersey

May 7th, 2004

Boy, It's Been a Long Winter

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And not to mention a difficult one! Not only was it bitter cold, but there was so much northwest wind that it managed to virtually destroy my marina. Every time it got above 35-knots (which was quite a lot this year) it ripped a new piece of aluminum siding off our house. The bay behind us remained a sheet of white through February and into March. It was so cold sometimes that my hair would freeze while I walked to the train.
Those close to me became concerned about my nightly habit of wondering out to the garage to stare, sometimes for an hour or two, at my flyrods and surfboards. Sure, I made it a point to travel quite a bit this winter, but the brief tastes of warm weather only made the longing worse when I returned.

Just when I was beginning to think about a serious location change April came around, and with it the first 70-degree day. Like the feeling of emerging from two months of boot camp; in the space of a day I felt like I had been completely and totally liberated. The birds chattered and daffodils bloomed, and I began the wonderful ceremony of working on the boat. It wasn’t long before I was, cleaning lines, tying new leaders and creating flies into the late hours. Splashing the boat came next and like the grass shrimp which spent the winter in a dormant state under the ice I was reborn the minute I brought her up on plane.

Yeah man… The spring season is here and I don’t think we need to worry about anymore snow and ice. Schoolie stripers abound and the bigger fish are beginning to show with frequency in New Jersey and western New York. Oddly enough, a few bluefish are being caught in both these areas as well. Weakfish are starting to come on strong in the central New Jersey Area and a few are being plucked in the marsh areas of western New York also. While things seem to be a bit late, the big day where things just open up will happen any day now (maybe even today!). There have been some reports of fish, some quite big, out east as well and it’s probably a matter of days before things start getting really good out there.

So get that gear ready and make sure not to get caught unready. It has begun! Weather looks pretty good for tossing some flies around this weekend so get out there and do it!

And don’t forget to email me your own reports. Tight lines all.

Tight Lines!

John McMurray

New Jersey

Captain Gene Quigley from Shore Catch Guide Service is off to a quick start in his neck of the woods with bass, weakfish and even the first of the year’s blues.  Check it out:

It''s good to be back!
 
We are off to a great start so far this year down here in Barnegat Bay! Bass have been hitting since early April and we are starting to get them up on the flats on topwater poppers and small shrimp flies. Most of these fish are running in the slot size, with the occasional keeper mixed in the bunch. The weakfish have also came in early this year and we are seeing strong pushes of big fish, 8 to 12 pounds coming in every day. Client Steve Gaush did a number on the Weakies earlier this week before the wind on jiggies and hollow fleyes. We also have blues here in the bay in the 2 to 4 LB range and we are expecting the big racers to come in any day as the Mackerel are just off our coast. We have a tremendous amount of baits here as well, tons of grass shrimp, spearing and even big blankets of horse bunker. Looks like its going to be another great spring!
 
On the wading front our beach guides have been working the areas behind IBSP and Shell's client took a fat 28 inch bass up on the flats yesterday.
 
We have added another Capt to our Shore Catch fleet, Capt David Goldman. He will be fishing his new 25 foot Parker out of the Raritan Bay area all season.
 
Capt. Gene Quigley

We’ve been fishing Jamaica Bay for two weeks now and quite honestly it started off pretty slow.  A lot of searching for small fish, but when we found them it was a pretty consistent pick.   It’s no so fun, however, when you have to use 450-grain line in 20-feet of water just to dredge up 20-inch bass.  Later in the week the fish started to get a bit bigger and we started to take a few in the 30-inch range.  But things changed last weekend when we finally found some fish that would take flies fished just under the surface and some of them were in the 30-inch range.  The next day those fish were hot on poppers, but as typical of early spring fish they had a hard time mouthing them and seemed more interested in just slapping them around.  Nonetheless, a bunch of fun!  This week, things came alive in a big way as the first of the year’s grass shrimp hatches occurred and stripers were boiling on them on the surface.  The bunker, while scattered at first seem to be schooling better and the bass seem to be getting bigger every day.  Leading up to the weekend, things are looking good. 

Captain David Azar from One More Cast Charters checks in with this report from Jamaica Bay:

Striped bass fishing in Jamaica Bay is on!  Just got back from a couple of after work hours on the water, there's still dried salt spray on my face, and the flash of lightning in my eyes!  But it's all good-I landed a 30" striper on fly and hooked and lost a few others.  The best way to describe the fishing of the past week is "a steady pick", while not continuously red-hot, it has been very consistent.  And there have been a few innings of super action; Friday morning I had Nathan Azizo out and we found 2 acres of schoolies working the surface.  Nathan managed several on a popper.  Saturday John McMurray found bigger fish, in the 30-inch range, in shallow water and his clients were able to get a bunch on clouser minnows fished on an intermediate line.  On Monday morning I had Andrew Wimpfheimer out in the wind and rain and while we did catch some fish on fly they weren't very big but Andrew was just glad to be out on the water "getting his line pulled", even in the wind-blasted rain!  Most fish were caught working the bottom with 450 grain sinking lines in 16 to 26 feet of water.

Peter Chan has also been fishing Jamaica Bay before making his annual pilgrimage out east.  He had this to say about the fishing so far:

Hi John. Inspite of white caps in the back of Jamaica Bay all morning, my trip with Mark Richter finished with 8 stripers ( 2 keepers), a couple of small blues and a gorgeous, brown-speckled  weak of 11 pounds. Mark's first! A May-day J-Bay slam. Action was slow on the outgoing tide, but got much better on the incoming. The usual fast-sinking lines with bunker and herring flies. I'm not sure what tomorrow's nasty weather will do to the fishing, but this action feels like it's building.

Western Long Island

From the South Shore Captain Barry Kanavy from Natural Anglers reports a good beginning even with the bad weather:

Hey John 
Nice to see your back & ready to go. Things are starting to happen on the Great South Bay. The Stripers and Weakfish arrived about two weeks ago along with swarms of bait. Cool temperatures, high winds and rain have kept things low profile. But that's all about to change with this full moon and warming temperatures. I am ready. It's been a long winter. I have a good feeling, this is gonna be a great year. Wishing only the best to all our fellow anglers.  Fish hard, safe, oh yeah, and don't forget to check your backing!
You never know.
Captain Barry Kanavy 

Salty flyrodder Brian Bifano checks in with this North Shore Report:

I have been fishing the last three Sundays in my area (Glen Cove) and the out going tides I have caught and released about 8 stripers over that time. Used only two flies, chartreuse and white clouser and a olive and white jiggy.  Fish ranged from about 19-25 inches all were in good health and clean of any parasites. Water temps in my area have been between 42-46 degrees. Though last Sunday the wind was a factor and I think limited my chances for some more as the spin guys next to me were able to get their lures out a bit farther into the currents.

Eastern Long Island

From East Hampton Captain David Blinken from North Flats Guiding checks in with this report:

Few fish around but the water is starting to warm up, and we are waiting for the first big push of small bait. The spawning schools of bunker and squid have come and gone hopefully there will be some stragglers to make things interesting over the next couple of weeks, this will reap great benefits come July and august when the young venture out as peanuts and juvi squid.
David Blinken

From Shelter Island Captain Jim Hull from Light Tackle Challenge reports good early spring action. Check it out:

Hi John, Shelter Island is developing nicely a little ahead of schedule this year. We have had schoolie bass in the backwaters since early April and the larger bass have been building in each day for about a week now. The place is plugged with sandeels, whitebait and punk herring with squid just showing in the pound nets in the last 3 days. This week we landed 11 keeper size or better bass with Darrin"s 40 incher top and my 36 incher running up, both off the beach with getting out in the boat with the wind we have had a little tough. The report for the next few days has no howling wind in it so we will be out there casting. Get out and give it a try, they're here. Jim

That’s all for this week… See you out on the water…