Early Spring Recap
May is usually a great month for fishing for a lot of us.....some observations so far.....


1. For Northern NJ and the Raritan Bay bite....there was activity....but no consistent 2-4 weeks of activity of small to larger bass like there usually is...(the holdover bass that winter in the Arthur Kill and NY Harbor areas) before the Hudson bass showed up about 10 days ago.....

2. The bass that wintered over in the BBay seemed to spread out in April, and were available at a few early season locations....along with some drum and bluefish....

3. From the feedback I got from friends who were fishing on April 1...the fishing in the bays in the Southern Counties (Atlantic to Cape May) was a little better and more consistent....

4. As I have been explaining to the folks out there....the fish that showed up in Raritan Bay seemed to be very concentrated in certain areas....and feast or famine in others....
(this is a pattern that could indicate a shrinking biomass, explained in several threads here)

5. The fish that were supposed to spawn did not yet spawn in some of the usual places....Although the Delaware biomass and fishery is said to be strong...the fact that these fish....(with specific locations imprinted in their brains) did not spawn in certain areas....gives me great concern....

6. I'm also getting preliminary feedback that the 2015 Chesapeake spawning activity was not as great as anticipated...and was another very late spawn, relative to the other years.....




**It seems everything is off this year.....the cold Winter has been blamed....and that is likely true, to some extent....Spawning is very dependent on water temps...But is that the complete explanation?
I am not sure......

The above are not only my observations...but anecdotal reports from a few dozen veteran anglers that I regularly talk about some of this stuff with.....

Although I am not a scientist...I have been on this earth long enough to recognize patterns....or discern when they are changing.......