Boating World News 5/6/05

1. As these words are being written, I can hear a constant drip-drip of a leaky spot in the mud room, the consequence of a wet, snowy, icy, rainy winter. Hopefully, this particular storm, which brought with it the first 50-plus-degree temps in months will usher in some real spring weather, not the 20-degree nights and 30- to 40-degree days that were the norm for a week or two either side of the official “first day of spring” back on March 20.
2. I’ve given up predicting the weather, but temperature regimes do influence the fishing options one has, particularly early during the month of May. Though, no matter what, increasing daylight hours always seems to win out over the cold by the second week of this month, so the fish tend to show up within a few days either side of the same date on the calendar for any given location, pretty much every year.
3. There are many fishy events that take place at some time during May and most are dependent on ocean temperatures to reach certain critical levels before things really bust loose.
4. Early in the month, anglers can count on some pretty good fishing action from striped bass around the mouths, as well as up inside the region’s larger coastal rivers, as these fish push upriver chasing herring and shad into their spawning grounds. These herring-related fisheries tend to be strongest early and into the middle portion of May and in any given location are often shortlived, seldom lasting for more than two weeks at any sort of peak level. If temperatures become too high (into the 70s) by the end of the month all bets are off, the bass move out to sea and fishing picks up abruptly along the coastal reefs, particularly in the areas adjacent to these now much “too warm” rivers.
5. At some time anglers can count on some very good fishing action on flies, light spinning tackle with soft plastics or plugs, in coastal rivers, especially around dams and rapids that slow or stop the up stream movement of river herring long enough for the bass to catch up and wipe them out.
6. Predation from stripers is believed to be the primary reason herring runs have dropped drastically in numbers in the larger rivers, in Connecticut and many other areas up and down the coast. In coastal brooks, where the herring can dart out to the safety of deep waters, runs are still at reasonable levels. But when they become trapped in larger rivers the bass are all but wiping them out, the primary reason for the state wide ban on placed on the taking of river herring in Connecticut waters three years ago.
7. That total ban is still in effect in Connecticut waters where it is illegal to possess herring (alewives and blueback herring to be specific) even for use as hook baits. “Buckeys” as we call these small members of the herring family in eastern Connecticut, are or were the best live bait for big bass between mid April and Mid May in places such as the Pawcatuck, Thames, Connecticut and Housatonic Rivers.
8. Without the ability to catch buckeys for live or dead hook baits, anglers have been turning to artificial clones to fool herring-munching stripers in the areas that were historically productive live bait spots, such as the Enfield Dam on the Connecticut River, or Greenville Dam on the Thames.
9. Chunk mackerel or bunker work well, but no where near as well as a swimming silvery buckey. Instead of live offerings Connecticut striper enthusiasts have taken to tossing large soft plastic jerk baits such as 9-inch Slug-Go’s and 10-inch Fin-S Fish, Storm swimming minnows, and classic shallow running swimmers such as Rebels, Rapalas, and Mambo Minnows to tempt early-run striped bass in Connecticut waters. These lures all work but none as well as the real thing.
10. There are some new and very interesting lures hitting tackle shop shelves this spring along the coast. Look for a new breed of Polish made lures with photographic finishes that are essentially hard clones of herring that certainly look like they will catch big stripers in the areas where the buckeys will be running this spring.
11. The lures I have in mind are shallow running swimmers called “The Polish Perch”, distributed by Galpen Lures. Asecond line has been designed and manufactured by a second Polish company called “Salmo Lures,” with an “O.” I originally purchased my first Salmo lure, a shallow running “glide bait” for pike and musky fishing two or three years ago. It looked so good that I decided to get some to try for stripers. These lures are a high quality, slightly more expensive product, but nothing that will scare away a lure junky like myself.
12. My favorite, called Salmo Fatso, is a lipless crank bait, its cousin the Swimming Fatso, a shallow running, small-lipped diver that runs just below the surface with a wobbling rather than rolling gliding action that I think the bass will love. There is a second slightly deeper diving but shallow running shallow swimmer called the “Skimmer.” My new favorite after casting it for pike a few days ago is another glide bait, developed in Poland to catch pike over in Europe, called a Slider. The Slider has the best natural action I’ve seen on this style of lure, which is new on the striper grounds but a favorite in the waters of the north country where muskies as big as stripers swim around and occasionally feed on mallard ducks. Try any and all these lures in a color called “Real Roach” to match the appearance of a real live herring. All are absolutely terrific looking and running lures that I plan to use extensively this spring when the stripers show up in hot pursuit of the herring down on the Thames River.
13. Check out the Salmo products at www.salmofishing.com. These great looking and swimming lures are pricey, but if they catch fish like I suspect they will, they will be worth the investment and may open a whole new era of striper lures along the coast.
14. The first fluke of the spring are always caught along the Rhode Island coast somewhere around Point Judith, Rhode Island early in May. They usually arrive with the first squid that move inshore. The squid will be found being chased by bass on top and fluke down on the bottom at this time of year, a situation that when things align properly, creates the opportunity to do some double dipping. Simply plan a trip that will hit the right wind and tide combo for fluke and simply keep an eye out for bass, or when you’ve caught your fill of flatfish, simply run to the nearest reef and begin casting or trolling squid clones for bass.
15. The exact date will vary from the first to second week of May, but one can count on hearing about the first catches from that Rhody’s active commercial rod and reelers every spring at this time. It’s not right that commercial license holders get at the fish before the recreational people do, but that’s “Little Rhody” for you, always heavily slanted in favor of commercialization of the resources that belong to everyone, not just those who have a license to kill.
16. Generally, it isn’t until a week or so later, normally around Memorial Day or the first week of June before anglers along the south shore beaches and into eastern Long Island Sound can count on going out and connecting with their first summer flounder of the season.
17. Despite their appearance inshore to spawn, blackfish season will be closed in Connecticut waters, as will scup during May, so the options will be limited pretty much to striped bass and fluke, with an outside shot at finding some winter flounder and good odds of bungling into some early run pre-spawn bluefish. The blues always seem to show in western Long Island Sound and in random spots along the shore beginning surprisingly early every May. I’ve caught blues in the Thames River as early as May 5 and last year, despite very cold temperatures, the first bluefish catch reports came in during the first weekend of May. However, no one goes fishing for blues during May, they are generally random, accidental encounters early in the month, that will begin increasing in frequency by the time May turns into June.
18. Basically, fishing during May in Connecticut comes down to stripers for fun and fluke for the table.
19. My favorite “fun” way to catch striped bass this month, is during the worm spawns that occur in a couple of places near my home in eastern Connecticut. If temps remain cool and rainy, especially during the evenings, events such as worm spawns, will be delayed until the critical temperature range, which I have found to be 60 to 65 degrees F, is reached. Then they will come out to play in force, for a few nights, in just about every inlet, bay and salt pond along the coast. The problem is most of these events are short term and can easily be missed unless you literally monitor the temperature and hit the place when it first reaches that magical 65-degree mark.
20. A few places such as the spawn that occurs in Ninigret Salt Pond in Charleston, Rhode Island will run, at varying degrees of intensity from early May through early to even mid-June, when evening temps are cool and slow the worms down a great deal. Yet other spots such as Mystic River will shape up and disappear within four to seven days some time around May 22 to 25 every spring.
21. Every place is unique in its timing and duration, but count on the worms to show at some time every spring and early summer, with some places producing multiple spawns, which may be due to spawning from more than a single species of worm. I found the worms in Ninigret Pond and Mystic to be the yellow jawed clam worm Neres succinea, but odds are there are many different worms that come out to play during the course of a season. Many anglers call them cinder worms due to their pinkish / brown coloration.
22. Last year, temps hit the crucial 60-degree mark early in May as usual in Ninigret Salt Pond, but the problem was the ocean was a chilly 48, so there were not many migrants moving along the beaches on the other side of the salt pond to take advantage.
23. On our first trip my daughter and I caught something like five stripers, all under 22 inches and that was nearly every fish we saw swirl that trip. Temperatures retrograded back into the 50s after a series of cold nights and cool rains. The worms stopped coming off for a few days. My next two outings were busts as far as fishing on worm slurping bass, but we caught 10 to 20 schoolies to maybe 28 inches by casting Slug- Go’s along the channels and in places I know to hold stripers this time of year.
24. Things were so funky and unpredictable that I stopped wasting the gas, despite the fact that later in May and June I heard that there were some pretty good worm spawn evenings over in Ninigret. If things are anything like they usually are during early May, count on the first worms and some decent stripers to be present in Ninigret Salt Pond starting between May 5 and 10 pretty much for sure, earlier if the sun comes out and cooks up the mud flats later in April.
25. Go fishing armed with either fly rod and worm pattern flies or light spinning tackle with a fist full of 3.5-inch Texas Chili, Pink, and Arkansas Shiner Colored Slug-Go’s rigged on size 1 or 2 Texposer Hooks. These hooks designed by Herb Reed, inventor of the Slug-Go I find tend to hook up more solidly than other hooks I’ve used for this purpose.
26. The key is setting up the proper spinning rod that can cast these light offerings far enough to accurately place the lure in front of surface feeding stripers. I prefer a 6.5- to 7-foot medium action rod with a fairly stiff tip, and a spinning reel spooled with 4- to 6-pound Fireline. This combo will cast an unweighted Slug-Go 20 yards or more with a tail wind. The key is not casting blind, but putting the lure right in front of visible bass, or in areas where activity is constant. Let it sink, then twitch it up to the surface so it makes a tiny “V” wake like the real worms that will often be so abundant it becomes nearly impossible to hook a fish on a fake one due to the “dilution factor”. It’s like fishing a mayfly, hatch for trout, fun, but often frustrating.
27. During May, I tend to concentrate on stripers early, starting with herring chasing bass in rivers early in the month when water temps are cool, then switching to worm spawns where I can find them. Then, later in May we make our first forays outside of the Sound to Rhode Island’s south shore beaches for fluke, if Rhody has an open season. If tides and temperament are right and the fluke are cooperating, then we will pick up and look for squid feeding bass on the Watch Hill Reefs towards dusk, or troll rocky stretches of shore with tube and worms to top off a wonderful double-dip trip for bass and fluke. Try this combo approach during the last weekend or two of the month.