first sign of spring...

[geebee]

gulls were working below the bridge in downtown Wilmington on the Brandywine this morning.

and a couple of hellbats were watching.

water temp is 44F.


it won't be long now...

 

[marcq]

usually ill wait a week or two for the Raritan bay to be a steady 45 degrees then ill get they yak out and paddle around. this time last year guys were already into some decent fish.

 

[geebee]

i look at the NOAA water surface temp maps. that normally shows hotspots where fish will make for.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Is this the stripper thread? I'm looking to hook up

 

[sandfly]

they are picking a few up in the back bays already. most on jigs with curly tails. creek mouths are producing.

 

[geebee]

Yeah I read , holdover shorts 14-24" .

 

[geebee]

3 anglers at the dam today at lunch.

I saw something attempt the dam in the high water. Fish were packed in tight at the dam side, I'm not sure if they were shad though.

They had the same colouring as herring, but i couldn't see. Do suckers hold in fast water like that ?

We have some nights in the 50's coming up.

 

[geebee]

now the water is back down i walked the Brandywine path at lunch today - nature gave us a present in the recent storm, in the form of a 60-80ft breach in the west street dam.

for that length the entire top layer of the dam was washed away, and the remaining brickwork was below the water line today.

i saw several shad run it and a much larger fish in the 24" plus range.

i know there was plans to notch it or remove it. no longer necessary i think.

good news for the shad fishery and striper run - though i don't know i stripers will run through the breach ?