Flats!

[kiko13]

A bunch from this group said they were going this weekend. :rolleyes:I went on Saturday and got the SKUNK. Only saw a few fish caught. Lots of folks using cut bait.

I threw a 9wt (with a 350) for over 2 hours with nary a hit. I also threw a bunch of other stuff on my bait casting and spinning gear.

So....what's up, are the fish still in the deep? Will they turn back on? Will it be worth going back to this Friday?

A non catch report is as good as a catch report. :yes:

Ernie

[Salmo trutta]

So how was the clarity? I'm guess it was very bad and so was the Potomac on Sunday. Two blue catties and that was it in 4 hours effort yesterday.

[JMadert]

Ernie, my belief is: "the water temps are still too low for active metabolism" (on the flats).
The fish dropped down south of there for awhile after the nor'easter. But they'll be back soon. Friday could be prime.

[kiko13]

Jon- I was surprised that there was as much clarity (in places) as there was. It was not muddy but certainly stained in places. Lots of seams which looked inviting but to no avail.

John- I think you are very right about the temps, same thing goes for Fletcher's. This could be a good week.

There was bass tourney out of Tydings as well as a lot of other boats so the boat noise was up too.

But that's why we fish and keep coming back time after time!

Ernie

[jrzfly]

I would like to try Friday or saturday. Trying to decide wether to fish Cape May for schoolies or make the susky trip. still waiting for some positive fly reports on the flats. Hopefully this rain coming won't be alot. Wild Bill, you out there? did you make a trip out this week.

[Wild Bill]

Ean-

I fished the skinny water tonight (Tues) with both topwater and streamers. Had temps up to 62 degrees and good clarity. Did not get a hit today at all. I hear the fish are over in the Elk River spawning. That group of fish may not enter the flats again. I think we need a new batch of fish coming into the flats. That seems to be the cycle. The fish come into the flats and feed and then go up the Elk and spawn and then head back south.

I had a few good days before the nor'easter but nothing since then. This has been a very difficult year thus far. If they close it May 3, it will be over before it starts.

[Salmo trutta]

THanks for the report Bill. Please keep us posted. I'm tempted to run that way on Thursday/Friday.

[jrzfly]

Thanks Bill, hows the Parker running? Looks like the rain coming in will only be showers. If theres any South Jersey guys on here, Cape may has been productive. Mud flats in barnegat bay showing schoolies with weakies sparatic. Waiting for the winds to lay down friday or saturday. Nothing great yet generaly!

[Wild Bill]

Hi Ean-

The Parker is running great.

I did not fish today but got a steady stream of reports from a number of guys who did. None of the guys I talked to got any fish at all. I was told one guide had two fish on lures but was so unimpressed he was going to take his clients up river and fish with herring tomorrow. They will come back one of these days but no one knows when. It could be tomorrow.

Capt Mike had a huge 48 pounder today on a live herring in the river. He had three guys hold it for a quick pic.

I enjoy catching the blues on fly poppers in the coves in Raritan. Do you know when they get thick up there?

[jrzfly]

Hard to say when the blues will show up with this delayed season. Maybe another 2-3 weeks of consistent weather. Heard of bunker showing up in the Raritan before the Noreaster, now there gone. Maybe when they return the raritan will heat up.

[ebroesicke]

bill-

some friends and and I are planning a trip to sandy hook on may 26. two of the guys going were over there around that time last year and landed about 100 blues off the beach. they have been catching stripers up there for almost a month.

[Salmo trutta]

It's supposed to be prime time gang busters here in the Chesapeake Bay right now. We're supposed to be talking about how good the flats are, not how good somewhere that is $150 in gas away plus another $80 in tolls. Some 80% of the worlds striped bass supposedly spawn right here in our Chesapeake Bay and the fishing is SLOW! Something else is happening. This time last year... you guys know the picture but lets just say I didn't have any skin left on either thumb in late April last year and rignt now my hand could be used in a cosmo add. We'll maybe not, I've been working on the trailer.

[Wild Bill]

Checked it out again today and sorry to say, it just ain't happening.

We only fished the flats four hours this afternoon but everyone I talked to who fished it this morning got skunked. By the end of the day there were only two other boats on the entire flats. We fished from Carpenters Point to Sandy Point and everyone had gone home.

I have fished the flats off and on since 1960 and I never remember so few good days in the spring. The only bite is up at Port Deposit on live herring. Not my game but there are a few hogs being caught up there. Even with live herring the number of fish caught is few.

I am going to wait now at least until Monday to try again. I do not think it is really a big mystery why the fish are not there. It has been very cold and the river has been running high now for weeks. It is going up again at Harrisburg. I do not look for good fishing for a while. If they do not extend it, the flats season is most likely over now. It is soon time to look elsewhere.

[jrzfly]

Bill,

Fished up here in Jersey today behind Ocean city, NJ. Back country sod banks and creek mouths. Big el skunko! notta. No signs of bait, maybe thats why all the bait guys are catching them on clams. Water was 52 on the in coming and 56 outgoing. Was gonna go down to the flats today but held off. Was nice to be out on the water but what a slow start this year.

[flies only]

hey ian , are you still with the maritime or did you get a new girl?? my buddy will be taking his 28 henriques to cape may soon, we have to get together and try for the shark and blues offshore soon.

[Bill Couch]

Fished today from 3:30pm to dark. We ended up catching 15 or 16 all on clousers in 8ft of water. Wind was brutal but we stayed with it, had a steady pic with a couple fish on each drift. :))

[Brandon]

Thanks Bill for the report. Thinking of going tomorrow/today(Sunday), but not sure what we will do. Sounds like it was overall pretty slow today.

Brandon

[Frog Hair]

Wild Bill
My gut feeling tells me there’s not enough food for them.

Where is all the 14 – 20 inch rock we normally catch this time of year? And the large fish are concentrated in the Susky but not in the numbers were accustom to seeing and all being caught by the bait hurlers. So far this year in the creeks along the Susky we got a small pitiful run of alewife, which is normally the first fish we see followed by hickories. What we should be seeing now is black back herring and it’s just not happening. For those for one reason or another never experienced this phenomenon, the creeks would be a moving black sea of fish. While fishing for shad your boots would be covered in fish eggs during the migration. And where are the white perch that used to be so thick on the flats this time of year. If we go down memory lane from just a few short years ago (after the rock fish freeze) we had great numbers of all class rockfish. But think a little, we also had huge numbers of forage fish to attract rock to this area, which were not seeing anymore. So what’s the answer? The whole east coast is experiencing a drastic decline in river herring numbers. Some east coast states have even declared a complete moratorium on river herring. Now white perch have always been last to arrive and could be counted on to haunt the shallows on the flats hence the great top water action. But you know I haven’t seen the perch guys at Lapidum doing much yet, but it’s still early. For most migratory species (herring and shad) the magic number for the spawn to begin is 50 degrees and above in the creeks. That would mean the fish would be staging in the deeper waters around the flats when the water temps reach mid 40’s. All the fish reports of huge concentrations of fish (hickory shad) stacked but not taking lures this year would suggest this to be true. So what’s the bottom line for the lack of rock catches. There are few herring out there and the perch are late.
That’s my theory and I’m sticking with it.

Wayne B.

[Wild Bill]

Hey Wayne-

There was a very good run of branch herring early but they have spawned and are long gone. Capt Mike said it was the biggest run in the North East Creek he or Herb had ever seen. You are right in that the blue back river herring have been in serious decline the last couple of years. Since the early run of branch herring, there has not been much bait in the flats.

Other than the bait dunkers who have caught some monsters up river, the catches have been few and mostly small fish. There were some large fish available in the flats right before the nor'easter. I was fortunate to get two good days on them. The ones I caught were in a muddy steak of warm water and they wanted the bait ripped. I did not even try the fly rod. Caught some good ones on 10" BKD's.

When you have guides posting pics of 18" to 20" fish this time of year, and not many of those, it is a sad situation. Talked to some guys who live on the Elk River and there are a fair number of fish there right now spawning. Maybe most of the fish have just skipped the flats this year.

Talked to three very good fishermen today, and as of 10 AM, they did not have a tap. Someone will catch a few fish out there today but that does not prove anything. I have fished the flats off and on since 1960 and this is the poorest I have ever seen.

Helping a bud pick up a new boat tomorrow in Longneck DE. We may get to fish the flats in the afternoon and evening.

[Frog Hair]

Bill
Not sure what a branch herring is but I assume it’s the alewife, which are normally the first to arrive and leave. They may have had a good run on that side of the flats but 20 miles away on the other side of the flats it never happened. As a matter of fact DNR is monitoring the creek at the Wilson Mill fish ladder with cameras and nets and to this date have not caught or seen a river herring or shad. I also had 1 good day on rock before the storm nothing since.

[Wild Bill]

Wayne-

A Branch Herring is another name for an Alewife. Not sure why so many would go up the North East Creek and not to Deer Creek. When we had that limited shot on the big fish in the flats before the nor'easter, the Alwifes were very thick on the North East side. Since then the bait has been scarce over there and the fish have been scarce too.

[Frog Hair]

Bill
I’m not sure why the difference in the two creeks either. I got into this same discussion with Mike last year. The Nanticoke and a few lower shore rivers had an extremely good run also but no blueback (not blackback as I said earlier). We had a run of maybe a day or two but nothing like it should have been. Could it be that’s why all the fish that were caught early was on the lower eastern side of the flats? Anyway, it has been a crazy year on the flats for rock for sure. The one time out there this year I happened to be in the right place at the right time for some fast and furious fun. I had eight casts with eight hookups 24” – 30 lbs the biggest caught on video. It only lasted maybe 45 minutes then it was over and I haven’t been able to find them since. I’m not giving up hope because in years past I would take my vacation the last week in May for shallow water flats action. Like you I’ve been doing this since the late 50’s and every year is different, but I most admit this year has got to be one of the weirdest ever.