Noah almost became a Florida resident this winter. It's a funny thing. Within a week he has gone from fishing for spanish mackerel in 80 degree weather to targeting tomcod and skates in 35 to 43 degree weather. That's contrast.
Today we were basically scouting. We've got a tiny remaining window for the tommycod before they leave the inshore waters of the sound, so that was our initial focus. The first spot was dead, excepting weird orange jellyfish we had never seen before. In the second spot I actually got one definite fish take. What it was I will never know for sure. Perhaps I should add, we were both bait fishing. I fully intend to target these species with the fly, but coming from such an uninformed position, I needed to collect as much data as possible before attempting to catch these species in probably the hardest way possible. Squid was our bait today. Clams and worms will likely be employed as well in the near future. Without any confirmation of the presence of tomcod, we switched gears and went to an area where I thought skate might be possible, though we'd still be in possible tomcod habitat. We set rods out on the jetty and watched from the van to stay out of the wind. We had no signs of interest in our bait at all, but the cove was far from lifeless. There were hundreds of gulls and water fowl of a few different species.
The fourth and final spot we fished was a place I had seen a skate two winters ago, and Noah and I both seen a number of strange fish we couldn't identify there in the winter. Alas, in contrast to many of the times I have fished there, it was dead. Tired of fighting the rocks and loosing gear, we called it a day. This is just the beginning. Noah and I will be haunting the surf zones in CT and RI for the rest of the year, and the next 40 days hold promise for some of the more unusual fish of the year. We just have to put our time in, especially since we're starting late in the season. It's something anglers did a lot up until about 30 years ago. It's not a new pursuit. But it is for Noah and I.
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A good adventure. Hope you catch something interesting.
ReplyDeleteTie, fish, write, conserve and photo on...
Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI was wonder8my about winter surf fishing the Sound Last week. Back from Florida then, I thought about how seemingly desolate our home saltwater is in winter. I was aware of winter cod but hadn't learned of those other historical conditionscyou wrote about.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your quest! I fish the inshore waters of Maine quite a bit in winter. Action can be fast on pollock and cunner, sometimes sight casting with flyrod and sink tip with streamers. More often with spinning gear and small jigs suspended under a bobber. I had a 71 fish day one Dec. 14. Fishing and catching get tougher later in winter. BTW, real enjoy your web site!
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