Spring Fishing

Well, about 1/4 of the spring has passed, but you will never know it. It has been cold as winter with wind, rain and snow. We have been trying to catch a winter flounder after the good fishing last fall, but so far it's been a bust. The weather forecast called for a sixty degree day yesterday and we grabbed our gear and headed out for a few hours. It was pouring rain and thirty eight degrees on the way to the river and the day started cold and wet. A few regular anglers were on the pier and reported the first six fish were caught Easter Sunday. We saw osprey, laughing gulls and oyster catchers, making us think spring had arrived, but the waters remain cold and barren. Around the time of the tide change, one fisherman landed a big flounder, about eighteen inches. I also had a bite, that tap-tap of a flounder that kept hitting the bait on the lift but never taking it. After three hours we threw in the towel and will try one more time next week. I commented to another angler that the fluke will be in before the flounder start biting.