The week of the full moon was marked by heavy, sustained southwest winds, and a hot-and-cold bass bite. Waters are warming at a rapid rate, and bait and bass are settling into summertime haunts in some areas, while some schools continue to move north.
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A few larger stragglers are still roaming around the Maryland and Delaware surf, for anglers fishing cut bait, but the numbers are waning quickly.
Larger stripers are pretty spotty in southern New Jersey, but good action on resident fish into the low 30-inch range in the bays and surf should keep going throughout the summer.
Stripers into the mid-30-inch range are being caught in the Raritan Bay, the rivers, and the surf, but the bulk of the large stripers seem to have moved on from New Jersey waters. There continue to be reports of some good bass around the bunker schools.
The bulk of the big stripers on the South Shore continued to push east, out toward their summering grounds off Montauk and Block Island. Good fish continue to move through Long Island Sound, and settle into North Fork hotspots like the Race.
The reefs of Long Island Sound are loaded with bass. Bunker continue to fill in, and fish to 50 pounds, with plenty of 30- to 40-pounders, are feeding in the Middle Sound.
The fishing just keeps getting better in Rhode Island, as a fresh wave of big bass moved into the Ocean State over the past week, with Block Island showing signs of life as well.
The rips continue to be the hot spot around Cape Cod as the Canal is slow and fishing in the bays is spotty.
There’s stripers spread along the entire Massachusetts coast, but anglers complained about finicky fish this week. Good numbers of menhaden are concentrating the larger fish, but the inconsistent weather and fluctuating water temperatures are being blamed for the lack of steady action.
Slot-sized fish abound at the river mouths, while bass as large as 50 inches are hounding the bunker schools moving into the area.
