During the winter months in the northeast, you’re more likely to read about the mullet run in south Florida that draws surfcasters, photographers and snook and tarpon enthusiasts from afar. These oily baitfish, which range from a bite-sized 3 inches to 12-inch jumbos, also fuel shallow-water feeding frenzies along the beaches of New Jersey as they migrate south each fall. But to see mullet schooling in the winter, and in the residential streets of coastal New Jersey, is a surprise to even the most seasoned saltwater fishermen. Brian Higgins captured the video below (posted to Instagram by Nick Honachefsky of Saltwater Underground) as a school of mullet swim in the streets of New Jersey after some recent coastal flooding.
Last week, neighborhoods situated along the water in Ocean and Monmouth Counties experienced some incredibly high tides generated by the recent new moon. “The new and full moon peak tides combined with northeast winds, historically, have caused some serious flooding issues for us,” said Honachefsky. “Since Hurricane Sandy, the water table has raised and flooding is even more frequent and severe now than it ever was before in these coastal areas.”
In the spring, mullet will migrate back to New Jersey’s waters from their wintering grounds in the south, so February is unseasonably early to find them locally. “Our mullet run typically ends in late October, so I was flabbergasted that there are mullet around here at all,” Honachefsky noted. “But their abundance was even more surprising. From Manasquan to Waretown, I received 4 or 5 videos of mullet swimming in people’s yards.”
Honachefsky attributes the presence of mullet to another mild New Jersey winter, meaning that these fish comfortably wintered over in the Garden State’s back bays. He said the water temperature in the bays and marshes typically max out around 43 degrees in the height of winter. But with bay temperatures hovering between 47 and 49 degrees last week, it’s reasonable to find a bunch of mullet hunkered down since late fall. How the mullet made their way onto the streets of New Jersey remains to be answered, but Honachefsky speculates that in some cases, they could have been swept into the streets through a storm drain.
One thing is for sure; however the mullet made it into the temporary concrete canals, the sight of them leaves striped bass fishermen eager and hopeful for a banner spring migration. New Jersey’s backwater striped bass season kicks off on March 1st, making it legal to target striped bass in the bays and rivers before the migration kicks off and stripers are in thick from the estuaries to the beaches. Honachefsky added that when water temperatures reach 49 degrees, which usually happens in March, striper season kicks off with good action on bloodworms. This year could be different, for obvious reasons.
With all these mullet around, who knows? Catching a street striper from your front yard just might be feasible this spring.
