I don’t know about you all but I’m ready for spring. The pseudo summer teasers of 70-degree days are not fair. The mild winter has been perfect for an earlier fishing season. With our luck, it will snow all March.

As long as the fish get the early start memo, but they tend to know better than we do. One can literally miss a fish run that starts earlier than normal. It is over before it would usually start. That is rare, but I feel like it happens at times. I mean, people are asking when the striped bass are running while we are catching migratory bass.

DNREC just announced a flathead catfish state record has been added to the Delaware Sportfishing Tournament. Don’t get too excited at the word tournament, there isn’t any prize money. The minimum weight for the adult division is 20 pounds and the youth division is 15 pounds. There isn’t a length requirement nor is there a live release citation. Flathead catfish are invasive. The first one to the scales with the qualifying weights will get the state record. That is the tournament part, beating the state record.

DNREC has an online invasive fish tracker for reporting an invasive species. From DNREC: “Members of the public are key to preventing the invasion and spread of aquatic invasive species. You can help by reporting very unusual aquatic plant and animal species to the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife. Please include the date, a specific location, and a photo to confirm species identification.”

White perch are the catch of the day, and yellow perch are starting to show in some areas. Use bloodworms for bait or minnows. Grass shrimp are plentiful if you have a net to catch your own. My bait tank is overflowing with shrimp. There’s nothing like an aquarium full of bait to entertain you while you work. Then you feed them and catch the big ones for bait.

I haven’t seen any winter flounder. They are a rare bird these days but it’s still more fun to try than not. The hard part is getting the time to hit a few out-of-the-way old sloughs that used to produce back in the day for the netters. I need the kayak and some gear and you can sit and tamp the bottom all day for some attention.

The surf is producing skates and dogs. The water needs to warm up just a touch for the short striped bass to get more active in the surf, then we can rat wrangle. The water around Lewes has been about 45 degrees, and so was the ocean surface temperature on Wednesday. The water is actually cooler farther up the Delaware River and upper bay, according to the buoys. The magic number for striped bass is around 51 degrees. It won’t be long now, get your gear ready. Use good gear for the migratory fish, then tone down to the 20-pound mono, old rods and reels for the surf tacos: spot and kingfish. I don’t use my high-end gear to catch kingfish. It seems like a lot of overkill to use a $600 to $700 setup to catch a kingfish or spot. Even the small summer blues are more fun on an old rod and mono line.

Somebody needs to ask State Parks to figure out the reservation system and how they will implement everything. The natives are getting restless. I am constantly asked when, how, etc., on the DSF networks. I always say I have no idea, but I’ll see you at Cape on the first Saturday at 7:59 a.m. for the show. I feel for the rangers I know that have to deal with that mess.

Bait and tackle shops are filling back up for the season still. I’m seeing boxes and boxes of gear every time I visit. It’s always fun to see all the new gear out for the coming season, even some of the gimmicky stuff. The new Fishbites just arrived in the shop yesterday, so we have been dying to get out and try these new flavors: clam and blue crab.

Keep an eye on fishery meetings, there will probably be a limit on spot and croaker coming soon. Yup, you read that correctly. We will never learn that once we regulate one fish that same issue shifts to another species until we have to regulate that one, too, and then repeat. Spot get hammered and croaker are far and few between the last few years. It’s not a coincidence or a cycle. These fish always should have had limits. Fix a problem you know will happen, before it occurs — preventive fishery management.