That sprinter weather is hitting, it’s cold but it’s not nasty cold weather. The fish will wake up early this year, if we can call it that. They are going to start feeding better earlier is a more accurate description. The waters never really got too cold in these mild winter conditions. I’m tilling my gardens early and will plant sooner than usual. It’s just seeds, so I can always plant more. The chickens never stopped laying eggs this winter either.

Even the polar plungers got lucky this year. We went from 16 degrees to a balmy 40 in one day. I watched several folks hit the water. It was my first time ever seeing someone streaming live on Facebook, while plunging. Of course, it was Stephan “The Freak” Talabisco aka Three Time. The plunge is always fun to watch, but I can’t get in that water without waders.

The fishing in the surf, aside from crazy people, is skates and dogfish, with the occasional short bass if you are lucky on a warmer day along structure. White perch is the hot catch for the waterways this time of year. Use bloodworms or minnows for bait. Fishbites has worked for some anglers.

Bait shops are about to restock and get ready for the season. Check in and see what new products they saw at the shows this year.

Winter flounder season has started. That is a tough catch these days. Find an outflowing creek or slough around the inland bays for a good start. Then tamp the bottom and stir up the “mud.” It gets the fish excited and curious. A can of cat food with some holes punched into it for a chum can is popular. Use yellow corn on small wide gap hooks or yellow beads. That is the “old salt” preferred rig. I say old salt because no one makes a winter flounder rig anymore. That fishery is all but dead and those rigs were popular up until that fishery crashed. A 1/0 or smaller wide gap hook in a top and bottom set-up is all that rig was back then. Pork rind or bacon fat makes a good scent for a winter flounder to follow.

We are in the winter waiting on spring season. Get your gear ready, it will happen faster than you think this year. Mild winters are strange. There are times fish rarely go too far south or even leave an area. Then when they decide to run north, it happens fast and is over before anyone asks what is going on out there.

I received my physical trout stamp the other day. When you sign up for your fishing license with the trout stamp, you have an option to request the actual trout stamp be sent to you after the season. 2021 can be requested right now as well. These stamps are kept for about three years, I believe, then destroyed. It’s just a neat addition to a fishing collection for some people.

Get outdoors this weekend, it will be beautiful. Get those spring projects started early. Like I said, I am working on my vegetable gardens already. I have a full acre to do this year. Well, I have the option, with a new rototiller, and 29 yard dinos to feed. It’s going to be a fun season learning new gardening things while fishing for food and fertilizer. Mixed with the yard dinos’ black gold, I can grow just about anything in this Dela-land sand we call soil.