Early season bass eat grass shrimp subtly. They roll on the bait instead of boiling or crashing on it. With so many shrimp in the water through May, and stripers that are less than voracious, a small grass shrimp imitation might not be your best choice. Such a small artificial would get lost in the crowd. Furthermore, because of snowmelt and runoff in these nutrient-rich waters, you can expect murky water and poor visibility in April. So, many anglers fish noisy flyrod poppers or topwater plugs to trigger aggressive strikes from early season stripers. The idea is to annoy a striper into striking. Some of my favorites include Gags Grabbers. Also, bright-colored swimming plugs such as Redfins and Bombers in the 4-inch range, worked very slowly just below the surface, can produce as well.

Shore anglers work a blitz.

Weakfish (an extraordinarily colorful species named for their unusually fragile mouths) like to feed on grass shrimp as well. Found in New Jersey and New York, they can be particularly aggressive and often run in the 10-pound range before their May spawning ritual. They hang out on the dropoffs instead of the mud flats like stripers, although you will occasionally catch them in the skinny stuff. Weaks are particularly wary of boat traffic or other commotion. Your best bet during the grass shrimp hatch is to fish a jighead and soft-plastic tail right on the bottom along a mud flat dropoff, although occasionally weakfish can be found feeding on grass shrimp on the surface, and at odd hours of the night. Small swimming plugs can be utilized in these situations, too.

Spring Bunker Bash

Adult Atlantic menhaden, locally called moss bunker or pogies, arrive in mid April, generally when the grass shrimp hatch happens. Marsh grasses that have decomposed into detritus create high nutrient levels, which in turn fuel large concentrations of phytoplankton and algae blooms in the marsh. Bunker are filter feeders, so they follow these blooms into the marshes. These are big baitfish, ranging from 9 to 14 inches in length, and most Northeast salt marshes don’t see stripers large enough to eat these bunker this early in the season. By late April and May, however, humongous stripers begin to flood into the marsh to feed on the copious schools.

More Than Just A Fishery Without a doubt, the many salt marshes of the Northeast U.S. are productive fisheries. But in the greater sense, they are important to society as a whole. Salt marshes are buffers in that they absorb storm surge, minimizing the impacts of flooding and erosion. They also serve as massive filters to remove sediments and toxins from the water and break down pollutants. In addition to all of this, they are a natural vista that can be enjoyed by all. However, in this part of the world as well as others, these ecologically rich ecosystems face threats. Thousands of acres of tidal marsh have been and are being drained or filled to provide space for industrial sites, housing developments, garbage dumps, highways and more. The marshes that remain are naturally deteriorating at astounding rates, some losing upwards of 40 acres per year because of dredging and channelization. There’s little money available for remediation. Tidal wetlands are under constant threat by those who have no understanding or appreciation of what salt marshes provide. Keep your ear to the ground and let politicians and other decision-makers know that you wish to keep them intact. For more information on what you can do to help protect your local salt marsh, contact your local Coastal Conservation Association chapter. A list of state and local chapters can be found on www.joincca.org. —J.M.

While concentrations of bunker are found mostly on the surface over deeper water, predators often chase them onto shallow marsh flats. This is the time of year—and the scenario—when you are most likely to get a 30-plus-pound fish in shallow water. Fishing for these big bass can be done in a number of ways. Live-lining baits on a 3-way rig with heavy conventional gear in deep water is the most common tactic, but bunker can also be fished on the surface, or on a marsh flat with a stout spinning rod and a circle hook though the bait’s lip. This approach can result in some spectacular surface takes from stripers and bluefish. Oftentimes, big bluefish will chase after a live-lined bunker in just a few feet of water, bite it in half, only to have a big striper devour the other half. Fly anglers target bigger marsh stripers by casting 9-inch streamer flies with 10- and 11-weight rods, and folks employing light spin gear have success casting 7-inch, shad-type soft baits or swimbaits.

Expect Atlantic menhaden to stay in the salt marshes through June and to thin out considerably by July. By late June it’s hard to entice a big striper into eating anything artificial, and they actually prefer cut bait to live baits. Bunker don’t venture much farther north than Connecticut. Salt marshes north of that hold herring rather than bunker, but this big bait influx can be fished much the same.

So-called ‘Summer Doldrums’

July and early August marsh fishing can be slow because of slow-moving current. Because most salt marshes are shallow, the water warms to the point that it becomes uncomfortable for striped bass. But that’s okay because they are replaced by big, mean, toothy bluefish. Many folks don’t care to target this ruthless predator because they lack the eating qualities of a striped bass or a weakfish—not to mention they destroy plugs, jigs and flies, and cut line with their razor-sharp teeth. But catching a big blue in two feet of water is not something to miss. They often jump and tail-walk just like a tarpon, and scream across a flat like bonefish when hooked. Adult bluefish in the 10- to 15-pound range cruise the flats in schools of three to five fish, sometimes sticking their dorsal fins above the surface. Though very difficult to catch in these situations, it is possible to entice one with a noisy popper or topwater plug directly in front of them.