In some local fishing spots, 'the run' is on with good perch action

“Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are made for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration.”

“The person who loses their conscience has nothing left worth keeping.” — Izaak Walton

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never is, but always to be blessed:

The soul, uneasy and confined from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”

— Alexander Pope, "An Essay on Man"

Working from the whole glass “half full” side of things is certainly part and parcel of education and social work. So with the whole time change thing, a positive is the fact that just about the time I’m leaving for work, the sun is rising (on those rare days it’s not cloudy!) out of the Delaware Bay as a fiery orange orb.

Along the way in the sun glitters off the waterways swimming with rockfish, shad, white perch and yellow perch, and bonding Canada geese. I’m always amazed that the only one who seems to pull over to look is me — my counterparts flying by with grim faces off to toil someplace upstate.

Fish there are, too, with some good numbers of rockfish finning around the bay. Of course the odds of one actually blowing up on the beach in the heavy wind have been better than being able to cast into the gale.

Still, as commercial fishermen have shown, the fish are there if some enterprising soul can get out to catch them.

Action for both yellow and white perch was actually very good last weekend. Capitalizing on reduced tide velocities helped anglers score big on chunky fish. In some local sports, “the run” is definitely on. 

Perch of both species that we saw had good amounts of roe. I’ve often found that once “the run” starts, weather plays a lesser role, at least insofar as temperature. 

Yellow perch, of course, are less susceptible to the vagaries of cold snaps (we used to catch the darn things after boring through 2 feet of ice for goodness sakes) than the whites. 

Both will bite, however, in cold weather. For the white perch the tidal conditions are more of an issue as the flooding will discolor the water to a point you can’t get bit.

Both grass shrimp and small minnows worked well for us though, of course, availability is a bit of a problem right now. Bloodworms are always a good choice for the white perch but they, too, can be hard to come by this time of year.

MORE: Play March Madness bracket with Delmarva Now

MORE: Report: Sussex is the healthiest county in Delaware

Just in case the wind keeps blowing remember it’s almost Lurefest time again! Set later in the year, the event kicks off at 10 a.m. on April 7 and lasts until 4 p.m.

Billed as a gathering of “local and not so local” anglers, the affair has all sorts of presentations and a kids' area. Various raffles are also in the offing. All you have to do is sign up at www.saltfish.net to get in on the fun. Tickets are 10 bucks in advance and $20 at the door. 

As always, Lurefest is being held in charming and picturesque Bowers Beach  at the fire hall, and is well worth the price of admission for the stories themselves.

Freshwater trout fishing in downstate ponds continues with a stocking today in Tidbury and Newtown ponds. Anglers can try their hand at stocked rainbows in either pond with the requisite licensing requirements. 

Spinners work well for the stocked trout, along with salmon eggs, power bait or plain old worms. Plenty of stocked trout over the years have fallen for plain old yellow canned corn, as well.

As for taking time to see what’s going on around you, there’s hope. One day after practice I wound my way over the road through the marsh with the sun, which I had seen rise in the morning, setting behind me. 

A truck was pulled over with two fishing rods peeking out of the bed, and a young couple was watching the sun set. Hope, it seems, really does spring eternal in the breast of an angler. Good luck and good fishing.

Reports, comments or questions to captjackrodgers@comast.net