A nice, sunny spring day on the water feels good to the fishermen, but even more important, a warming trend can actually improve fishing, especially at the jetties that line Little River Inlet.
Long sessions of cold weather are not conducive to any kind of nearshore fishing activity. On the other hand, An extended session of warm weather, however, is just what the doctor ordered, as it will often result in an increase in feeding activity.
Mark Stacy of Ocean Isle Fishing Charters will hit the water with high hopes after a decent period of warm weather late in March.
“There is always better fishing around warm and calm weather during winter,” said Stacy. “And it often doesn’t take but a few degrees to make a major impact on the bite.”
Since fish are cold blooded, they cannot help but react when the water temperature changes by a few degrees, and in March, they are looking for a spike in water temperature to begin their spring fling.
A few days of warm weather, however, will not raise ocean water temperatures very much — if at all — but the water in shallow bays and mud flats of the Little River estuary can easily rise by 4 to 5 degrees during a course of one tide cycle. On the falling tide, these warmer waters funnel out of the estuary and along the jetty margins, which is primarily why Stacy prefers to fish at the end of jetties on a falling tide and during the first stage of the rising tide.
“The bite is usually the best around low tide,” said Stacy, who fishes shallower sections of the jetties after periods of warm weather. “The sun warms the waters closer to the beach quicker, (and) that will draw baitfish to these warmer sections of the jetties.”
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