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Hooking Up Anglers Since 2011.
Here is a rundown of when I have caught my first ones in the last five years:
2025- April 15
2024- April 15
2023- April 18
2022- April 15
2021- April 19
Note that I started trying before these dates above, but April 15 seems to be the ticket, give or take a few days. On all those dates above I know I had migrating fish since all of them had sea lice, a dead give-away that these were migrating fish. Of all those dates above, the most interesting was in 2023. That date, April 18, on my first 7 casts with a one ounce bucktail jig, I landed 7 stripers, all slot fish. With the low numbers of schoolies around these days, don't be surprised if your first one of the year is a slot fish.
Here is one other common theme of all those first fish of the year. They were all caught on jigs. Some hit the bucktail, some went for a Cocahoe on a jighead and in recent years the NLBN paddle tails have been hot. All these first ones were taken right off the bottom, the main strike zone where you will find the first ones.
This Fishing Report was submitted on 3/15/2026 8:16:00 PM by Seamus and last updated on 3/20/2026 4:57:24 AM.
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