The Waters off New England are Warming Fast

Here’s a quote fresh in from cyber. “….scientists fear the Northeast is the fastest-warming region in the USA. Scientists point to warming waters as a reason why the Northeast is getting warmer, especially along the coast.”

Check out this chart. Four Connecticut counties along Long Island Sound experienced a 2.9 degree increase in mean temperature, brought on my increased Sound temperatures. That’s a lot folks. Worrisome.

If you fish in New England that should concern you. As coastal waters warm our fishing will continue to change. After all fish are cold-blooded and therefore have a strict thermal envelope one that has evolved over thousands of years. To survive they are forced to steer where water temperature permit them to thrive.

Consequently anglers must be ready to adapt too. Expect changes in where fish hang out, changes in their feeding habits, changes in migratory patterns and changes season length. And you can bet we’ll hear about the appearance of more warm water species. Fish that were once rare here in the Northeast. Hell a 45″ redfish was caught off Yarmouth this year!

As a long-time striped bass angler allow me to throw a few hypotheticals at you. Bass may migrate farther north in the spring and summer up there as well. They may also prefer to feed deeper, out where the water temperatures are cooler. Night fishing may increasingly be necessary. And the fall run may well occur much later in the fall. Food for thought.

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2 Responses to The Waters off New England are Warming Fast

  1. Ted Rzepski says:

    In the early 1990s I attended my first fly show. Lefty Kreh presented on fly fishing around the world. I didn’t know who he was but became an instant fan because of his wit, charm and knowledge. I learned do much at that one presentation. One observation stood out. He was asked had he noticed any changes in fishing in all his years. He replied every place he visits again seems to be getting drier. The waters warmer which seems to be bad for fish.
    At that point I never heard of global warming.
    A lady asked if she should allow her husband to fish in the Christmas Islands. She added she was afraid he’d run off with a native women. Lefty said, I’ve visited the Christmas islands several times. Put your mind at rest. The local women are so homely the tide won’t take them out!

    • Ed Mitchell says:

      Ted,
      Even the tide wouldn’t take them out? Man that’s bad. How do they keep the birth rate going?
      Yeah, things are warming up and it’s not good news. Not good at all. I was just looking through some old writings, and came across something interesting. Back in 1998 I made a note in the margin of my Eldridge Tide book that the average water temperature in the Sound was heating up. We have a right to be concerned and the right to have a government that takes action.

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