[Saltheart]

In the spring , hours of day light and temperatures , stimulate the migration of stripers north. These same things also stimulate other spring related happening. One thing the is a pretty reliable indicator of timing of the fish is the appearance of certain spring flowers.

This picture is an Almond tree. Its called Hall's (or Hal's) Hearty Almond.

This tree is usually the first to flower in the spring. This year with the weird April weather , everything is popping at once but in a normal April , this tree will flower about a week or two before almost anything. Its flowering correlates very well with the appearnce of fresh run fish. It also correlates well to when you can usually start to catch fish in certain ocean spots that are in the 24 to 30 inch range. Before that , you can get the 1 inch rats.

Anyway , in addition to it being a full color advertisement that the fish are here , its a beautiful tree. the almosnd you get are edible. I never "harvest " them and I never have roasted any but I do sometimes pick a few and break through the peach like covering and eat the almond inside. Just raw like that , it tastes like someone put a few drops of Amoretto on your tongue. Its just a little burst of flavor.

So what other spring things do you use to tell you its time for the striped fish?