A cold winter then ....... Is this the BEST or what ?

[beachwalker]

Hello,

I am new to the forum (last month) and I want to quickly say thanks for all the great discussion that goes on on this site.
I began fishing the beaches and rips of Nantucket when I moved here in 1991. At the time the fishing was diminishing and by 94-95 I was wondering how anyone could maintain this vigil of inshore Bass fishing and only catching a couple of fish a night ( or even a week for that matter !).
Now it is 12 years later and I have been out there gettin' it done for some time. My instincts are more more refined but they always are being trained. The simple techniques of FISHING the lure/bait. Feeling the rod tip, the line tension. The smell of a spot holding fish (THANK GOD I QUIT SMOKING BUTTS !). It is all this acoustic experience

All these things have led up to the last 5-6 years of me being a man possessed. Albeit silently, but regardless, an angler with purpose. To learn more about consistently finding and landing Striped Bass. This is the most awesome experience I have ever experienced. Of fishing a remote spot and catching and releasing of incredible beauty. Catching and then RELEASING 40 + lb. fish. With only your word to stand by it. And no one ever knows because it just doesn't matter. That is the essence of the experience.

This past winters brutality put a damper on a lot of our moods for spring fishing and the extra long spring made the run late. On Nantucket that meant NO FISH until mid-May. It felt as though Summer would NEVER come.

And then all of a sudden it explodes.

I am so completely exhausted that, last night, when I went out for the twilight league effort I promised myself that I would fish until the tide change (10 pm ish) and get home to a warm bath and a long sleep. You see, I have been fishing 12 out of the last 16 days and getting 6 hours of just enough rest to make it through the next day before the little voice in my head starts saying " Get your gear in order, air down the truck, grab some munchies and ice. Tonight is perfect ". It is nuts. Probably 400 fish over the last 2 1/2 weeks and they just keep getting bigger.

Now to my question:

There is obviously a lot of factors involved in why the fish are showing such healthy numbers. Can anyone tell me about the influence of a cold winter and the spawn of all the associated species in this astounding event ?

Thanks and all the best to everyone who tolerated my exhausted mind !