Ice flows & Offshore Temps

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Originally Posted by Capt. Lou

If uve ever monitored temps eay season fresh or salt , u know the main ingeredient is the sun , lotsa sun temps pop . Clouds prevail & heavy rains could remain cooler longer.
Tides , wind all play apart in changing temps surface wise , while currents runoff mY affect deep temps.
Salt freezes @ lower temps than fresh but tides can dissolve ice faster .
There in my records never been more than a few weeks different in spring temps even in severe winters .
This late frigid weather will definitely keep temps down but if it warms fast then balances out quickly .
Best to monitor with temp gauge warmer water this time of year always deep , hence why surface freezes ! Take bottom temp as well in fresh usually hangs @ around 40 / 42 now , much warmer than topside.
No rule of thumb but sun will play big factor !

very good stuff capt lou..

Here's what I remember about how important the sun is in early season.. Cold day, cloudy, water temps around 40 or so.. You might catch a flounder or two early season, an any given slow day.. Then you go out just a day later, water temp still at 40 but with bright sunshine, and the flounder are biting like crazy, all full of mud.. the sun made all the difference.. Brought the flatties out of the mud, and they were hungry.. I remember those fish well. They were big, but muddy and very thin. Also the meat wasn't as nice. . It was more watery or something.. They were probably spawned out.
Just a few weeks later the same fish were fat, full of fight, and very willing to bite.. It always confounded me, that fish that were full of mud, and lived right on bottom wanted sunny warm days.... bob