Every winter, anticipation builds for the arrival of migrating striped bass. Each year is different, and exact timing seems to be strongly influenced by water temperatures along the Atlantic coast.
By tracking fishing reports from charter captains, contributors, and readers at OnTheWater.com, we have been mapping the striped bass spring migration from the Mid-Atlantic to Maine since 2015. Each year has been very different and provided some interesting insight into the timing of the striper migration.
In 2015, a historically snowy and cold winter kept water temperatures cool well into the spring, delaying the striped bass migration and resulting in later arrivals than most fishermen could recall in recent history. Yet, by mid-June, big striped bass were reported from the Jersey Shore to southern Maine.
In 2016, a strong El Nino blessed the East Coast with a mild winter, and the migration got off to an early start. Big bass appeared in Raritan Bay by mid-April, and fresh schoolie stripers arrived early to New England. However, by June, the maps for 2015 and 2016 looked almost identical.
In 2017, a mild winter turned cold in March, and cool waters appeared to delay the striper spawn in the Chesapeake and slow the start of the migration. Then, schoolies arrived in southern New England at the end of April. Then, in mid-May, a push of big bass surprised anglers when they showed up in Buzzards Bay and began moving into the Cape Cod Canal. More waves of post-spawn bass followed in June, eventually filling in from Connecticut to Maine.
