The perch have experienced serious water quality problems on a number of the Chesapeake s rivers in the past ten years, but in waterways that still have string runs, the fish are plentiful and beautiful. By the time of the yellow perch run, other fish are beginning to move around and feed actively. Knowledgeable anglers trying to cure cabin fever carry thermometers to raise the odds of finding warmed banks. Channel catfish feed in the deep holes. As noted ospreys and swans are up and about, as are a number of ducks and other waterfowl, plus shorebirds like snipe.
Variety is as high as it is at any time of the year.
Longer photoperiod and warmer water cause phytoplankton to begin blooming in the creeks and rivers. There is lots of food for zooplankton like barnacle larvae and especially copepods, the tiny shrimp like crustaceans that are among the most numerous animals in the Bay system. Their numbers explode, so the a short tow with a plankton net, even a crude, homemade one, produces water that looks like copepod stew. Numbers reach tens of thousands per cubic meter of water. The marsh plants also respond to longer days.