It's over for NJ surf fishermen, might as well put the gear away till fall..

[DarkSkies]

Subtitle:
Will the big girls ever get here? :don't know why:

[DarkSkies]

OK, you all know my posts by now, designed to provoke a response, or maybe reach inside your head and get you to think differently. That's what I do here, when I'm not fishin. ;)

I like to get people to look at things differently.

I like to get people to challenge their old ways of thinking, and learn things on their own.

To me, the lessons you learn on your own are the most valuable. Even if someone else holds the key to that knowledge, you actually taking the advice or thoughts they give you and seeing it for yourself is a powerful learning tool.

To that end, I present some of these threads not to get into pizzing contests with anyone. No one can be an expert on every issue, and I'm always glad to hear different opinions and perspectives.

Following along that thinking, I'll try to illustrate some of the facts to support my premise above.

Hopefully some surf action will develop that proves me wrong. I would be very glad to see that. :thumbsup:

[DarkSkies]

"I got a fish of 32", still waiting for the bigger fish to get here"

"Of course fishing has to get better, by the 3rd week of May we're always slaughtering them on the jetties."

"Fishing in NJ is just starting to heat up, the best is yet to come"




The above are all statements that have been made or overheard in the past week. I wondered if the people who made them, were aware of the following:


1. Bigger fish are already here. Fish in the 40 and 50# class have been quietly making their way North as part of the migration for a few weeks now. The problem is that they're moving offhshore. Boat guys have had a bonanza for a few weeks now.

2. The striped bass migration pattern isn't the same this year. A very cold winter, coupled with a few intense spring storms, have combined to keep the bay and ocean waters colder than usual. You could argue that we have a pattern similar to what NC and VA were experiencing this winter when the fish moved 10-25 mi offshore for warmer water.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=5801

A few days ago ocean temps were around 44.

east wind brought in some warmer water ocean was as low as 44 in places now up to 47

Now they're thankfully back up to 50-52. This puts fish on the bottom for inshore areas, and offshore in search of warmer water. Even the boat guys with most success have been trolling plugs and shads near the bottom. (Unless the bunker are around, which is a different story altogether)

3. The bait migration pattern isn't the same this year.
Spearing, clams, and small crabs have been the most abundant forage in the oceans so far. In the back bays, it's been spearing, cinder worms, grass shrimp, a few killies, and recently some smaller fish have moved in, possibly rainfish or bay anchovies. But the rainfish, bay anchovy, and herring migration was noticably absent from most of the surf this year. Years past (3-5 years ago), we would have days of great blitzes as these forage species made their way en masse along our NJ shoreline.

[DarkSkies]

1. Tackle shop and fishing magazine hype. Reading the latest issue of the Fisherman, I had to step back and ask myself where the heck those reports come from.
There are a few consistent things about NJ spring fishing so far as I see it:
a. The ocean clam bite has been exceptional, and sustainable long after it usually turns into a bunker bite. This is probably due to colder ocean water and not much ocean forage for fish to eat, (compared to years past).
b. The reports that are coming out are not always accurate. Guys are hyping the bite in Ocean County because they need to sell bait, I understand that, but for the most part it's been way off.
c. It's been so poor in OC that guys who live there are coming up to Moco to fish.
d. Yet, even Moco doesn't have a consistent bite, if you take into account all the types of salt water fishing people like to do.
e. Clams are money, but one of the great producing areas happens to be Sandy Hook. Other MoCo areas are sometimes a vast wasteland. Every fisherman who wants a bass is told by tackle shops that's the only place to go. For most fishermen, that's true.

2. People believing in the hype -
If you fish a lot, and need to catch fish, you soon enough figure out where most of the fish can be located. Day or night, you begin to develop your preferred spots.

Most of the time, those spots have to do with steel and concrete structure ;), areas with current, inlets, or back bay flats.

This year, there seems to be a disconnect between where people are reporting and where they're actually catching. I personally know a tackle shop owner, saw pics in the fishermen with fish weighed in at his shop. Although they said the fish were (of course) caught in the surf, I know for a fact where the guy got his fish, a place where no waders were required.

So the point is, people read these reports, thinking fishing is on fire for the surf guys, and it ain't. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon3.gif

They go out there to any beach, throw in the clam, and think they have a shot at catching a fish. They might, but if they're not in an area where the fish are concentrated, they might sit there all day, even with clams.

Sure that's great for the tackle shops. And the tackle shops need to stay in business too. Many are no longer around, things are tough everywhere.

However, I still feel bad for the guy who thinks he's going to go to any beach, sit there and catch a fish. The odds are against him. :(

And Yes, I realize I'm saying this as the nomoco beaches have a historically great clam bite, and the OFFC are out there hammering fish on clams, after finally breaking down and going to the "Clam side"!

They're more against him in this Spring of 2010, and many fishermen don't realize how slim their chances are as compared to past years. :skunk:

[DarkSkies]

Surely that's a better bite, Dark, don't guys consistently do better at night?

Answer:
Generally, Yes, but this Spring not so much. I've caught and seen some nice fish, but it doesn't compare to past springs for me.

One April I had a half dozen bass to 15 on a moco beach at night right before an intense rain and lightning storm caused me to curl up and lay on the beach until it was over.

One early May at 2am using artificials I had over 10 bass on a sand beach to 19# in the middle of some snotty weather. This was during a 1 1/2 hour long break in the weather. During the rain I had monster bluefish, one after the other, one of my nights to remember.

You can find that action now, but not on the beaches, you have to fish the concrete and steel, or areas where bunker are schooled up to nail decent bass. While most people can appreciate and understand that euphemism, the truth is that's where a lot of the bigger fish are consistently caught.

See a guy in a fishing magazine with a "surf-caught" :rolleyes: night big bass? Chances are that the biggest ones come from steel and concrete.

Of course, there are always exceptions to this. A guy I know caught the bass of a lifetime last July on a bunker chunk, from a jetty when everyone thought the bass were gone. But that was a shot in the dark.

My point here is that when you fish a lot, you learn that most of the bigg(er) bass come from some kind of structure at night.

And why talk about the structure?
Because this Spring it seems like it's the only game in town, and dozens of guys are lined up at night for their chance to catch a big one.

I'm not against that, I've seen the fish, and seeing a large bass laying there on the concrete suddenly makes the idea interesting.

However, there are too many fish thrown back, into the night, dropped like a cinder block, into the water. http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon13.gif Some of those are short bass, hooked in the gill plate (hopefully) to bring them in, and dropped unceremoniously without regard for their survival when putting them back. There are those who use a net both ways, much respect for those few. :thumbsup: That's the exception rather than the norm.

And the people seem to be more stacked up this year because the fish aren't in abundance elsewhere like they usually are. I predict this will result in restricted/banned fishing in one or more of these structures by the summer. :(

[gjb1969]

hey now u are comeing over to my side now u see why i fish were the fish are and not were they have bin not to say the beach will not give up bass it will but u will have to work for the fish in both places sometimes but if u look at an underwater seen u will see bait holding on structure and most of the time the big fish will not be far from the bait fish thats why i like to fish the way i do so i lose lures and rigs its part of the game sometimes i get the bigger fish mixed in i like my odds better in the sticky stuff so guys dont turn your nose up at the sticky stuff your bass of a lifetime could be right under your nose:rolleyes:

[DarkSkies]

I don't mean to get people down with this thread, just a little dose of reality. There are guys fishing clams in the ocean today who did very well. Any hour now I expect to hear from the OFFC, who broke down and bought a couple dozen clams for the hot moco clam bite today. :HappyWave:

Here's what a guy fishing the surf is more likely to see on days when the water is colder, as it has been for much of the spring...


Hit Nomoco at sunset yesterday to find a fish on artificials. Water was clean, clear, and very cold in the ocean, 50's. Beautiful conditions for the sunset bite, but no bait to be found. Pluggers, boaters. and bait fishermen alike got blanked at this popular location.

And these are some other comments that seem to fit:

"bunker come through an area and take the bass and bluefish out like a vacuum" Quote by Finchaser.



Finchaser has a good point here as that's exactly what they do. Find an area where the bunker are thick and the fishin is good. When the bunker leave, so will the fish. :learn:

[DarkSkies]

hey now u are comeing over to my side now u see why i fish were the fish are and not were they have bin not to say the beach will not give up bass it will but u will have to work for the fish in both places sometimes but if u look at an underwater seen u will see bait holding on structure and most of the time the big fish will not be far from the bait fish thats why i like to fish the way i do so i lose lures and rigs its part of the game sometimes i get the bigger fish mixed in i like my odds better in the sticky stuff so guys dont turn your nose up at the sticky stuff your bass of a lifetime could be right under your nose:rolleyes:

Hey G, don't want you to think I'm downing that way of fishing. You guys put in your time and sometimes go 8 hours or more waiting for that big bass. There are also quite a few folks who try to bring in an ethnic characterization into it, openly slamming the guys who fish structure on some sites, just because they don't speak english, and blaming them for a lot of problems that develop in those areas. :don't know why:

My point is that there are all types of nationalities and backgrounds who fish the concrete and steel. Sometimes the worst offenders are the ones who stick their noses up at everyone else.

If you fish NY and the various bays there, you learn that ethnic diversity thing real quick. They won't take the time to trifle with whitebread whiners over there. :thumbsup:

Any of the biggest fish caught to be placed on the fishing club leaderboards, when there are none to be caught in the bunker blitzes, come from concrete and steel. The issue is that a lot of people think you can catch these fish in the ocean from the surf. For the most part you can't. They see these fish, and think they have a shot at them. They won't be getting them unlless they invest in specialized gear and nets. I guess that was the point I was trying to make.

Dirty Water Fish are a different category, IMO. There every fish taken gets harvested for food. None for bragging rights. The one thing I wish people who all fish these places could get into their heads, though, is that a fish plopped back into the water from 20' or greater will often die, so it's wasted. :burn:

A good % of guys who fish these areas don't care if a short bass lives or dies once they release it.

[DarkSkies]

"Of course fishing has to get better, by the 3rd week of May we're always slaughtering them on the jetties."

"Fishing in NJ is just starting to heat up, the best is yet to come"



The fish are already in Cape Cod, guys and gals, about 2 weeks ahead of the historical schedule. That means at least half the migration has already passed us.... http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon3.gif


This is a report from another site:

5-12-10
stripers invade cape cod "Epic"
Yesterday we experienced a blitz like we have not seen in many years in cape cod bay. It lasted from sun up to sun down with fish from 25 to 35 inches, as far as you could see. The bass were loaded with big sand eels. Has this been the case south of mass this year or was this a freak day? One thing is for sure the sand eel schools are massive. The picture of sand eel gives you an idea of the size of the sand eels we are experiencing, it is next to a 7 1/2inch cape cod sand eel lure.

[DarkSkies]

These are only a few examples people.

A few more:

SI having one of it's poorest years ever for bass fishing. Sure, that could be cyclical, right?
I know people who fish there every night, and they have had decent results, bass to 30#.

That's great, right?

No, not when you consider that for before last year, for the past 3 years prior to that, there was at least one fish 40+lbs, 48" class, brought up to the beaches there every night. The last 2 years that hasn't happened like it used to, and it's not a bait problem, as anyone who has boated over to GK can attest to.

And as for trophy weakfish, where are they?
even Rich Swiss has been amazingly unoccupied with weakfish lately. :HappyWave:


These are all anecdotes,
I'm not offering any scientific proof, nor would I claim to.

These are just examples designed to get you guys to thinking...

And I truly DO hope the bass show up here around the 3rd week of May. I would love to see some examples to disprove some of what I'm saying here.

Feel free to post up your comments, that's what this thread is for.

[DarkSkies]

Finchaser's letter to God
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkSkies http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?p=36996#post36996)
"I got a fish of 32", still waiting for the bigger fish to get here"

Finchaser contacted me and was sending a letter to God. He asked me for my feedback, since I'm such a spelling Nazi, and God doesn't like mis-spelled e-mails. :cool:


********


Here's Finchaser's letter to God:


Dear God,

A lot of people are concerned about striped bass on the East Coast.
They want to make sure they or their kids can catch a 50# bass for the photo-op before they are wiped out.

Since we know that bass are like Doritos, and it's so easy to make more of the big breeders, (especially for you, God :lookhappy: )

could you please fill the following order for us?

1. About 3 million 50# striped bass, give or take a few hundred thousand, maybe throw in a little extra for good measure.

2. About 500,000 striped bass in the 60# class. I would truthfully like to ask for a few more than that, God, as no one seems happy with a 50# striped bass any more. Most of the new internet fishermen are keyed in on catching a 60# bass.

The old benchmark of "catching a 50" from the surf seems to have lost its cachet. :(

So since you are all-powerful, God, please see what you can do to send some 60's our way to make some of these tackle store hero guys happy, and let their wives get off their backs from spending so much time fishing.

OH, and by the way, God, even though you probably have greater issues at hand, like wars, famine, diseases, and pure evil in the world, could you please make this striped bass delivery a priority, and have them off the NJ coastline for us, near Island Beach and the Monmouth county jetties, for the 3rd week of May?? :D

Respectfully,
your loyal servant,
the Old Grouchy Bassturd. :naughty:

[lostatsea]

Dear God,

It blew up last night. Thank you!:d

[DarkSkies]

Glad you're happy, Lost at sea. :thumbsup:

Finchaser's prayers have been answered. :plastered: :rolleyes:

God has delivered, and alll is right with the world. :laugh:

Meanwhile, Pebbles has informed me she won't be reading all of my multi-page threads any more. :(

I'm gonna try to shop the length down a little in the future, but I thought some of these things had to be said. In any event, the best tip when ya see threads like this is to skip to page 2.;) :laugh:

[fishinmission78]

Finchaser's letter to God


Here's Finchaser's letter to God:


Dear God,

A lot of people are concerned about striped bass on the East Coast.
They want to make sure they or their kids can catch a 50# bass for the photo-op before they are wiped out.

Since we know that bass are like Doritos, and it's so easy to make more of the big breeders, (especially for you, God :lookhappy: )

could you please fill the following order for us?


2.Most of the new internet fishermen are keyed in on catching a 60# bass.

The old benchmark of "catching a 50" from the surf seems to have lost its cachet. :(



Well looks like you got your "wish" ;)
It been raining bass in the last 2 days.
Most of these internet fishermen have probably been fishing less than 5 years.
Photo ops are one thing, I got nothing against weighing a fish. Some of these guys are in B&N every day, every fish is a testament to their manhood. How manly would they be if they went a week without wieghing a fish?

Great satire, by the way. Enjoyed it.:clapping:

[bababooey]

Finchaser's letter to God
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkSkies http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?p=36996#post36996)
"I got a fish of 32", still waiting for the bigger fish to get here"

Finchaser contacted me and was sending a letter to God. He asked me for my feedback, since I'm such a spelling Nazi, and God doesn't like mis-spelled e-mails. :cool:


********


Here's Finchaser's letter to God:


Dear God,

A lot of people are concerned about striped bass on the East Coast.
They want to make sure they or their kids can catch a 50# bass for the photo-op before they are wiped out.

Since we know that bass are like Doritos, and it's so easy to make more of the big breeders, (especially for you, God :lookhappy: )

could you please fill the following order for us?

1. About 3 million 50# striped bass, give or take a few hundred thousand, maybe throw in a little extra for good measure.

2. About 500,000 striped bass in the 60# class. I would truthfully like to ask for a few more than that, God, as no one seems happy with a 50# striped bass any more. Most of the new internet fishermen are keyed in on catching a 60# bass.

The old benchmark of "catching a 50" from the surf seems to have lost its cachet. :(

So since you are all-powerful, God, please see what you can do to send some 60's our way to make some of these tackle store hero guys happy, and let their wives get off their backs from spending so much time fishing.

OH, and by the way, God, even though you probably have greater issues at hand, like wars, famine, diseases, and pure evil in the world, could you please make this striped bass delivery a priority, and have them off the NJ coastline for us, near Island Beach and the Monmouth county jetties, for the 3rd week of May?? :D

Respectfully,
your loyal servant,
the Old Grouchy Bassturd. :naughty:


Classic, and so true!:thumbsup: