Food for thought about Bass

[finchaser]

http://www.reel-time.com/articles/conservation/downplaying-plight-striped-bass/

[fishinmission78]

"In other words, there was a 46 percent chance ? not quite 50-50 ? that the stock already was overfished in 2012. If that was the case, where are we likely to be now? I?d say there?s a damn good chance the stock was indeed technically overfished in 2013/2014.
http://www.reel-time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/late-june-28-edited-300x200.jpg (http://www.reel-time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/late-june-28-edited.jpg) Photo by Capt. John McMurray

Let?s forget about the stock assessment for a minute and talk about what?s happening on the water. Each year since 2006, it?s gotten harder to find striped bass in their usual haunts. This year was horrific, save for a few isolated bodies of crazy-big striped bass off the South Shore of Long Island, like the one I mentioned last week (http://www.reel-time.com/articles/conservation/striped-bass-catch-release-innocent/). I did mention here that the occurrence of dense, localized incidents of large fish is a very similar scenario to what happened in the late 70s/early 80s. If you want to read something that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, I highly suggest reading this 1977 article from the Boston Globe, Striped Bass Population Threatened by Extinction (http://nycflyfishing.com/1977%20Striped%20Bass%20column.pdf).

Yes, it?s time to panic!"



I agree. We used to catch a lot of bass from island beach at night from the jetty and sod banks. Now they are working on the jetty so its different. you should be able to catch fish from the sods. If you can deal with the mosquitoes there is a lot of bait back there. Hardly any stripers though. We should definitely try to do something before it's too late.

[BassBuddah]

"In other words, there was a 46 percent chance ? not quite 50-50 ? that the stock already was overfished in 2012. If that was the case, where are we likely to be now? I?d say there?s a damn good chance the stock was indeed technically overfished in 2013/2014.
http://www.reel-time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/late-june-28-edited-300x200.jpg (http://www.reel-time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/late-june-28-edited.jpg) Photo by Capt. John McMurray

This year was horrific, save for a few isolated bodies of crazy-big striped bass off the South Shore of Long Island, like the one I mentioned last week (http://www.reel-time.com/articles/conservation/striped-bass-catch-release-innocent/). I did mention here that the occurrence of dense, localized incidents of large fish is a very similar scenario to what happened in the late 70s/early 80s.


I was fishing for striped bass in the 80's and can confirm that's exactly what happened. Similar to now, there were concentrations of bass especially off Cape Cod. Folks used that logic to claim the bass were fine. Then the fishery collapsed.

[finchaser]

What he^^^ said history is about to repeat it self

[hookedonbass]

"In other words, there was a 46 percent chance ? not quite 50-50 ? that the stock already was overfished in 2012. If that was the case, where are we likely to be now? I?d say there?s a damn good chance the stock was indeed technically overfished in 2013/2014.


wow I did not know that. If that's true we are definitely taking too many of them. Thanks for posting.

[seamonkey]

Thank you for sharing that. Good read.

[jigfreak]

What he^^^ said history is about to repeat it self


It's chilling that people were saying this in 2012 and no one was listening.

"There was reason for concern back in the mid 2000s when the number of fish began to visibly decline. Now, it is most certainly time to panic. But in short, a new stock assessment made it pretty clear that we were probably overfishing striped bass for around half the last 10 years, and it showed that the stock would likely be “overfished” as early as this year.

In other words, there was a 46 percent chance – not quite 50-50 – that the stock already was overfished in 2012. If that was the case, where are we likely to be now? I’d say there’s a damn good chance the stock was indeed technically overfished in 2013/2014.

http://www.reel-time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/late-june-28-edited-300x200.jpg (http://www.reel-time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/late-june-28-edited.jpg)Photo by Capt. John McMurray


Let’s forget about the stock assessment for a minute and talk about what’s happening on the water. Each year since 2006, it’s gotten harder to find striped bass in their usual haunts. This year was horrific, save for a few isolated bodies of crazy-big striped bass off the South Shore of Long Island, like the one I mentioned last week (http://www.reel-time.com/articles/conservation/striped-bass-catch-release-innocent/).

I did mention here that the occurrence of dense, localized incidents of large fish is a very similar scenario to what happened in the late 70s/early 80s. If you want to read something that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, I highly suggest reading this 1977 article from the Boston Globe, Striped Bass Population Threatened by Extinction (http://nycflyfishing.com/1977%20Striped%20Bass%20column.pdf). Yes, it’s time to panic!

Just about everyone who spends more than a little time on the water is aware of what’s going on. Why is the decline happening? Well, I’ve probably talked about that way too much here also, (most recently here: On Striped Bass, Why We’re Really Seeing a Decline (http://www.reel-time.com/articles/conservation/striped-bass-really-seeing-decline/)), but it doesn’t matter. The response should be the same: reduce fishing mortality, like yesterday, before things get worse."

[buckethead]

Captain McMurray has been saying this for years. I read and agree with most of what he has written. The chief obstacle is a lot of people don't fish often. They get out because they hear of the blitz conditions and if they are in the middle of one that is all they see. This in turn gives them tunnel vision. They think- if someone is writing about less stripers, that's not what I saw today. That person must be a member of peta and not want me to fish. Those enviros are wackos anyway. They are delusional.

There is further affirmation by the hype you read from many of the captains when there is a good bite. The internet and social media is abuzz with chatter and pics. Many from beginners who have never caught before, or weathered the long and lonely years we had when not many were out fishing for bass because there simply weren't many to catch. They don't see things that some of the rest of us see. That can account for some of the disparity in opinions.

[seamonkey]

Something I found on the net. Was thinking of going down to Delaware to fish. Seems IRI and AI are mostly dead this fall. Makes me wonder why.

"The fish at Assateague are not there and that is where most of the board members fish. More than sixty days fishing this fall not a single striper. It was not unusual to have a 40 fish fall season (35-50 inch) in times past....but not in recent memory. I shall not re-hash the many theory's about why this is so, but it is fact."


"I fish IBSP and north 2->3 days a week Sept to Thanksgiving. Then I'll pick rats until it gets too cold. One evening we had a nice pick of 26->30 inch fish. I got 3 a buddy got 5 and another buddy 1. Two other guys next to us did the same. That was the entire season for me. My buddy fished maybe 10 other days. He picked one 18->20 inch fish a few times and a couple blues. Boats had a better shot and did OK.
I've been at it since I was 20. I'm also 67 now. In the 80s & 90s there were blitzes every 3->4 days. Most lasted between 1 to 4 hours. Some lasted almost all day. The beaches were litered with bait that beached itself. On Columbus day we would drive to Sandy Hook and almoat always catch Albacore. Lots of them.
The Epic NJ bass blitzes this fall lasted between 5 to 30 minutes. I would guess there were about 5 of them. I haven't seen a bluefish blitz for about 10 years.
What's left of those NJ stripers are entering Del area now. Hopefully they'll come close for you."

[williehookem]

Somewhere I read this quote: those who cannot remember the sins of the past are doomed to repeat it.

[cowherder]

Thanks for sharing. I like that was said, hours and days vs minutes now.
Even back in 2009 there were some good times that seemed to last more than a blink of an eye.
It's hard for me to imagine activity for weeks at a time like some of you guys have written about. I don't know if its the replenishment or the state of NJ being greedy pigs with 3 striper limits when other states are different. I think politics and the special interest groups will ruin the numbers before anything else can help them. my .02

[Monty]

Thanks for sharing. I like that was said, hours and days vs minutes now.
Even back in 2009 there were some good times that seemed to last more than a blink of an eye.
It's hard for me to imagine activity for weeks at a time like some of you guys have written about. I don't know if its the replenishment or the state of NJ being greedy pigs with 3 striper limits when other states are different. I think politics and the special interest groups will ruin the numbers before anything else can help them. my .02
I think the replenishment sucks and the 3 bass NJ limit is an absolute asinine decision but the reason the Bass fishing is so terrible and has deteriorated each year is the senseless killing by the Party Boats, Charter Boats and the commercial fishing over the past 5-7 years. And even with the regulations this past year, when the bass that are left school up, they are easy to find, there are very limited schools and everyone and there brother is on them and damaging the population further. I do not believe the current regulations are enough to stop the decline of the Bass population. They are just to easy to catch when schooled up and especially on bunker. And the vast majority of charter boats and I am guessing all of the party boats are on a mission to fill their legal limit. That's what I think.

[captnemo]

They are just to easy to catch when schooled up and especially on bunker. And the vast majority of charter boats and I am guessing all of the party boats are on a mission to fill their legal limit. That's what I think.

I agree with you with one exception. They have gotten a lot easier to catch when they are schooled up. However this year was one of my worst years. Decent spring, bass to 30lbs. This fall maybe it's my fault because i have not had the boat out as much. The thing that seems different to me is that the fishing has changed to following blitzes of sitting over heavy concentrations of bait. This fall we did 3 night trips eeling in the rips at sandy hook. Only got fish on one trip and that was back in late October. Eeling was usually good till the first 2 weeks of December. You could set your calendar by it. I cannot remember a year in the last 10 when we have done so poorly eeling. Also friends of mine who drifted worms under the highlands bridge did not do that well either. Just my .02

[surferman]

Also seems so unusual that blues were around so late into the season, no?