Great Article On Weakfish - They Actually Predicted The Recent World Record
The Wonderful World of Weakfish :fishing:
by Frank Ruczynski
http://www.noreast.com/magazineIssues/photos/245.jpg
Dave's Weakfish This was the only weakfish landed during a mid-May trip to the Northern portion of New Jersey last season. Hoards of bluefish made getting a lure to any nearby weakfish almost impossible.
World-class weakfish are heading towards our coastal waters right now! Over the next few weeks, our back bays, tidal rivers, and inlets will offer anglers a chance to tangle with trophy tiderunners approaching record-sized proportions. The current all-tackle record of 19 pounds 2 ounces is shared by two anglers; Dennis Rooney with a fish caught from Jones Beach on Long Island in 1984, and William Thomas with a fish caught in Delaware Bay in 1989. More than a few seasoned weakfish veterans believe that this record could fall within the next two years. Could we see a 20-pound weakfish?
Life as a Weakfish
Weakfish start life in shallow backwater estuaries. These nursery waters tender a perfect environment for young weakfish, as they offer protection and an abundance of food. Young-of-the-year weakfish will remain in these waters until they reach sexual maturity. It is believed that 90% of weakfish reach sexual maturity by age 1, and 100% are able to reproduce by the age of 2.
During the summer months, juvenile weakfish grow rapidly and take up residence in the deeper portions of our back bays and sounds. The first signs of autumn bring cooler water and trigger a migration towards our inlets. As each day grows shorter, weakfish move southward and offshore to their wintering grounds. Many believe that weakfish spend their winters along the continental shelf from Chesapeake Bay to North Carolina. After a long cold winter, the first signs of warming initiates their migration back to our coastal waters, where a new generation of weakfish will begin.
Soon after their spring migration, weakfish are ready to spawn. Spawning can occur as early as March or as late as May, depending on a variety of conditions. It is believed that water temperature and moon stage influence spawning more so than any other factor. Spawning females move into quiet sounds where mature males will fertilize their eggs. The act of spawning usually lasts a few days, as female weakfish release their eggs over a period of time, rather than all on one occasion. Once the eggs hatch the life cycle starts all over again.
Window of Opportunity
Big weakfish can be caught throughout the warm-water months. In New Jersey waters, mid-April through June is the optimal time to target the largest of the species. During a mild winter, rod-bending action will start as early as mid- April and last well into May. If we experience below average temperatures, the best action may not occur until the first week of May and continue through the end of June. As we head into July, smaller weakfish will filter into our waters and your chances at a trophy weakfish will diminish greatly.
After years of experience, I've found the largest weakfish of the season are usually the first to visit our waters. A quick look through my logbook shows that my largest weakfish of the season are always taken during a time period of two weeks, April 26th through May 10th.
During the early part of the run, concentrating fishing efforts around late afternoon or evening outgoing tides often yields great dividends, as the warmest water temperatures will often trigger weakfish to feed. As the season continues on, look for the best action to occur during low-light conditions.
It is my belief that the amount of daylight, or lack thereof, triggers the migration of weakfish. While weakfish may be present in our waters now, water temperatures dictate when these fish will become active. Tiderunner weakfish have been taken in water temperatures as low as 54, but I've found 58 degrees to be the magic number. Once our waters hit 58 to 60 degrees, the weakfish bite becomes much more predictable.
NJ weakfish are they really cyclical?
Anyone have an opinion here?
http://www.app.com/article/20090928/...tions+reviewed
TOMS RIVER — After a brief, dismal 2009 season for weakfish, recreational anglers may be limited to catching one or two weakfish on their 2010 trips - or not fishing for the species at all.
Working to expedite the rulemaking for 2010, interstate regulators held a telephone conference today to finalize proposed weakfish regulations. A public hearing to discuss those options will be held at 8 p.m. Oct. 6 in the Toms River municipal building, 33 Washington St.
The proposed recreational rules include limiting fishermen to keeping one or two fish per day - compared to a daily limit of up to six fish now allowed in New Jersey. Another option is a weakfish moratorium - a virtual shutdown of the fishery that's a traditional spring opener and late-summer mainstay for anglers.
Those options are a possibility now because of the "unfortunately grim picture of the (weakfish) stock right now," said Robert E. Beal, director of the Interstate Fisheries Management Program with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the interstate group that coordinates weakfish conservation measures.
In 2008, total reported weakfish landings "at 1.1 million pounds were the lowest on record," Beal said. But in this case, it's not from overfishing, Beal and commissioners said.
The weakfish population should be good, with healthy numbers of young fish reported in recent years, Beal said. But they do not make it to adulthood, meaning it's most like that juvenile weakfish are being eaten by more abundant species such as dogfish or striped bass, ASMFC officials say.
"I don't want to give people false hope, if we put a moratorium on and nothing happens - and nothing could happen," cautioned Thomas P. Fote of Toms River, who represents New Jersey on the commission.
Members of the ASMFC's weakfish management board agreed to drop one proposal for shorter weakfish seasons as an option. That would not necessarily save more weakfish, Fote pointed out: "There were no weakfish in New Jersey this spring at all. Then in late summer we had a big slug of fish."
The amazing Weakfish come back!
Theres a good article on weakfish in this month's on the water.
www.onthewater.com
http://kensdock.files.wordpress.com/...pg?w=560&h=420
What is unbelievably refreshing is how resilient the weakfish have proved to be.
Considering in 2009 Dr. Jamie Geiger of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, suggested that the weakfish stock may have fallen to such lows that managers might wish to consider invoking the provisions of the Endangered Species Act as one of the management tools. The listing seemed like a sure bet. As any fish stock experiencing decades of unlimited commercial and recreational harvest would surely end up that way. A timely weakfish recovery was not expected by the ASMFC under any circumstances.
The good news is they were wrong. With only three years of historic weakfish regulations (limited harvest) they are showing up in numbers not seen in decades along the entire east coast.
The return of the weakfish in this month?s (May )issue of On The Water magazine covers it well.
The amazing Weakfish come back!
Theres a good article on weakfish in this month's on the water.
www.onthewater.com
http://kensdock.files.wordpress.com/...pg?w=560&h=420
What is unbelievably refreshing is how resilient the weakfish have proved to be.
Considering in 2009 Dr. Jamie Geiger of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, suggested that the weakfish stock may have fallen to such lows that managers might wish to consider invoking the provisions of the Endangered Species Act as one of the management tools. The listing seemed like a sure bet. As any fish stock experiencing decades of unlimited commercial and recreational harvest would surely end up that way. A timely weakfish recovery was not expected by the ASMFC under any circumstances.
The good news is they were wrong. With only three years of historic weakfish regulations (limited harvest) they are showing up in numbers not seen in decades along the entire east coast.
The return of the weakfish in this month?s (May )issue of On The Water magazine covers it well.