Great Article On Weakfish - They Actually Predicted The Recent World Record

[basshunter]

Only downfall i see to all these bluefish that have invaded the area is that there is probably gonna be a lack of weakies around(not like they have been any huge nimbers the past years)but i still manage to tangle with a few come May..Love those pretty fish!!

Sorry to hear about the skunk.
Wondered if you could go into more detail about what you said with the blues and weakfish? I never heard that but your theory sounds interesting. Thanks

[Blazin420]

Sorry to hear about the skunk. I fished this morning in moco with metal and got the skunk too. Only had time to fish for an hour so maybe I was there at the wrong time.
Wondered if you could go into more detail about what you said with the blues and weakfish? I never heard that but your theory sounds interesting. Thanks

Basically due to the fact that bass and definitly Big Blues will chomp those weakies up no time...This fall the bass were keyed in on juvi weakies...I had a few dead spikes floating in front of me while i was nailing bass on storm shads...My thinking is with there ferocious blues around theyll have no chance or run like hell...Its just a theory..But i would think it would be true...maybe some of the old salts could prove me right or wrong with there experiences...

[clamchucker]

blazing I agree with most of what you said. The big blues will chop up the weakfish and follow them every year. The striped bass as well.

Some fishermen blame the health of striped bass in the 1990's for the decline of the weakfish. I feel it is more complicated than that. There is still a commercial fishery for weakfish and they take the spikes every year. That should be stopped. The weakfish regulations of one per man make no sense if you don't take care of the gillnetters as well.

[Blazin420]

blazing I agree with most of what you said. The big blues will chop up the weakfish and follow them every year. The striped bass as well.

Some fishermen blame the health of striped bass in the 1990's for the decline of the weakfish. I feel it is more complicated than that. There is still a commercial fishery for weakfish and they take the spikes every year. That should be stopped. The weakfish regulations of one per man make no sense if you don't take care of the gillnetters as well.

Your absolutely right clamchucker..Im not saying that the blues and bass are the reason for the huge decline in weaks...Not by any means..But i caught a lot of weaks in 2012 including my personal best of 8lbs..i would catch 1 or 2 each outing that year..I believe there was a lack of big blues for me that year...The main reason they are so scarce is definitely due to BS regs for the gill netters...

[robmedina]

while paddling around I saw what looked like chunks of meat floating about 1-2 feet under the surface. Also, some of the blues when boat side were spitting up shards of flesh.

[nitestrikes]

How far we have come from those great days.

[DarkSkies]

^ Very true nitestrikes....a sad feeling comes over me when I think about some of those large weakfish that used to be around...one of NJ's most successful trophy weakfish hunters is Sharkhart...check out some of his videos...folks.......

I got out Monday night targeting weakies, doesn't seem like there is many in the state at all but i did manage to find 7 weaks ranging 15 to 21" on a special piece of water that has a "coral" type bottom, Dark has mentioned this before you sometimes snag what looks like a rock and you look closer and there is small worms in it, this bottom seem to be the ticket they like, also need the bait which seemed to be spearing.

These small worms are so important to the feeding cycle of some large predators.........weakfish...big bluefish.....and bass as well.....I'm surprised ya remembered way back when I was talking about this, Shark....... These aren't the small sand and blood worms that live in the clam beds....they're much smaller......I'll have to do some research to try to come up with a pic and an exact scientific name....

If anyone can help with the ID in the meantime I would be most grateful......They are very tiny worms, no bigger than your fingernail....that live in clumps of bottom vegetation......This vegetation is very specific.....some have described it as "moss-like"....but the key is that it is often found around the "coral type" bottoms that Shark has described......When you're bouncing bottom with a bucktail or jig.....you often come up with clumps of this coral/muck/mud/vegetation....in certain areas....that is filled with these tiny marine worms...........

I think part of the feeding cycle is these clumps of vegetation allow these tiny worms to thrive...which in turn attracts small
baitfish....spearing...peanuts....baby fluke, flounder....sea bass....tog......many other species seem to thrive around it.......the bigger predators either are attracted to that activity...

OR they just center around the worms in the vegetation, and eat that if there are no baitfish around.....
I have found this stuff in the bellies of larger bass and bluefish I kept and cleaned.....and may have mentioned it here...once or twice.....










**(That's why Sharkhart catches a lot of fish throughout the year......IMO is one of NJ's most successful weak fishermen.....and also in the past when there were 15+ lb weakfish that you could hunt.....he was on them regularly...)






He pays attention to the conditions that bring fish in to feed at night....and hunts for numbers, selectively targeting them...based on that.....

Unfortunately in recent years these large fish are few and far between....they are so scarce lately you might call them ghosts......if anyone can find more than a few...Shark can.....

[basshunter]

Now THAT is what you call LARGE

[BassBuddah]

I have seen a bit of a comeback. Hoping that continues.