Fall Run 2017 thoughts are the fish passing by out of reach?

[finchaser]

Monster school of bass passing 7 miles off some of the boats got caught out there

[J Barbosa]

bull ****, there's acres of smaller bass around Raritan Bay right now if your content jigging up smaller fish and bigger bass along the beaches on the bunker pods. Almost every pod I checked today had fish on it, some were well within surf casting range.

[fishinmission78]

^^^^ Shirley you can't be serious.
Betty and Nicks has been weighing in an average of one fish a day from the surf. with the exception of the last 2 days. If you think there are acres of stripers good for you dude, but thats from a boat. I live 10 mins from the water and my catches from the surf have been terrible this fall so far.

[J Barbosa]

What the **** does living 10 minutes from the water have to do with catch rates?

I don't see anyone surf fishing anymore - just bitching on surf fishing sites about the good old days.

If everyone is on the couch waiting for the call who will make that call?

[buckethead]

Well I'm not looking to get involved in any internet fights here JB. First I have to say I really enjoy reading your reports. It seems like you do the best you can to share without raising drama. It also seems like you are a good fisherman, I applaud you for that. However I wonder how old you actually are? I have been fishing for more than 60 years. The surf fishing is nothing like it used to be. As for sitting at home on the couch - I am fishing almost everyday because I live close to the water as well. However, not much to report lately. For example, I have been out 8 times in the last 2 weeks. Just a handful of small schoolies. Some people say they are not coming into the surf zone. I can assure you that there are less fish around. The late 80s and 90's were much better. It took almost 10 years for these fish to rebound from the overfishing. I don't know if you are old enough to remember that time or not. I can share that the number of fish is definitely down. And if we don't do something about it we will have another striped bass moratorium. I hope you don't take this the wrong way because I am sharing my decades of fishing with you. Have a good day.

[cowherder]

Don't mean to take sides, have to agree with buckethead. JB you are like this area's most awesome fisherman. If a fish is in the water I believe you will catch it! Love your reports and the details! The striper numbers have to be down tho. I remember when I first joined here I did not know that much. You guys all helped me so now I know where to look for them. I have to say my fall has been mens a mens. Last fall, and the years around sandy were much better. One thing to think about JB. You have a boat so you can follow them into deeper water. Some of the time this year they were just out of reach. Different perspective. Just saying.

[finchaser]

Can't agree with you on this JB beach fishing sucks and I do both