What was striped bass fishing like?

[DarkSkies]

I was thinking of putting this in the NJ forum, but realized it applies to all of us along the East Coast. Striped bass were in abundance in the 60's and 70's along the Coast.

You could go out from Virginia to Cape Cod and catch so many they littered the beach, big ones too. 30#s were as common as the 26" fish we see today.

Some people don't have this perspective. I'm asking all you veteran anglers out there to weigh in on this.

I know a lot of guys I speak with feel it doesn't make any sense to talk about the past.

Who wants to hear a bunch of older guys talking about the "good old times"?

Maybe, maybe not.

But by NOT talking about it, and sharing what it was like, the younger anglers today can't possibly understand how it was..... the years of bountiful abundance, and the lean years when you guys went 2 to 3 weeks fishing before you could land an 18" bass.

When most guys gave up bass fishing because they felt it wasn't worth it.

When guys were so nonchalant about the resource because it was felt striped bass numbers would never be affected.

When so few people fished for striped bass that almost all the fishermen in an area knew each other by name and hung out together.

When you older guys are gone, no one will be around to tell these stories, except for some old newspaper articles. So I'm asking anyone here who has 30 years of more of fishing experience to share what it was like.

We need details, stories, remembrances, anecdotes, anything you can think of that will help the younger generation understand why some of us are so protective of this bass fishing that we all love.

How was the fishing before, during, and directly after, the moratorium was imposed?

If you remember 20 separate incidents and want to make 20 separate posts here, please DO IT! Those stories are not doing anyone any good locked inside your head.

I appreciate ALL contributions, guys. If you don't have 30 years under your belt, maybe you can do some research for us, and post it up. Any factual articles and references can help. Make sure you reference the source in your post.

We're never going to get a large number of people to see how precious this resource is, until some guys can see for themselves how it was almost lost. They won't be able to do that without the stories I'm hoping you will share with us.

Thanks, guys.

[jonthepain]

When I was a kid, we used to walk across Little Egg Harbor Bay on the backs of the Stripers to get to school on the mainland.

'Course, that was before they built the causeway, so we really didn't have a choice.

[DarkSkies]

^ Ah the comedians, there's one in every crowd. Did you have to milk the cows, feed the chickens and shovel an acre of snow before walking across the bay on the backs of those stripers?

[jonthepain]

Dude you don't know the half of it. I had to get up a half hour before I went to bed in order to get the cows milked and the chickens fed, in time to tunnel two miles thru the snow just to get to the bay before walking across on the backs of all those stripers.

And they were big cow stripers too. Not them little schoolies y'all call stripers nowadays.

whippersnapper

[clamchucker]

I hope you are just kidding, Jon, it looks like you are. The kidding around is one of the things I like about this site. Actually, there were some great years in the 1960's and part of the 1970s. There were nights when my friends and I would each get over 40 bass. The weight ranges varied. Some nights they would be only 5 or 10 pounds, while other nights we had bass after bass up to 40 pounds. 50 pound bass were much more common than they are today, in that we as surfcasters would get them at times, instead of once evey few years like it seems now.

I also have fished on boats for many years, so from my perspective when there were less bass to catch, we burned more fuel looking for them, and usually connected with something. You have to realize fuel was much cheaper then, so it was not a big deal to burn a tank, refill, and go out again. And, sadly, there were some of my friends that sold fish to the Chinese restaurants. There were so many around we never thought we could make a dent in the population, but I think we all did by overfishing. People were bringing home striped bass in abundance like they bring bluefish home today, giving fish away to all the neighbors. The waste was wanton, in many cases dead bass ended up being cut up and buried for fertilizer in vegetable gardens, or thrown out after they got freezer burn. Although I never sold a bass, I did not speak up and say anything when my friends did. It was kind of accepted back then as a way to make extra money. Well there you have it. I see what you are doing here, Dark, and I commend you for it. I am not proud of all the things I did. That's the way it was back then. I agree with all conservation methods people are trying to institute today. It does not take a biologist to see there are more bass being taken, or more people fishing for them. We need to look at this, and re-assess our behavior, before it is too late.

[clamchucker]

I also wanted to add that some people may think that because the things I mentioned are no longer happening, we are not in danger today. We have Memorial Day weekend coming up. I may take the boat out with the grandkids, or I might walk the sand instead. I do know that wherever I go this weekend, places will be crowded with people fishing. That is to be expected for a holiday weekend such as this. I would ask you folks out there to compare how it is on the weekend, to how it is during the weekdays. That is how I look at things today as compared to the past. We did not have the crowds you have today. You could fish hours alone in the day or night and have a whole beach to yourself. People were not fishing years ago to the extent they are today. This is just my opinion, I do not have any facts to prove it. Maybe that could help some of the doubting Thomases see things differently.

[stripercrazy]

. And, sadly, there were some of my friends that sold fish to the Chinese restaurants. There were so many around we never thought we could make a dent in the population, but I think we all did by overfishing. People were bringing home striped bass in abundance like they bring bluefish home today, giving fish away to all the neighbors. The waste was wanton, in many cases dead bass ended up being cut up and buried for fertilizer in vegetable gardens, or thrown out after they got freezer burn. Although I never sold a bass, I did not speak up and say anything when my friends did. It was kind of accepted back then as a way to make extra money. Well there you have it. I see what you are doing here, Dark, and I commend you for it. I am not proud of all the things I did. That's the way it was back then. I agree with all conservation methods people are trying to institute today. It does not take a biologist to see there are more bass being taken, or more people fishing for them. We need to look at this, and re-assess our behavior, before it is too late.

I heard of people selling fish to the restaurants, but didn't know it was this widespread back then. Thanks for your honesty and your post clamchucker.

[Rip-Plugger]

1977,New Haven Harbor gets invaded by weakies,big weakies,up to 18 pounds!
well,I missed that one since my intro to salt came in 1978.
our area was full of alligator choppers so big,they would,at times nearly inhale an entire big daddy goo-goo eyes swimmer,thats almost all of a nearly 10 inch swimmer.
20 pound choppers in october[Rock-tober] was the finest bluefishing anywhere.they were large,40 plus inches[longest I have seen was 47 inches] and some where even a funny pale green color,like they were from another area.
the plug of choice was an L.Cooper goo-goo eyes swimmer in either big daddy[9 nches] or [6 inch husky dude??],it's been so long I have forgotten.

crank it slow in the rips at 5-5:30 am and it would get bashed to bits.
huge,powerful blues that you could only fight 2 of then you needed a break from.
it was a great time,every morning,you saw the same guys,the same characters that broke balls affectionately,you'd hear someone holler your name out loud asking if you were on the water.
I remember leaning out in front of the guys lined up,I could see 350 feet down a guys rod doubled over with a monster blue on,I'd lean back in and say,"here they come",and in about 60 seconds,my rod was bent like a hule-hoop and a giant chopper on it trying to take my rod away from me.
I was part of a fishing gang baby,I was in,I earned my spot with these guys and I was just 14-15 years old,ages 14-70,we all had funny names.
there was Sam D'Urso[bite on my line],vinnie[crabmeat],Earnie the fly,waterbury Tony,[Big-Rod] Bates,John [Red-Bones],cigar Johnny McDougal,Art[King arthur]King,4:30 Joe,Bicycle George,Bobby Bigstick,Tommy Pirelli[gimme some tyres],Cadillac joe,Tump just to name a few,there are many more,,,oh yeah,Sammy "bite on my line" gave me the nic "Dark Cloud",,,I'd come across the bridge on my bike and he'd see me coming and yell,hey,here comes DarkCloud!

we'd all meet during the evening at the bridge or on the beach.it was a marvelous time in my life,one I would love to redo but not in this time but in the time it was,,again.

there were no bass arond till 1982,I caught a 22 incher on sandworms while fishing for tommy cod,after that,I was dead on 'em,honing my skills at catching this grand fish.

I remember slinging small smiling bills with a white curlytail one morning at 3-am,by the time it got lght about 5-30,I caught/released 67 bass the best was 8 pounds or so.
my personal best chopper was on a big daddy goo-goo eyes swimmer[blue/white was a couple of clicks under 23 pounds,I have seen them as big as almost 26,,25.8 to be exact.caught on a smiling bill with pork.

I shall add more stories as they come back to me.

stay well,R-P

[jimmy z]

My dad had a boat in Sheepshead Bay, years ago. As a teen, in the 70's, we would fish all the time. And from what I remember, the talk back in '77 is that the bass were few and far between. So that is 32 years ago.
But back than, in the '70's, the flounder were abundant, the fluke were plentiful. So, look at were we are today. It5's no wonder.

[jimbob]

Back in the 70s I was clamming and fishing for money. I diddn't fish much for Bass because the money fish were flounder, Kingfish, Weakfish, Porgys and Tommy Cod, all were abundant and easy to catch. The good thing about Bass was that when you found them they were easy to catch and they were usually big. I stopped fishing for money in 1979 and was only fishing once and a while until around 1984 I started strictly surf fishing but Stripers were still only part of surf fishing there were still Flounder, Fluke, Blackfish I diddn't fish for Bass until October. I can remember that I could catch quite a few small fish that were just keepers at 16" or I might catch one fish but it would be in the 30 pound range. when the moratorium came the pressure on the other fish were increased now surf fishing for Flounder Blackfish and Fluke is pretty much a wast of time. So now I just Bass fish. We really need to address the ecosystem as well as individual species.

[CharlieTuna]

I have heard similar stories from the guys I grew up fishing around. Good thread.

[yardvillejimmy]

It is an accepted notion that there are natural up and down cycles in the population of various species of saltwater fish.

Fishing both boat and surf since the 1970's I have experienced the good times and bad times when pursuing various species of salt water fish.

I have seen the years of fantastic weakfishing in Delaware Bay, Raritan Bay and Barnegat Bay. Only to see a total collapse of that fishery in current times.

Overall the fish population in Raritan Bay seems to be on a steady decline.

Whiting and ling which were once available in the surf at Island Beach State Park are now ghosts of the past. The same goes for croakers which are now caught in diminished quantities.

The fall of 1998 was the best season of surf fishing for striped bass in my lifetime. Since that year the fishing has steadily declined. Even though a good number of big fish are being caught in the spring along the Jersey Coast due to the great number of large bunker available for food as these fish migrate north. Unfortunately these fish seem to get stupid with the abundance of bunker along the coast and make for easy pickings.

Also the bluefish in the 2 to 3 pound class which in the past were caught readily along the surf have seemed to disappear.


The following is an excerpt from an article which I believe we should all take into consideration.

CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY

APRIL 21, 1997

SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS

(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association) May 1997 Newspaper

{Nature provides balance very well on its own. It keeps the predator/prey relationship in check, but man’s greed is the fly in the ointment. For example, look at the lemmings in Alaska. The lemmings go through a cycle that begins at a low number and stocks build through the years when the plants they feed on are in a cycle of abundance. As their stocks increase, the number of predators increase as well. When they become overabundant and overgraze their range, they march en masse into the ocean, drastically reducing their numbers. The following year, the predators, foxes, owls and others, produce fewer offspring. The stocks of both forage species and predators drop in unison and remain in harmony. It is easy to study lemmings because all the dramatic action takes place on land under the watchful eyes of scientists. As a key part of the food chain, changes in the lemming stock are dramatic and easy to observe. The reason I use this analogy is because menhaden, sea herring, mackerel, and butterfish do not reduce their numbers by committing mass suicide, however, humans have mass killing techniques such as purse seines, gill nets, and otter trawls that can accomplish the same results through overfishing, whether stocks are abundant or not. Our techniques have become so sophisticated that we have pushed many species to the brink of extinction.

In the ocean, the study of ecosystem management becomes much more complex. We cannot easily see the changes in stock in the same fashion that we observe changes in the number of lemmings, foxes and owls. For years, menhaden have been a major part of the striped bass and bluefish diet. There are studies to confirm this relationship. When we overharvest menhaden, other species like squid, sand eels and mackerel have historically made up the difference in the diets of striped bass and bluefish. The stocks of these species have now declined and have left few alternatives for supplementing the diet of striped bass and bluefish. For the last thirty years, NMFS has continued to declare some species, especially forage fish, as "underutilized." With the collapse of historical fisheries, many commercial fishermen have begun to harvest these "underutilized" species. There has been a dramatic increase in the harvest of bunker, herring, squid, ling and whiting. Some people do not consider ling and whiting as forage species, but bluefin tuna feed on them regularly. We are totally destroying the delicate ecological balance of nature by our unchecked overfishing and the result will be a dramatic shift in all predator/prey relationships in our oceans. We have seen what happens on land when we upset the balance of nature. Flooding, global warming, loss and contamination of potable water, extinction of species, and other man-made catastrophes all take place. When will we ever learn? It is my sincerest hope that the process will begin with this hearing today. }

[jonthepain]

We really need to address the ecosystem as well as individual species.

You are absolutely right on there, Jimbob.

[DarkSkies]

It is an accepted notion that there are natural up and down cycles in the population of various species of saltwater fish.

Fishing both boat and surf since the 1970's I have experienced the good times and bad times when pursuing various species of salt water fish.

I have seen the years of fantastic weakfishing in Delaware Bay, Raritan Bay and Barnegat Bay. Only to see a total collapse of that fishery in current times.

Overall the fish population in Raritan Bay seems to be on a steady decline.


The following is an excerpt from an article which I believe we should all take into consideration.

CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY

APRIL 21, 1997

SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS

(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association) May 1997 Newspaper

In the ocean, the study of ecosystem management becomes much more complex. We cannot easily see the changes in stock in the same fashion that we observe changes in the number of lemmings, foxes and owls. For years, menhaden have been a major part of the striped bass and bluefish diet. There are studies to confirm this relationship. When we overharvest menhaden, other species like squid, sand eels and mackerel have historically made up the difference in the diets of striped bass and bluefish. The stocks of these species have now declined and have left few alternatives for supplementing the diet of striped bass and bluefish. For the last thirty years, NMFS has continued to declare some species, especially forage fish, as "underutilized." With the collapse of historical fisheries, many commercial fishermen have begun to harvest these "underutilized" species. There has been a dramatic increase in the harvest of bunker, herring, squid, ling and whiting. Some people do not consider ling and whiting as forage species, but bluefin tuna feed on them regularly. We are totally destroying the delicate ecological balance of nature by our unchecked overfishing and the result will be a dramatic shift in all predator/prey relationships in our oceans. We have seen what happens on land when we upset the balance of nature. Flooding, global warming, loss and contamination of potable water, extinction of species, and other man-made catastrophes all take place. When will we ever learn? It is my sincerest hope that the process will begin with this hearing today. }

Yardville, I know you and the OFFC have decades of experience seeing the rise and fall of fishing, the good times and the bad. I was hoping that one of ya's would chime in here. Thanks for the post, very informative.

[DarkSkies]

. I can remember that I could catch quite a few small fish that were just keepers at 16" or I might catch one fish but it would be in the 30 pound range. when the moratorium came the pressure on the other fish were increased now surf fishing for Flounder Blackfish and Fluke is pretty much a wast of time. So now I just Bass fish. We really need to address the ecosystem as well as individual species.

1977,well,I missed that one since my intro to salt came in 1978.
our area was full of alligator choppers so big,they would,at times nearly inhale an entire big daddy goo-goo eyes swimmer,thats almost all of a nearly 10 inch swimmer.
20 pound choppers in october[Rock-tober] was the finest bluefishing anywhere.they were large,40 plus inches[longest I have seen was 47 inches] and some where even a funny pale green color,like they were from another area.
the plug of choice was an L.Cooper goo-goo eyes swimmer in either big daddy[9 nches] or [6 inch husky dude??],it's been so long I have forgotten.

there were no bass arond till 1982,I caught a 22 incher on sandworms while fishing for tommy cod,after that,I was dead on 'em,honing my skills at catching this grand fish.

stay well,R-P

...There were so many around we never thought we could make a dent in the population, but I think we all did by overfishing. People were bringing home striped bass in abundance like they bring bluefish home today, giving fish away to all the neighbors. ...That's the way it was back then. I agree with all conservation methods people are trying to institute today. It does not take a biologist to see there are more bass being taken, or more people fishing for them. We need to look at this, and re-assess our behavior, before it is too late.

JimmyZ, Jimbob, RP, Clamchucker, some great perspectives here, thanks for your input.

[Rip-Plugger]

man,I remember it,school started at 8:30-am,5-am I was on my bike cranking down grand ave,turned on ferry st heading to the old dry ice house.
the guys would be lined up,each rod was a long custom surf stick outta glass.
I'd put my bike in the tall grass and put on my big daddy goo-goo eyes plug in yellow,blue or rudolph.
let it hang and stick my butt in the rocks.

we'd all be breaking balls,laughing,watching.
we could look down the shore and see if they were coming.
by 5;30 they would be,smashing swirling and skipping on top,I'm talking real alligator choppers,hordes of them would come up from one side to the other,any fish out there was fair game.
sometimes we'd see bunker coming at us and rush right out of the water and if ya kicked them back in they would jump out again.hell,some ofthem begged us to pick them up.some asked us to put them in a pail of water till was over.

as they would get closer,the guy on the far end would hook up,then down the line it went,rods bent,lines snapping like a bullet.plugs floating all around.it was pure carnage.
after they passed some would put on a smiling bill with pig and get those that were swimming deep.
some of us would head upriver to beat them and meet them at the next spot.
most times we would hit them 4-5 times that way sometimes not.
NEVER,ever did any of us even see a bass,till one day a guy caught a 29 pounder on a yellow 3 oz danny.he was the talk of the town.

all last week I got to relive a small amount of the old daze by fishing with a couple of the guys from then.cadillac Joe for one also,bicycle george who wanted 2 plugs from me,I sold him 2.

danny the rod breaker came by and fished before work and blueboy george Foster.my my partner malibu Kenny was with me like always and he was among us from 31 years ago.

it was great mixing it up with the members of the old crew.everyone is grey and still have some of their old gear.


Kenny brought his son Vinny alomg,he caught some fish but ran out of steam,seems that being 22 years old ain't what it used to be as he had to sit down early and watch,exhausted from those choppers and 1 bass.I told him to stick with those LMB.I told him that maybe he should upgrade to a big block and dump that turbo 4 banger inside him,hehehe,,
anyhow,it was great,fish were around we all caught and had a relive,whats better than that?
NOTHING,,,,,,,


R-P

[surfwalker]

RP-great stories and how true of all the nicknames, thanks.

Happy Trails

[Rip-Plugger]

RP-great stories and how true of all the nicknames, thanks.

Happy Trails

yeah surfwalker,I talked to another from back then this morning,his nic is "No *** Eddie"Eddie Blue,he was slinging eels under this bridge I was walking across to fish.he was in stealth mode but my sharp eyes caught him and his pt-cruiser in the brush.

oh yeah,I got to fish with one of the first guys [old timer] now] I met back then Tommy Pirelli,he still makes his own plugs to this day.he's up there in age now,he has to be damn near 80 but still slings a piece of wood.
I showed him some pix of fish I have on my camera.good to see him out there.

[Rip-Plugger]

I was thinking back and laughed at this instance.
it was one morning in june after the assault on bunkers.
several of us were gutting med sized choppers to sell to this now defunct diner.
I had 4 choppers and as I was gutting my third one,I noticed it was twitching.
my thinking nothing of it,I slid the knife in and opened the fish,cleaned it's insides out.
then the twitch became a hard kick with it's tail and the fish shot out of my hands into the current and was gone.
I guess he was still hungry,,,,,,

R-P

[storminsteve]

^^Back in the water after you cleaned out the insides? Well if there was ever a prize for fish tales, you might win for that one. Funny story anyway.