NJ fishing reports for October 2010

[rip316]

Why didn't you go to SHP like you were suggesting to me.

[DarkSkies]

Why didn't you go to SHP like you were suggesting to me.

1. Cause she only had 2 hours to fish and couldn't stay out late. Work comes first.

2. When ya gonna send me some fish pics, bro, instead of those nightmare-inducing pics you find on the internet?

[vpass]

Fished SH from 6.30 to 9:00pm. Water was dirty, and there was no bait around
I got skunked. Wish I had more time I would have headed south.

[basshunter]

Fished IBSP this morning from 6-9 with clams, 2 bass to 29".

[hookset]

Somoco for the first hour before sunrise. Threw metal and teaser, one bass on the black teaser.

[fishinmission78]

Fished the park, top of the outgoing, 2 short bass on swimmers, one more at 31".

[jigfreak]

Fished some structure before work, a few big blues, chewed the heck out of my rubber.
Funny you mention them not wanting bucktails, Dark. Bucktails are usually the first thing I toss, and they wouln't touch them this morning. Only wanted to slice my rubber. Go figure.

[clamchucker]

South OC this morning. I threw bombers, mambo, and metal on and off. Nothing to report other than the water seemed a little dirty. The NW wind should turn on the fishing, if it lasts.

[c4charlie]

Only two fish for me last night. Got a chance to use my new boga. 14 pound bluefish that was an incredible fight. Thought I had a nice big bass cause the fish stayed down the entire time. I also caught a short bass and had one come unbuttoned.

Most fun I had was listening to a veteran of the sport tell me about the good old times! I also now know where all of the fish are.

[DarkSkies]

I also now know where all of the fish are.

^ Well if ya know where all the fish are ya shoulda caught more than 1 bass, no?
Just sayin'......





*************
10-7-report

Took a ride with G to find some fish last night. We made quite a few stops.

I think I left the road map to where they are at home, we had to work for our fish.

We fished a lot of hours for not great results, but all fish were over 28", ya gotta take what ya can get some times.

Fished for the last hour of the flood, slack, and 4 hours into the ebb. Right as the ebb started was the best activity of the night. G nailed a 30" bass on rubber, and helped another guy near us land a fat 35" bass, also on rubber, that prob was 18+ lbs. These are fat fish that have been passing through in the ocean lately, at the upper end of the size chart, with big bellies. My 37" fish the other night could have been 20lbs with the big belly it had, but I would rather underestimate the size if I'm not weighing it. It's C&R fishing anyway.

I managed 2 gator bluefish somewhere around 12# each on swimmers. The activity died where we were so we moved to another place on the beach. Ran into C4Charlie, he was just leaving to scout another place. A friend and fellow site member JoizyBass came out, and for his first surf outing nailed a 29" bass on rubber. JoizyBass also nailed a 2# hickory shad on a bomber before we ran into him.

G tossed his bass back because we were anticipating larger fish, but that never materialized.

JoizyBass tossed his back because it only had one eye and he didn't feel like taking advantage of the handicapped.

In all, it was a slow night. We all had a few more hits and misses, but I think the incredible amount of bait, spearing, adult bunker, mullet, and hickory shad made it such that there was too much forage for the fish.

I usually feel more comfortable fishing artificials when the bait is scattered in different strategic places at night as opposed to spread thickly throughout the water, but that's just my opinion.

[c4charlie]

^ Well if ya know where all the fish are ya shoulda caught more than 1 bass, no?
Just sayin'......

I didn't say that they are easy to catch. I just know where they all are. I'll tell you since it sounds like you want to know.

All of the fish are in the water.

Seriously though, we were talking about some other states and what goes on there compared to NJ. I added a new striper fishing place to visit on my list and it is not NY.

[DarkSkies]

^^Touche, Bro.
Just busting your ballz, you know that.
You teed that up so high I just had to take a swing at it.




The activity N of us has been great this year. Places other than LI have had some memorable surf activity, nice fish as far as the CC canal and flats, and in between.

And as for LI, the LI guys are kicking our butts this fall!
Not just at Montauk, but all along the South Shore.
I don't know if there are more googans in NJ or if the LI guys just get out more and fish all kinds of weather, or if those LI fish are passing though the Mudhole after they hit Breezy (the Finchaser theory) but LI surf guys have been into quality fish for a month now from the surf, and the Brooklyn boats have had a somewhat steady pick of bass and monster blues for 2 months now.

The LI guys are eating our lunches, guys and gals.
Let's show some local NJ pride and get out there and put the time in. Catch em up! (and please try to release the bigger ones if you can, thanks! )

[SharkHart]

sorry to interupt the reports with nonsense but wholly geez it must be good out there if Dark is into pretty good action

Im heading to LI but i hope NJ rocks, the southern part of nj has turned on as well, the next big NW here should be interesting.

[nitestrikes]

And as for LI, the LI guys are kicking our butts this fall!
Not just at Montauk, but all along the South Shore.
I don't know if there are more googans in NJ or if the LI guys just get out more and fish all kinds of weather, or if those LI fish are passing though the Mudhole after they hit Breezy

The LI guys are eating our lunches, guys and gals.
Let's show some local NJ pride and get out there and put the time in. Catch em up! (and please try to release the bigger ones if you can, thanks! )

From what I heard NJ is FILLED with googans.
Not a chance of you Jersey guys beating us, most of you don't even use bucktails unless you go to Montauk.

[rip316]

Dark do not take this post as if I am messing with you but, I have a question. You stated that G caught a 30" fish that he released with the anticipation of getting a larger fish. Than a later post post says that all the bigger fish should be released. I would have kept the 30" fish for the table and if I caught a larger one I would have released HER to hopefully spawn one day. I am learning that the majority of the larger fish are females that will lay millions of eggs depending on their size. I am just trying to get the picture here of what I am being taught. JMO.

[DarkSkies]

Rip, very good question.

What my opinion is, about releasing fish, is often quite different than the opinion of others, or whether there is even a need to release fish.

There are a lot of people out there who don't believe striped bass numbers are down. Go on any site where boaters make up a large % of membership. For any post where a seasoned captain talks about how the numbers are down based on the hard science of his logs, there will be 10 other posts where guys will tell him he doesn't know what he's talking about. All these attacks, despite the seasoned captain sharing what his year to year experiences are, and using years of personal fishing log data to make those statements.

I think some of the disparity is when guys fishing from boats compare their catches when in bunker or bait blitzes and try to draw inferences from that great fishing to whether the numbers are down. What they are seeing, especially if they have only been fishing a few years, are the "M&Ms" in the middle of the bowl.
(more info here - bowl of M&Ms always looks bigger in the middle - posts 68 & 69)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...p?t=760&page=7


For guys who fish from the surf or land, we are on the edges. Traditionally, surf guys will see the "overflow" of bass and blues, and if there is an abundance, or decline, more quickly than those who only fish from boats. Yet, there are so many other factors (bait migration, inshore water temps, seasonal differences, etc) that sometimes it's hard to empirically say there are less bass around.



Nonetheless, and I say this without ego or malice to anyone.....when you hang around with guys who fish almost every day, they will privately admit to you their personal catch numbers are down.

Striped bass are not managed for a realistic future growth by our fisheries management committees. They're managed for MSY (Maximum Sustainable Yield) which means, in its simplest terms, that the target for us to take (In NJ 2 bass at 28") is a number (yield) slightly under the amount that are born each year.

For a long time I have believed biomass decline to be true. I've done my best to try to present the opinions of others here...Finchaser, the Old Farts Fishing Club, Gunny from Stripercoast, Surfwalker, Clamchucker, and many members here who have so many more years of fishing than I do.

In acknowledgement of these opinions and what I believe, I decided to promote C&R fishing to raise awareness of the declining striped bass biomass and YOY figures. Several of our local charter boats are now suggesting this as well.

That doesn't mean I have a right to tell people what they can, and cannot keep.

You know from fishin with me that I'm pretty outspoken in my thoughts, beliefs, and actions. You remember one of the times we fished together one of the conditions was that if I got you into a keeper, I wanted you to release it in honor of all the work Finchaser and others have done to raise awareness.






Summary:
I'll try my best to sum it up point by point:

1. I started contributing to the C&R thread (credit to Cowherder for the original idea) to continue to raise awareness for what I believe is a decline in the overall striped bass biomass, and numbers of bigger fish, the breeders.

2. When I C&R a fish, or if I decide to keep it, it's my personal choice. No one has the right to tell me I must do that when the law says I can keep them.

3. I try to follow this principle with others. However, as you found out the other night when I wanted you to move from where you were for a chance at better fish, I can be pretty "persuasive' about something I feel strongly about.

4. So if I'm fishing with someone, and may bring them into fish they might not have had the opportunity to catch otherwise, I "strongly" encourage them to release it. Truth be told, I did that with you, and I did it with G last night.

5. I told him we might get bigger fish, and he should let that one go. It was his choice to decide to keep a bigger fish if we got one later on. It's also his choice to decide to listen to me or not.


I'm the one asking people to release their larger fish, but all I can do, realistically, is ask. The rest is up to them. We shouldn't judge people who keep their limit, either from the surf or from a boat. Doing that just makes us come across as self-righteous.

In the last few years I've learned that few arguments are won when one of the parties comes across that way. Far better to share the facts with people, show them some supporting documentation, and let them make up their own minds.


And it's far less stressful too.
Hope that gave you some answers Rip. Thanks for asking a reasonable question, and doing so respectfully.

sorry to interupt the reports with nonsense but wholly geez it must be good out there if Dark is into pretty good action
Im heading to LI but i hope NJ rocks, the southern part of nj has turned on as well, the next big NW here should be interesting.

I'm just a googan with a white bucket, bro.
Good luck up North, some great action there right now. Catch em up.

[jigfreak]

Rip, very good question.

What my opinion is, about releasing fish, is often quite different than the opinion of others, or whether there is even a need to release fish.

I think some of the disparity is when guys fishing from boats compare their catches when in bunker or bait blitzes and try to draw inferences from that great fishing to whether the numbers are down. What they are seeing, especially if they have only been fishing a few years, are the "M&Ms" in the middle of the bowl.
(more info here - bowl of M&Ms always looks bigger in the middle - posts 68 & 69)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...p?t=760&page=7


For guys who fish from the surf or land, we are on the edges. Traditionally, surf guys will see the "overflow" of bass and blues, and if there is an abundance, or decline, more quickly than those who only fish from boats. Yet, there are so many other factors (bait migration, inshore water temps, seasonal differences, etc) that sometimes it's hard to empirically say there are less bass around.

What Darkskies said.
I fish 3-4 nights a week and my numbers are definitely down. I know how to catch fish and if they are there I'm catching them. Compared to 6 years ago, when I could catch 20 bass a night easy, these years you're lucky to put a catch of 5 together.

I fished last night 3-6am, 2 bass to 31", rubber.

[fishinmission78]

Fished the park today, got 3 tiny blues right at sunrise on metal. Tons of small bait around, not many fish under them.

[vpass]

Fished yesterday from 3pm to 8pm. first beach landed 4 fluke on 7 inch sluggos. Seen some big fish busting off shore. On my second stop there where loads of Peanut swimming with out a worry in the world. stayed with them to long. I will try again tonight.

[gjb1969]

ok now i dont keep all the bass i get i do let fish go if i think i will get a bigger one so i did not get a big one so crap happens thats how my year has bin now that i am getting fish i feel a lot better