S&A Education Series: NJ's resident bass, why have they abandoned us?

[DarkSkies]

After an intense effort last night finding to try a pattern to get some decent fish, I finally saw the light.

There is a pattern....
Resident fish are not here in NJ in numbers like they were only a few short years ago.

Think I'm kidding? Do you have a stash of resident bass that you've been happily nailing, night after night, while more experienced anglers come up empty handed?

Say "yes" to that question, and my answer to you is that there is a very short list of places where guys can consistently put together catches of quality bass night after night, and many of them aren't accessible from the surf/shore by the general public.






I started this thread to once again get some of us into reasonable discussion why there are less bass around. That's the theorem I'll try to prove to you folks out there.

If anyone has a differing opinion, by all means post up. Please try to back up your opinion with some kind of data or anecdotal example how it applies to you as a surf angler.

Remember, I'm not saying bass aren't thick off our coast in 60' of water.

But the surf anglers could always count on the overflow for many years. For the past 3 years I've seen a severe decline in opportunity and places that hold fish.

Of course, if anyone wants to come out with me on a kayak, I'll show ya where tons of schoolies still gather. However, my point here is those bass aren't necessarily available to the shore anglers or surfcasters.

I thought we'd have some discussions here, to try to understand why.

[paco33]

I have been fishing for over 20 years. I hardly ever fish from the surf anymore, because it has been such a decline over that time. The bass seem to be in deeper water eating sandeels and herring.

[dogfish]

NJ stinks, all those factories and smokestacks have pushed waves of cancer all along the shores from the factory discharge. The fish smell this and stay off your shores. My bill will be in the mail, Dark.

[DarkSkies]

^ Thanks for your helpful thoughts.


************
The surfer and jetty country.... I'll try to bring you more stories like this when I have time, feel free to comment whether you agree or disagree, and why.


I have a friend, who lives in jetty country in Monmouth County. He's a fanatic fisherman, dedicated surfer, and good family man. In between all that, he's found time over the years to devote a lot of his time to fishing access issues, and put political pressure on politicians to pay attention to surfers and fishermen.

He's mostly a C&R guy, catching fish for the thrill and the solace it gives him, out there in the middle of the night on the rockpiles.

20 years ago, he had nights on the jetties where he'd C&R up to 1000# of fish. Yes, people, that number is absolutely accurate, 1000 lbs.
When was the last time you or anyone else you know got into 1000lbs of fishing action from the NJ surf?

It was a true bonanza, and he was out there every chance he could, having a blast.

He knows those jetties like the back of his hand. Anyone who wanted to learn them would be lucky to have him as a guide. Not only does he know the jetties, he knows the fish behavior and food sources each one holds, as there used to be different feeding cycles during the year.

He can hop those rocks like a billy goat, and as a surfer, he knows when the fish are there because he's frequently swimming among them on his early morning surfing jaunts.

He's mentioned to me that he can't understand why the bass are NOW only in abundance at those jetties for a few short months in the spring and the fall. Each year that window gets smaller. Meanwhile, the jetties hold seabass, blackfish, porgies, small forage fish, and skates and eels throughout the year. They draw fish because there are clams, crabs, shrimp, mussels, small invertebrates, and every food type you could imagine to make fish happy.

Yet, a decreasing presence of striped bass.







Some of the things he said to me yesterday...

"Ya know, it's over...there are no more big fish or numbers of fish for us surf guys. We used to have the bass rolling around us when we were surfing, and that was only a few short years ago. Now, they might do that for a month or 2, and they're gone."

"Surf fishing at night used to be something really special. It was the one way to get out there, get away from the pressures of life, some solitude, get some nice bass, and have a sense of achievement as a surf fisherman. Now, it's a vast area of dead sea, with only a few rays of sunshine in between."

"Guys talk of blitzes for a few minutes, it's comical. We used to have all-night blitzes, which would sometimes go on into days, as the fish feasted on the trapped bait. I haven't seen that in years"

"I can't tell you how many times I am out there, night after night, hoping for a few fish. And I do catch fish, but sometimes I question why the heck I'm out there, with the little amount of fish around."





Thanks for your honesty.
No ego here, just a mature, experienced rock hopper looking at the decline of striped bass, and asking himself what factors brought the decline to this level. He knows how to catch fish, he's done it thousands of times before. Yet the equivalent of a marine buffet he's walking on every night, still can't draw enough fish so he can catch a few bass and have some fun.


Why? - possible answers
1. Migration patterns change. All the fish are offshore.
OK I'll buy that, but the jetties always held a few resident bass for almost every month of the year. Now they don't....no matter how you analyze it there are less fish available.

2. There are actually less bass around than a few years ago. The striped bass biomass is declining. This is partly because many who had the chance to hear about it, and make choices because they fish and catch every day, continue to take their daily limit of big breeders. They could excercise their option to take less fish, but they don't.

[DarkSkies]

The M&M theory makes an analogy of striped bass fishing to a bowl of M&Ms.

It says that there seem to be more striped bass, to people fishing in the middle of the bowl of M&Ms, because they wouldn't notice any decline. Any decline would only be noticed on the edges of the bowl.
More discussion on that theory here:
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...+theory&page=8

M&Ms - posts 69 & 69
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...+theory&page=7


The OFFC (Old Farts Fishing Club) used to hammer this theme into me every time we fished together, only they didn't call it the M&M theory. They saw it in simpler terms.They said the surf fishermen are fishing on the edges, and as we benefit from the overflow of the fish from the offshore migration, we could be the first to notice any declines in fishing. To me, that's similar to the canary in the coal mine, where miners placed a canary in the mine to warn them of deadly invisible gases. If the canary died, it was time for all to leave ASAP.


So you can call it the M&M theory, or the Canary in a coal mine theory. I think either of them offers a reasonable partial explanation of why there are less resident bass available for surf fishermen.

[DarkSkies]

Many of those in the surf and boating word know Finchaser, with over 55 years of fishing experience.

He's got many theories. As one fortunate enough to know him, I've heard a few. Some of the themes you see on a recurring basis in these threads here are due to his wisdom and the years of knowledge he's gained.

He saw the abundance of the pre-1984 Moratorium years, and the decline.
He's seen the phenomenal recovery in striped bass stocks after the Moratorium was imposed.
He's also seen the relatively recent decline in catch numbers for most of the seasoned surf guys in the NJ area.

Anyone who has a chance should listen to some of the posts and warnings he's putting out there. Though he's known to be Grouchy his posts paint a picture to anyone who'll listen, of what's really going on.

There is no diplomacy or sugar-coating in a Finchaser post, he tells it like he sees it.

And what he sees are a decline in the bass available to us surf fishermen, which also implies a decline in resident bass somewhere along the road.



Sometimes I wonder if guys really care about any of this. A post about 40 or 50# bass will always draw lots of interest.
Or...will it take months or years of declining catches or skunked trips for many of you to actually start scratching your heads and asking "Why?"

My point to you is that sometimes it's not so much the catching that's important, someone will always be catching something.

But when there is a sustained lull in activity during what's historically prime time for fishing, it makes sense to question why that's happening...

[fishinmission78]

You're right on the $$. My logs show every year at this time I can get a few bass before work. It's also the function of the storms and long term weather. The storms messed up the bar at IBSP. We need some good SEers to change that. In the meantime there are a lot less nice cuts than there used to be, and of course you have the inlet. We definitely have seen a drop in the # of bass caught there though. I might have to take some trips north to find new places to fish.

[storminsteve]

I think you're right Dark, there might be less bass. I don't have 20 years, but remember it being awesome at Sandy Hook about 4-5 years ago. It's been going down hill ever since then. Last year there was over a month of great fishing right around this time whick lasted until Dec. This year all you see is guys fishing clams, staring into the ocean, and once every great while one of them will catch a striper.

[voyager35]

This guy spouts off every day, I can't stand him -
"Everything is perfect except for the fish. We need more days like today and last night to get the water temps down and the big run started."

I have news for him, he needs better sources of information.

The water temps are fine. The big run of bass has already started. The bass are in deeper water, but he as a tackle shop owner should know that. I don't know why he would mis-represent that to his customer base. As further proof of this, there bass already in South Jersey, the run is already in full swing. A 43lb bass was weighed in at Brigantine this week.

The problem, as Dark said, is that there truly are not as many bass around. This year is the worst year we have had in a long time. Spring was great when the bass were on bunker, but the fall is also usually pretty bountiful. So far it's been tough, the fish are situated in only a few places with rocks or bait underneath, and miles and miles of the ocean (inshore near the surf) have no striped bass life in them.

We have found fish, but the bite is not the crazy bite it has been in years past. You will have an hour or so of great action and then it shuts down. Today it was overcast, and on overcast days we usually do better. I will emphatically state that according to my fishing logs there are declining striper catches. And sadly, that does translate to less bass for the guys who mostly fish the surf, and less resident bass, as has been said here.

[vpass]

I have to agree. I have noticed less fish and more skunks over the last few years. I also notice less smaller fish. Most of my bass been between 24 and 28 inches. I use to get a lot of 20 to 23 inch fish, but I hope its more of where I fish now compare to then.

[jigfreak]

I agree too. I can still catch a bass at some of the sodbanks near the channels and some bridges, but my numbers are down and the fishing is not what it used to be. The food is there, the resident fish arent.

[basshunter]

Resident fish are not here in NJ in numbers like they were only a few short years ago.

Think I'm kidding? Do you have a stash of resident bass that you've been happily nailing, night after night, while more experienced anglers come up empty handed?

Say "yes" to that question, and my answer to you is that there is a very short list of places where guys can consistently put together catches of quality bass night after night, and many of them aren't accessible from the surf/shore by the general public.

Good point darkskies. A lot of guys in S Jersey fish bridges, back sides of inlets, or the plant. There are always bass around places like that. The real test if there are fish around are if they are distributed over a lot of places. In my experience they are not. So you have to take that into consideration. If a guy is bragging that he gets fish every night, like you said he is usually fishing one honey hole. And you can't have a lot of guys fishing that, or it will be ruined.

[nitestrikes]

I don't know what the answer is DS, but I am guessing it has something to do with your NJ shoreline, has anything changed in the past few years?
We are having a great fall on the SS of Long Island right now. You still have to work for the bass, but we have been catching them solid for over a month now, and sporadically through the late summer from the surf. I'm not talking just Montauk either, just your average beach with cuts and jetties on the SS.

[clamchucker]

It's also the function of the storms and long term weather. The storms messed up the bar at IBSP. We need some good SEers to change that. In the meantime there are a lot less nice cuts than there used to be, and of course you have the inlet. We definitely have seen a drop in the # of bass caught there though

I agree with this statement 100%. There is now a long outer bar at the park. We need a few rough storms to break it up. Without that in some places you need to cast 2-300' or wait until the high tide brings fish over the bar. I have been moving around to different places specifically because of that. However, my logs show less fish caught, declining steadily over the last 3 years. I am older now and have some health problems. It may be that I am fishing less.

However a few of my friends feel the same way. Fishing for bass is not as good as it was in the years after they imposed the moratorium. There has been a slight decline in our area, with the exception of the great spring bunker action. Small school stripers used to hold at the Barnegat jetty throughout the year, and nowadays that is just not true.

[Monty]

I feel there are less fish around (available).
What I would like to see:
1) Limit 1 bass per person 36" or bigger. I would rather see zero bass per person than what we have now.
2) Charter boats are allowed to many bass! Its ridicules and harmful to the Striped Bass Fishery.
3) Salt water fishing license, some of the proceeds go towards enforcing the regulations. $50.00, it will stop some of the poaching.
4) Boats like salty tours sunk (or put the owner in jail).

But in a country where greed is rampant and people with their heads up there a** are running the government and organizations, I have little hope.

I am very worried about the lack of smaller bass this year.

[zev]

ive been scratchin my head wondering where the bass are myself. and my local river always had a good # of residents that would make every trip worth it most of the time. this year has been my worst ever so far.

[DarkSkies]

We've had an intense bait migration in the surf within the last 10 days. In some places you have phenomenal amounts of bunker, large, small, and many other forage fish moving through. This in itself should have predators hitting the shores in hordes as they drive baitfish out of the water.

In some cases, it has happened, as blues 15+lbs and bass to 32lbs were caught in isolated blitzes. This has been great for those fortunate to be there when that was happening.

My point here is that the standard pattern isn't flowing this year as usual. That's part of surf fishin, years of feast followed by years of relative famine while in another area or state they hammer them.

One thing I'm noticing this year is the bigger the varieties of forage available in any surf zone, the more likelihood the larger predators will be drawn in.

The latest blitzes and sustained action periods have seen adult and juvenile bunker, weakfish, croakers, butterfish, spearing, and some scattered tinker mackerel in the mix.

I don't have all the answers here, I'm just trying to get you folks out there to think, and form your own impressions.

What gives evidence to my theory about resident bass abandoning us is that now we have 10x the bait as we do predators out there. The temps are perfect. Every cut, rockpile, or juicy piece of structure should hold a bass or 2, and that's simply not the case this fall season.

[Monty]

Every cut, rockpile, or juicy piece of structure should hold a bass or 2, and that's simply not the case this fall season.

That is what I have noticed. Places that for the last 3 years had a bass or two now have nothing...but bait

[fishinmission78]

^^ Getting harder and harder to put a catch together. Schoolies and bluefish used to be the glue that held it all in place, now that seems to have went away.

[clamchucker]

I feel there are less fish around (available).
What I would like to see:
1) Limit 1 bass per person 36" or bigger. I would rather see zero bass per person than what we have now.

That is a very sound solution, Monty. I believe the larger minimum size was one of the keys to getting the bass numbers back to normal after the moratorium.