Where are the Striped Bass?

**Stripercoast1** · 12-29-2009, 09:17 AM

I revisit this thread to post a notice.

Bob Pond died on December 26, 2009.

We owe a great deal to this amazing man.

I own the very last Atom 40 that he pulled from the mold when I came very close to buying the company from him. I visited him the day before he turned the keys over to the folks that beat me out. I asked him to autograph it and it is in a shadow box in my living room.

If you do not know of Bob and the work he did, look into Stripers Unlimited. As I said before he was a man ahead of his time, that showed up just in time.

I'll bet no one ever called him Chicken Little after the moratorium.

**buckethead** · 12-29-2009, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by Stripercoast1

Many years ago, Bob Pond, owner of Atom Tackle, organized Stripers Unlimited with his own money. He did this because he saw the writing on the wall. It was the beginning of the out of control Menhaden purse seining. He noticed the Bass were getting skinny and were seeking less nutritious forage. Sand eels take more effort for less gain, and were becoming the targeted food source of Bass and Blues along the North East coastal waters. Bass were also addapting to eating any and all available food sources that also take more effort but little gain. Cunner, Sea Robbins, and other rough fish were turning up in the stomachs of Bass on a more than usual occurance. To equate this to human standards, eating a bowl of saw dust will make you feel full, but little or no nutrition is gained.
I remember when Bob would arrive on a beach or the canal, and the attitude was, "Here comes Chicken Little." This was during the 70's and the research he funded was scoffed and belittled. Just a few short years later, all he tried to warn about came to fruition.
The situation now is not any differant from my eyes. We hear the warnings and ***** about lousy catch rates but wait and watch for what someone else is going to do.
The Bunker are not here. The reasons for some areas of the coast to see them, while others have none, are really almost too simple to undestand. New Jersey and New York put in regulatory controls on how and when the Bunker fleet can operate. They could not legally shut them down, so they made it hard for them to operate. North of those 2 states the Bunker are no where near the numbers we once saw. The Bass that locked up on Block this past year were on Scup, AKA Porgie. Scup do not contain the oils and fats that bunker provide for Bass to sustain good health, but in the absence of proper food they are better than nothing.
Call me chicken little if you want, in fact being grouped with Bob Pond would be a badge of honor to me. The crash is coming again, the only thing I wonder, is if we will catch it in time this time.

Great post, SC1. You could not have said it better if you had a window to the future. How fitting that you should put that up before he passed. You are right, the writing has been on the wall for many years. It is up to us to see that it is there. rip Mr Pond.

**dogfish** · 12-29-2009, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by Stripercoast1

If you do not know of Bob and the work he did, look into Stripers Unlimited. As I said before he was a man ahead of his time, that showed up just in time.

I'll bet no one ever called him Chicken Little after the moratorium.

The Atom 40 became a surf fishing standard, and was copied by many builders. He was ahead of his time. Not many were talking about conservation back then. We lost a good one. RIP.

**stripercrazy** · 12-29-2009, 03:46 PM

X2, RIP Mr Pond.

**Stripercoast1** · 12-29-2009, 04:24 PM

I knew his passing was only days away, as he has been in tough shape for quite a while. Even knowing this, I could not feel more sadness for a family member as I do now.
He will never die however in my memory, and many of them bring smiles to my face.
He was one of those that carried a presence with him, that even if you did not know him, you knew that you wanted or needed too.
Stripercoast has an award named for him, for the member that displays the most conservation ethic above all others. Until now, it wasn't a memorial award.
Bob Pond will live forever, and I will see to it that future generations know and understand what a truly dynamic individual Bob really was. I hate that word, "was", and hate even more that I have to use it when talking about him now.

**jimbob** · 12-29-2009, 05:50 PM

A huge loss, we owe it to Bob Pond to do whatever we can to protect the fisheries.

**DarkSkies** · 01-08-2010, 03:52 PM

Thanks for the memories of Bob Pond and the things he was involved in, guys.

**DarkSkies** · 01-08-2010, 03:58 PM

I wonder if fishermen don't seem as concerned about the biomass because the states they fish in for bass seem "fine". It's hard to care about what's happening in Va when you live in NJ,NY, or Mass. People sometimes have difficulty understanding these are the same bass that passed by them. If they were only highly concentrated in 2 places in 2009, what happened to the rest of the millions of bass? What happened to the millions (4 million by some estimates) of bass that spawned in the Hudson River last year? How come fishing at Montauk for the late summer and fall was one of the poorest seasons in recent years?

This was posted earlier in this thread by Captnemo, post #17. I'm posting it again for people to re-visit it. I would like them to consider the great fishing that was to be had off Block Island this year in the summer, or the fantastic fishing now happening off the coast of Va, in light of the real life fishermens' experience and the biologists' statements here:

Originally Posted by captnemo

"Large concentrations of bass in some areas doesn’t necessarily equate to a healthy stock:
Man, there were some crazy striped bass blitzes in Montauk this year. The kind that make you just drop your rod and say “Holy *@$%!”. Truly extraordinary stuff. Understandably, such blitzes might make one believe that striped bass are extremely abundant. Unfortunately that is not the case. In other regions, particularly the Northeast, there are widespread complaints about the lack of quality stripers. In Maine, guides are going out of business because of the very real lack of what was once a thriving fishery.

As guides like Capt. Dave Pecci and Capt. Doug Jowett point out, it’s not due to the lack of forage as there seems to be abundant bait concentrations in the areas that they fish. Indeed I fear that Maine’s position at the northernmost part of the striped bass migration makes it a bellwether state.

In light of such Montauk blitzes, I ask you to consider the below passage taken from a University of New Hampshire Department of Natural Resources document titled A Guide to Fisheries Stock Assessment.

This is the document used to educate members of the fisheries management councils on how fisheries stock assessments are conducted:
“Fishermen will actively seek out areas with greater fish concentrations. As a result, their catch-per-unit effort could remain stable in the face of a declining stock. Consider a stock that contracts its range as the population shrinks, or increases its range as the population grows. Despite the changing range, catch-per-unit effort may remain relatively constant if the fishermen focus their effort on the center of the range, where fish density remains relatively stable.”

With this in mind, I would think managers would be practicing extreme caution when managing striped bass, particularly in light of its immense recreational value. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Delaware and Pennsylvania want to open two-month fishing seasons targeting mature male striped bass. Maryland has proposed to extend non-quota management for its trophy fishery in 2009 and until stock assessment indicates that corrective action is necessary, and Virginia wants to extend its season.

All of these measures will increase fishing mortality on striped bass.

In my opinion they are reckless, and they show no respect for the views of those hardworking Maine guides that are being forced out of business. Undoubtedly, there seems to be a trend toward killing more bass rather than a move in the other direction.

That’s understandable given the recent stock assessment and the states’ understanding that their anglers want to kill more bass. But I think there’s a large majority of folks that would rather proceed down a precautionary road. One which insures that we have plenty of big fish around in the future. It’s up to these anglers to let their state reps know their wishes. It seems as if the kill-more-fish-now folks are the only ones being listened to at this point, and that has to stop."
Captain John McMurray

http://www.laterallineco.com/blog/ca.../striped-bass/

**DarkSkies** · 01-09-2010, 12:01 AM

Sent by Finchaser. This is the first day of a tourney now going on in Va. I'm happy for the guys who won, I'm sure they're happy.

Why should they behave any differently than they have been behaving. There are plenty of bass in Va now, right? It's important to note they didn't break any laws. They were fishing to catch and keep bass as the law allows. There is really nothing to be said about following the laws as written. I want to make it clear that the guys below were only out fishing and trying their best to win a tournament. There is absolutely nothing on the books that suggests any of that shouldn't be happening.

And if a few 50# bass are caught and brought home for dinner, so what? You can always grow more 50s in the ocean right? That's what all those bunker pods are for...for the bass to feed on, right?

How many people saw bunker pod after bunker pod in NJ this year, miles of bunker in the late Spring. No bass under them, for miles. Thousands of bunker with no predators, how could that be?

Bass aren't like Doritos, ya can't just make another 50 when ya take one out of the biomass. It takes a 50 an average of 18-20 years to get to that size.

Here's a weight and length chart to give ya an idea how long it takes bass to get to certain sizes:

Click image for larger version.

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Results of the tourney, 1st day:

CITATIONS:
STRIPED BASS: 48 lbs. 8 oz. caught by Mickeal Siebert of Highland Springs, VA

STRIPED BASS: 48lbs. 1oz. caught by Nathaniel Weller of Norfolk, VA

STRIPED BASS: 54 lbs. caught by David Strbavy of Aylett, VA

STRIPED BASS: 50 lbs. 2oz. caught by William Hoover of Norfolk, VA on the Gannet

STRIPED BASS: 42 lbs. 9oz. caught by Shawn Shapiro of Norfolk, VA on the Gannet

STRIPED BASS: 42lbs. 14oz. caught by Thomas J. Blanton of Virginia Beach, VA on the Gannet

STRIPED BASS: 40lbs. 5 oz. caught by Edwin J. Keyes of Carrollton, VA on the Top Notch

STRIPED BASS: 44lbs. caught by Matt Temple of Virginia Beach, VA

STRIPED BASS: 48lbs. 8 oz. caught by James P. Morris of Spotsylvania, VA

STRIPED BASS: 47lbs. .85 oz. caught by Troy Johnson of Fredericksburg, VA

STRIPED BASS: 40lbs. 1 oz caught by Jeff Ervine of Roanoke, VA

**fishinmission78** · 01-11-2010, 04:23 PM

This came from another site. Capemayray, he's been around a long time. Captain from the Cape May area.

I was one of the few that attended the meeting last week and commented that I was in favor of a slot fish to allow more larger breeder size fish excape being harvested. I believe only 10 anglers commented out of those that were there. It will all depend on what national marine fisheries hands down as options that will meet the federal requirements.

It is always amazing how many people have ideas but never attend any of the meetings or send in comments in, if they can not attend. Then they go on and on about how it should be this or that not even knowing what went on at the meeting or understand how the regulations are determined. If and when options for a slot fish come about they will be handed down from nation marine fisheries and will have a number of different options that meet the conservation equivelent. They just don't pick numbers out of the air.

Seems like no one wants to face the facts that maybe stripers might be overfished. All you have to do is look around at all the huge stripers that have been caught in the last few years. Does anyone know where all the in-between class size bass are? You just can't keep harvesting large cows and expect bass populations to thrive. Most of the anglers that I know are all catching much larger bass than they ever did, but they are catching less overall and seeing much few of the inbetween sizes that use to be so plentiful.

I find it amazing that National Marine fisheries can say stripers are not overfished and at the same time they report that the year of the young reports show a decline year after year for the last 7 years. Where do they expect future bass to come from?

There are way too many anglers targeting stripers in New Jersey and every other coastal state as they are one of the few fish that you can still fish for. If we do not maintain healthy stocks we will be back having major problems down the road. As another charter captain stated earlier, anglers should be happy with one nice fish a day. Taking some slot fish will elimated killing some of the larger breeders.

If we continue to kill at the rate we are doing now, when there is a decline we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

**finchaser** · 01-12-2010, 09:10 PM

IMO they want it to collapse so they can say we destroyed the greatest success story NOAA ever had and close bass and other species. DR. L won't rest until the recreational sector is catch and release only which eliminates all recreational management from Maine to Florida. As she stated if we don't like it we can play golf

At the present rate with increased pressure from fluke and seabass fisherman turned bass fisherman,they may be gone before most people learn how to swim their precious wooden plugs

**DarkSkies** · 01-13-2010, 01:10 AM

From the records I read, the Striped Bass Moratorium was put in place in 9-11-84. The stocks had collapsed on a Coastwide basis. There was a noticible lack in the variety of year classes coming in to the rivers to spawn. Here are some links to the Moratorium...

**DarkSkies** · 01-13-2010, 01:19 AM

YOY catch data is the statistical record of fish caught in biologist nets.

These nets are pulled at the same places every year. Great care is taken to make the statistical analysis as scientifically unbiased as possible. If the YOY (Young of the year) numbers are down, it could indicate a problem.

These were some of the first statistical indicators that there was a problem back in the mid 1970's to early 1980's. When YOY indicators declined, the biologists knew there was a problem. However by that time it was too late, and in 1984 the fishery was closed down for the whole East Coast.

We have seen similar poor YOY results for the Chesapeake in 2009 and 2008. Stripers Forever published the findings, and it may be in this thread as well. If anyone wants to post up again, that would be great.

**DarkSkies** · 01-13-2010, 01:49 AM

I'll try to post up the links here now to the most comprehensive ones, and come back to discuss later. The more I read about fecundity, I realize there is controversy. Many believe that bass 30-40" are the most prolific breeders.

It is said in the studies below that a bass that has just started breeding holds approx 300,000 eggs. However, studies have shown that an adult female bass will hold approx 1mm eggs/ every 10 lbs of weight.

Theoretically, a bass weighing 40# could hold up to 4million eggs.

Please don't just accept my word for it. I'm putting up the links so people can learn for themselves, and trying to present a fair and balanced picture:

Longevity and resilience of Chesapeake Bay striped bass
http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cg...t/57/4/808.pdf

NAFO fecundity outline 2001
http://www.nafo.int/Publications/stu...cks/STB5-6.pdf

Chesapeake Spawning and Fecundity observations 1967 (interesting to note here that they were having similar questions of overfishing back in 1967)
http://web.vims.edu/GreyLit/MDNR/F-3-R-1967.pdf?svr=www

Fecundity of striped bass 1989
http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/wdb/pub/spe.../82_11-118.pdf

2002- AFC Massachusetts paper on the effects of C&R and bass growth http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dmf/publi...wth_stress.pdf

**jigfreak** · 01-13-2010, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by DarkSkies

Theoretically, a bass weighing 40# could hold up to 4million eggs.

I can't even imagine 4 million. That was eye opening, thanks for posting.

**bluesdude71** · 01-13-2010, 09:55 PM

Originally Posted by finchaser

IMO they want it to collapse so they can say we destroyed the greatest success story NOAA ever had and close bass and other species.

Sounds like blaming the victim to me. Great strategy on their part, they don't ever have to look like the bad guys.

**jimbob** · 01-14-2010, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by finchaser

IMO DR. L won't rest until the recreational sector is catch and release only which eliminates all recreational management from Maine to Florida. As she stated if we don't like it we can play golf

Really? where did this come from?

**finchaser** · 01-15-2010, 08:41 AM

A NFSM meeting, was also in the paper and sport fishing was stated she doesn't care who she puts out of business and who ever doesn't like it can play golf.

She shut down sea bass,grouper just to name a few with more to come.

The catch and release were my words hers were rec's fish for the enjoyment not to keep fish and the IGFA and others supported that.

**voyager35** · 01-23-2010, 06:31 PM