StripersandAnglers yearly coastwide fish stock assessment, state of the fishery

[DarkSkies]

There are a lot of threads on internet sites discussing what's happening with fishing.

Take away all these types of threads, and all you would have left would be a few fishing reports, some people discussing tackle and gear, and a heck of a lot of whining and self-indulgent posts.

I feel that boring as they seem, threads like the one I'm starting now are needed.

More and more I realize that there are many folks out there who have only been fishing a few short years. To them, fishing has never been richer, each year the "epic" fishing gets better and better.

Given that they have only been in the game a few years, their perspective seems "right" to them, and sometimes they aren't willing to consider that they might not be looking at the whole picture.

When you broaden the timeline of fishing experience, you begin to see patterns that develop more clearly, not just over weeks or seasons, but over decades.

When you have this level of experience, you begin to see how this all ties in together, and the interlocking relationships between predator, bait, bait migration, weather changes, structure changes, and the fishing that we all love.

[DarkSkies]

Some folks are comfortable with numbers.
Others say numbers can be used to prove any theory you have, provided they are manipulated the right way. It would be fair to say from this that many folks don't trust numbers.

Yet we have to have some process of documenting catches when it comes to fisheries management.

This will be a thread where numbers will be used when appropriate.
However, when it seems anecdotal examples might be more compelling, that's the format I'll use.

I want to use whatever tool available at the time, that allows me to present these "slices of fishing observation" to you folks out there.

My goal: to present
believable,
accurate, and
comprehensive observations from seasoned fishermen out there in a format that will be easily read from year to year.

I hope, in my humblest expectations, that this thread will do that, and at least get some dialogue going.

[DarkSkies]

1. Twice yearly. I'll talk about the state of fishing, based on a combination of gov't statistics and most importantly, observations from fishemen who are out there on the front lines, fishing almost every day of the season.

I'm fortunate to have the contacts I have. In some cases they don't want publicity or mention. In other cases they might come here and weigh in for a post or 2. However, the bottom line is....these will be accurate observations based on folks who fish regularly. It will be a collection of observations, from different folks in different areas, that helps to make this thread a success, and perhaps a resource for some of the scientists out there who have little contact with real fishermen.


2. These statements will be generalizations of fishing within a specfic area. Please remember that, whether it's noted or not.
And remember that there are some folks who will do much better than the observations here. If so feel free to come here and report your experience. All opinions welcome.

I know about blitzes that occur, every day. I get real-time info, every day. We may not mention them here as much, but that doesn't mean they don't happen.
However, for purposes of consistency, I think it's best to report on the fishing that the average fisherman experiences. Granted, the "average" fishermen I refer to from time to time are highly skilled, and may fish way more than most people.

Nonetheless, I think for consistency over time, it's best to present a broad spectrum of fishing, if any of this is to have credibility.

[DarkSkies]

1. To my knowledge, there are no threads on internet siites that are now discussing the fishing on a coast-wide basis, to the extent that it will be discussed here on StripersandAnglers.

It's been suggested by more than one person that fisheries management would be best achieved by considering all the species in the ocean as a sort of primordial soup, all inter-dependent on each other, and all needing to be kept in balance lest too much damage be done by one dominant species.

Ex: the protection of the spiny dogfish as "endangered" has long been pointed to as a failure of fisheries management to see the big picture. By completely isolating the population figures of this species from the rest of the mix, management has allowed them to proliferate to the extent that they dominate most species in areas most favorable to them. This has shifted the dynamic in the biomass ratios for many competing fish.

This is just poor long-term planning.
It has economically affected many fishermen, both recs and comms alike.
And it is just one example that would be different, if fisheries management would look at species globally today.


2. This thread will attempt to weave in different species to show the inter-relation. Although you will mostly hear assessment of striped bass, you will hear assessments of other fish that live in the same environment, why or why not their numbers are what they are, and how they are involved together.



3. This thread will attempt to show how our perception of fishing is related to the bait migration. More studies out there focus on striped bass fishing, than many other species.
Still, not much attention is paid to bait migration. I'll attempt to show the folks browsing here how the bait and predator migration are critically intertwined.

[DarkSkies]

Please remember that these are generalizations. If you have any info to supplement (or correct) what is reported, feel free to post up. Your opinion is valuable, too, but let's try to keep this thread serious, as it will be a multi-year thread. Thanks, people.

[DarkSkies]

I'll do one of these every end of June, and every end of December, to capture 6 months of fishing experience at a time.

Might as well start the mid-year one, as it's almost July.
These will take some time to post, as I'm involved in some other projects now, and have limited time.

I'll try to be as accurate as possible with each area.
Remember, these are based on reports I received, if it's an area I don't fish regularly.




Chesapeake Bay Assessment, Spring 2011
The striped bass fishery got off to a good start. There was some rain and runoff that diminished early catches in the upper Chesapeake. Kudos to fisheries management there for deciding to keep fishing closed for an additional few weeks during the spawn.

Even though some folks said they had good fishing, I think overall there were less trophy bass weighed in this year, than in any recent year prior. (Something to think about)

[DarkSkies]

Some of this I may eventually reference in the StripersAndAnglers state of the Fishery thread......
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...of-the-fishery


A member called me today. This is a guy who has decades of experience and has fished for bass for many years before the moratorium and still fishes when he can get out there........He has a good friend who is a Cape May Charter Capt....I'm paraphrasing here, what his Capt friend told him about the 2013 Striper run in the Delaware Bay......





"The 2013 bass run in the Delaware Bay has been the worst Spring fishery in all the years I have been fishing that bay.
The bass just were not there in numbers. Some have blamed the cold weather and the winds which made fishing difficult. There has been some good fishing above the Commodore Barry. As for the lower bay it has been terrible.
We have had to entice our clients who normally want to bass fish, with wreck fishing trips, or we would have had no income. "

[DarkSkies]

Posted 5-9-14

3. Once again, the striper biomass doesn't need saving. It's as strong as ever. SAVE THE WEAKFISH!

1. Dark, Please delete any reference to me in the OP.

2. Sorry, if I disagree but like you said Facts are Facts and

3. I completely disagree much of what you say and really would not like to be associated with your opinions here.

4. Right on schedule the Raritan bay bass have arrived in full force.

Ya know Capt Paul, I really tried to have an adult discussion with you here....but you bring no facts, figures or credibility to the table. We all make mistakes, none of us is perfect. I was hoping you would have time to reflect on your answers and possibly review them in light of doing just the simplest research.
However, you have done none of that, so let's let the chips fall where they may....leaving me no choice but to memorialize you and your most ignorant statement.

1. You continue to make statements which not only are ignorant, but arrogantly myopic. Too lazy to even do some basic research. Then, when someone challenges you on your lack of knowledge, you want to be excluded from further comments. How does that work, Paul?

2. You continue to state "facts are facts", and offer nothing in return to support your "facts".
You haven't offered any log stats to support your claims.
You haven't offered any logic or personal experience to back your claims.

3. You disagree, but offer nothing to support your position that "the striped bass are healthier than ever" @Capt Paul Goins, April 2014.
You must think that most fishermen out there are stupid.




4. The Raritan migratory fish that you talk about arriving in "full force" were nowhere to be found before April 17...you and your fellow Capts, along with scores of shore anglers trying for them, found limited success before that date........
A. What happened to the thousands of resident bass that are caught in the Raritan bay and NY Bight each year, before the migratory fish show up?

B. What happened to the robust Jamaica Bay fishery that is usually on fire, this time of year, before the fish go up the Hudson......it is inconsistent right now, compared to past years....so poor (as of this date) that NY guys who normally fish Jamaica bay are coming over to NJ to fish......


C. How have your logs shown that the striped bass are healthier than ever?

1. I'm all for conservation and have stated several times that I think we should go back to some sort of slot size to keep the striper population strong.

2. But by no means is the Biomass is any kind of trouble.
Now a guy goes out and gets skunked and he believes fishery must be in trouble.

Again, Capt Paul, I hesitated before posting this.........
Wanted to try to find your motivation for stating your position, without doing any research at all...so I took some time, and researched your posts......could find nothing in there supporting your claim either.

As I said, we are all ignorant of some things, we all make mistakes.....but your arrogant ignorance, on top of being too lazy to do basic research, tells me either you just figure because you can call a friend when bass are feeding on bunker and catch fish.....folks might feel you are truly a great captain.....

The best Capts, (maybe JMO) are ones that can find bass, when they are hard to find,....
a. a Capt who fishes all day and scratches out a few fish, when no one else is catching,......or the bass are not that thick.....deserves more recognition than
b. someone who gets that success from a cell phone call

The more I read of your posts, and arrogance to at least look beyond the limited waters that you fish....the more I come to the conclusion that
1. You are closer in attitude to someone in Group b above, or...
2. You have a financial agenda that you won't talk about in trying to convince folks here..... that there are more fish, than there are.




Either way, without taking the incentive to do basic research, and arrogantly proclaiming the same thing over and over.....your credibility suffers greatly.
And your unwillingness to offer even the most basic facts or your log stats, or anything at all....to support your claim, may work with your friends here, in this Raritan bay forum....but takes away from your credibility each time you make this uninformed statement.
On other forums on the internet,.and on BassBarn, seasoned Capts are talking about what they are seeing.....and not one Capt is making the arrogant denials that you are...unless he has a hidden financial agenda.....


**Further, this arrogance shows you have limited knowledge of
1. Striped bass migration
2. Forage migration and any shifting patterns.
3. Spawning behavior and how to pattern it to figure out where fish might be during this time.
........which any good Captain, and many Captains on this site, are well-aware of.

[DarkSkies]

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[DarkSkies]

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[DarkSkies]

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[DarkSkies]

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[DarkSkies]

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[DarkSkies]

^^Sadly, it seems this year they are in less concentrations than they have been. (so far)
If you are fishing an area they normally stop at on the migration highway, you are likely to do well.

What I have seen and am hearing so far is there are a lot of other areas that are dead water.

This could be partially due to lingering affects from Sandy...
They are in an area for a night or 2, and with no bait to hold them move on quickly..
As of the beginning of the week, there aren't many varieties of bait in most of the northern bays, other than bunker and worms....

Southern bays are a bit different....holding spearing and some other small forage....


The Spawning Areas...
Every year there are reports of big fish C&R in these areas....
There are a lot of strong opinions on this kind of fishing, so if ya's want to discuss it please feel free to start another thread on that...











1. Chesapeake Flats fishing....
started about 10 days ago with some decent action....since then it has been spotty.....even night fishing with plugs which has traditionally yielded the biggest Spring fish. A few large were reported. I've received reports from some of the area's best anglers...guys who in the past said catching multiple 40# class fish in a night was a given......

Some are saying the flats fishing has been declining for the past several years.
These same guys are reporting that those fish have not been there in numbers this year.....
Why not?


2. Delaware Bay and Flats fishing....
The activity in this fishery ramped up within the last week. Nonetheless many of the anglers out there who are reporting double digit catches are catching quite a few of those fish in the 10-22" range....small YOY and 2nd year schoolies,,,,great to see them, but where are the bigger fish?
Again, I'm well aware of some of the bigger fish...I have the pics sent to me....but as far as quantity of big spawning Delaware stock fish...guys are already grumbling and asking where did they go this year?


3. Hudson River and Flats fishing.....
They are still catching small fish up there.....with an occasional 20# thrown in....but my point is, the big bass up to 60# that normally are swimming up the Hudson this time of year have not yet been sighted or documented.....Even by the guys who are fishing the lower Hudson, and NY Bight.

(Right now the NY Bight should be filled with millions of bass, if one were to truly believe the specious argument that the Hudson stock is composed of 4 million striped bass)........

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...dson-this-year
The anglers fishing those mentioned areas would be the first to see the bigger fish before they make the long trek up the Hudson, and they haven't....


**I know there are folks who claim to be experts on this,,,,saying that the colder winter slowed things down a bit....set the clock back.......I'll buy that argument, to an extent....and am stilll trying to be optimistic.....but if these fish are not in the bays in the numbers that they have been, not in the canals, inlets, and river mouths.......

Where are they?

** Yes there have been some ocean fish following schools of bunker and herring over the past week, but they are there one day and gone the next....which to me indicates no real concentration of bass.....This worries me greatly.

more on that in this thread here.......

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...of-the-fishery
food for thought, folks....

[DarkSkies]

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[DarkSkies]

Early Spring Recap
May is usually a great month for fishing for a lot of us.....some observations so far.....


1. For Northern NJ and the Raritan Bay bite....there was activity....but no consistent 2-4 weeks of activity of small to larger bass like there usually is...(the holdover bass that winter in the Arthur Kill and NY Harbor areas) before the Hudson bass showed up about 10 days ago.....

2. The bass that wintered over in the BBay seemed to spread out in April, and were available at a few early season locations....along with some drum and bluefish....

3. From the feedback I got from friends who were fishing on April 1...the fishing in the bays in the Southern Counties (Atlantic to Cape May) was a little better and more consistent....

4. As I have been explaining to the folks out there....the fish that showed up in Raritan Bay seemed to be very concentrated in certain areas....and feast or famine in others....
(this is a pattern that could indicate a shrinking biomass, explained in several threads here)

5. The fish that were supposed to spawn did not yet spawn in some of the usual places....Although the Delaware biomass and fishery is said to be strong...the fact that these fish....(with specific locations imprinted in their brains) did not spawn in certain areas....gives me great concern....

6. I'm also getting preliminary feedback that the 2015 Chesapeake spawning activity was not as great as anticipated...and was another very late spawn, relative to the other years.....




**It seems everything is off this year.....the cold Winter has been blamed....and that is likely true, to some extent....Spawning is very dependent on water temps...But is that the complete explanation?
I am not sure......

The above are not only my observations...but anecdotal reports from a few dozen veteran anglers that I regularly talk about some of this stuff with.....

Although I am not a scientist...I have been on this earth long enough to recognize patterns....or discern when they are changing.......

[DarkSkies]

Late Spring Recap
June is usually a great month for fishing ...some observations so far.....
(I'll try to post this in the S&A State of the Fishery thread when I get a chance)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...of-the-fishery


1. The Northern activity in the Raritan bay/NY Bight.... (as had been predicted)....petered out as the Hudson Bass went up the Hudson to spawn....by some accounts it was one of the shortest-lived spawns in recent years....By May 16 bass were moving downriver.....and as of this date have moved on quickly.
Although some have remained in the RB/ NY Bight...in the usual areas....A large % of bass are now in the Western Sound....along with giant bluefish.....following the vast schools of bunker.




2. The BBay bass and blue action seemed to wane in consistency....but the inlets, and anywhere the bunker are...still seem to hold some solid fish.........




3. Weather is probably a big factor in that action, or more importantly the specific pattern....South and SE winds the last 2 weeks have brought the surf in Ocean and parts of Monmouth counties down to as low as 46 in some areas......It seems fish are being trolled out deep...also some action in that early pre-dawn window in bunker schools......but no one is jumping up and down and calling this the best year for bass ever......




4. Chesapeake/Delaware Bass.....The naive optimism of some puzzles me.....I recently was sent some internet comments about how most bass are "still" down South....

In some examples these are specific, concentrated cases..........what has happened is there are some usual hotspots....from Assateague Island to the Atlantic County NJ Area...where the bass will gather and feed for a short detour on the northern migration.
This year...many of the inshore hotspots seem to be where highest concentrations of bunker....and squid....have been found....
Bass have held in Southern NJ for far longer than they usually do.....again due primarily to high forage concentrations

Nonetheless, Chesapeake and Delaware bass are already being caught along the SS of LI and out east in Montauk.....
It seems some of them are again bypassing Central Jersey and migrating across the Mudhole,.





5. Chesapeake Bass.....2 weeks ago.....Pebbles and I were at a conference in Va Beach.....We came back over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge....20 miles of bridge, and not one striped bass was being caught....all the locals had turned their attention to Drum...
It was a sobering thought to me...that the vast Chesapeake....had been (emptied) of bass....

I'm sure a few could have been caught by some of us at night from the bridge pilings.....but the lack of striped bass was shocking....I sent some of you texts to remember that fact the next time a Charter Capt boasts there are "more striped bass than ever".





6. Striped bass can move quickly on their Spring and Fall migration.....documented as much as 10-15 miles per day......I have gotten so many comments this year..."Well we crushed em there yesterday and today it's like the dead sea".....
It's difficult to predict where they will be from one day to the next...when they are constantly moving....




7. Beach Replenishment......Dirty Water.....Loss of forage

The beach replenishment, and disruption of good bottom, has definitely changed the pattern of bass and other species hugging the beach on their migration....


However...to those who would say those bass have all simply moved offshore....I ask them to explain the presence of giant bluefish....in the very surf the striped bass are absent from....

No matter how you look at it....beach replenishment has changed some things for the worse...and it will be a long time before things revert back to how some of us remember...

Something to think about....

[DarkSkies]

The Jamaica Bay striped bass fishery....2014-2015

I have been following and formally documenting this fishery for 8 years now.
(and slightly longer than that...with informal reports from others....)

This is how robust it used to be...years back.....
The bay would go dormant during the winter...as many bays do.....

2 significant developments:

In the Spring....even before the NY striped bass season would open....

1. There would be fish caught in the bay area beginning in March.....
As the NY Harbor fish awoke from their suspended animation...they would venture out of the frigid waters of the Hudson....and into the nearby fertile waters of Jamaica bay....
I have often described Jamaica Bay as a world class striped bass fishery....the scores of creeks and lagoons carved out of its edges provide a nutrient rich forage base for many predators.......many varieties of bait fish thrive in that bay..


I have fished and kayaked Jamaica bay..some of its most isolated areas...and had a chance to meet some of the area's best fishermen......
I remember when I first got to know Elias....I think back in 2008.....we were out there at different times on the flats....sharing intel.....sometimes fishing pre-season....(catch and release) just to see if the bass were coming in as usual......

For the past 2 years.....these fish have not been there pre spawn...in the numbers they once were.....
So sparse, that for the early spring...until after the Hudson spawn is done....Eli has been coming over to NJ to fish......

The same pattern happened this year....Jamaica Bay is now filled with bass...but what happened to the bass that used to be there in March and April?

(Again, keep in mind that this winter was terrible....one of the most severe in a long time....)
But that does not account for the fact that for the last 2 years....this pattern of these bass being absent...has started to develop.....










2. The 40 and 50 lb bass of Jamaica Bay- where did they go?
I only have to go back 5 years in my logs and observations to see a distinct shift in the pattern and size of fish caught....
5 years ago....every week someone would report catching a 50 during prime season after spawning.....
and sometimes in the month of April as well....

I ask the readers here.....how often has that happened in recent years?
Within the confines of Jamaica Bay, and not out in front of the Hudson River?

Rarely....




This concerns me...as it should you....
When the numbers of bass are less......
a. we notice gaps in certain year classes...
b. and gaps on the edges.....

Food for thought.....

[seamonkey]

Thanks for this thread. Some feedback for the delmarva area I found on the net-
Seems IRI and AI are mostly dead this fall. Makes me wonder why.

"The fish at Assateague are not there and that is where most of the board members fish. More than sixty days fishing this fall not a single striper. It was not unusual to have a 40 fish fall season (35-50 inch) in times past....but not in recent memory. I shall not re-hash the many theory's about why this is so, but it is fact."


"I fish IBSP and north 2->3 days a week Sept to Thanksgiving. Then I'll pick rats until it gets too cold. One evening we had a nice pick of 26->30 inch fish. I got 3 a buddy got 5 and another buddy 1. Two other guys next to us did the same. That was the entire season for me. My buddy fished maybe 10 other days. He picked one 18->20 inch fish a few times and a couple blues. Boats had a better shot and did OK.
I've been at it since I was 20. I'm also 67 now. In the 80s & 90s there were blitzes every 3->4 days. Most lasted between 1 to 4 hours. Some lasted almost all day. The beaches were litered with bait that beached itself. On Columbus day we would drive to Sandy Hook and almoat always catch Albacore. Lots of them.
The Epic NJ bass blitzes this fall lasted between 5 to 30 minutes. I would guess there were about 5 of them. I haven't seen a bluefish blitz for about 10 years.
What's left of those NJ stripers are entering Del area now. Hopefully they'll come close for you."

[captnemo]

Nice write-up on the Hudson Stock today by Capt Al Ristori on his nj.com blog.

After watching too many spawning-size striped bass gaffed in Raritan Bay during the unprecedented summer bite there in 2014, I wasn't too confident about whether the Hudson River stock would once again provide us with striper fishng much better than most other coastal states. Fortunately, with N.Y. still protecting those bass due to concerns over PCB contamination, the Hudson linesiders came through for us with flying colors.

The Raritan Bay spring fishery didn't get off to a good start as there were few early schoolies to be caught clamming in the back of the bay -- but an abundance of bunkers eventually led to fine action with larger bass. When I fished the bay along with Nellie Greer of Bethlehem Pa. on Chuck Many's Ty Man out of Gateway Marina in Highlands on May 4 we ended up with a release total of 50 stripers up to a 34-pounder plus two of the just-arriving bluefish.


Those blues complicated the striper fishing, and when we fished the bay two weeks later it was a problem to release only 13 bass among the hordes of choppers from Ty Man. The blues were then a problem for all in the Manhattan Cup on May 15, though I was fortunate to release stripers of 32 and 38 1/2 inches fork length while fishing aboard Tom Adami's Just Enough from Great Kills in a contest where I'd rarely had any luck with stripers on the boats I was assigned to over the years.


The Hudson River came through on my birthday trip despite a forecast of rain and northeast winds. Many ran up there on June 1 and quickly marked fish that we anchored on to chunk bunkers. The Ty Man total for Many, Greer, Greg Prestosh from Pa., and I was 27 stripers up to 28 pounds with only seven blues. While there was flooding in Newark, we never had more than drizzle a few miles away.


The biggest surprise of the early summer was the discovery of a body of exceptionally large stripers off the mouth of the bay. Capt. Vinnie Vetere, of Katfish Charters in Great Kills, was one of the first to discover those bass that provided him with his first 60-pounder while another 60 was boated and several anglers also broke into the 50-pound club by being at the right spot when those bass turned on to live bunkers briefly around dusk. During the one evening I fished there with Ty Man, Many weighed and released a 44-pounder for me before reeling in his 43-pounder -- and then it was over.


Though the summer striped bass fishery in Raritan Bay wasn't up to the previous year's standards, Many always managed at least schoolies -- and usually some large bass as the Hudson River stock bailed us out after another spotty ocean fishery on bunker schools with the coastal migrants.


The fall fishery started off in mid-October with big bass under bunker schools along the Shore such as we had wished for in the spring when it was usually lots of bunkers but few bass. Many anglers had their best striper days ever as those coastal migrants fattened up for their long journey to spawning grounds in Delaware and Chesapeake bays -- often hitting popping and swimming plugs or shad lures as well as live bunkers.


That didn't mean the Hudson River stock wasn't also storing up fat for the winter. There was some great action on live bunkers in the back of Raritan Bay all the way back to the Outerbridge Crossing where one afternoon there were bunkers flipping from one side to the other and every one snagged was quickly inhaled by a large bass.


That set up fishing for the Hi-Mar Striper Club 40-hour Tournament on Oct. 24-25 when I joined Many and his crew (Greer, Dave Donahue of Readington, and Matt Calabria from Hazlet) on Ty Man to fish both the river and bay to win with a two-bass total of 71.6 pounds -- both of which were released after the weigh-in.


On Nov. 5-6, the same crew stayed in the Hudson to fish the Staten Island Big Bass Shootout where we released 175 stripers up to the winning 31 1/4-pounder that was also released.


It took some time for the school striper run to develop. On Nov. 18, Capt. Hans Kaspersetz and I ran down the beach with Sheri Berri from Baker's Marina on the Bay in Highlands after a northeaster only to find not a thing for Joe Blaze and Dave Cheli from Brielle before a call from the Sea Hunter out of Atlantic Highlands got us into a massive showing of birds diving over stripers up to 31 inches feeding on peanut bunkers off Atlantic Beach.


Those fish didn't get to the Shore quickly, and we were worried that the lack of sand eels would result in them moving on. Fortunately, the peanuts held them -- and swim shads became the hot fall lure. Bluefish were also abundant during the schoolie casting, and I got a big surprise on Dec. 5 when a 26-inch, 7-pound long-out-of-season fluke hit my Tsunami shad off Ocean County.


Instead of leaving quickly, big blues got even more aggressive as sea herring showed up in December. Casting pencil poppers to jumbo blues off Sandy Hook on December 12 with Mark Roy on his Century 31 from Raritan Marina was a rare thrill. Though those fish seemed to disappear, there was an even more unusual end to the year when surfcasters got into a blitz of both stripers and big blues in Ocean County after Christmas.











http://www.nj.com/shore/blogs/fishin...rt_river_index