Stripers & Anglers Education Series: Understanding Spring/ Fall Bass Migration for NJ/NY

[DarkSkies]

2012 Bass Migration

This thread was conceived due to the unusual Winter we had in the NJ/LI area.
We had a series of events which kept bass from their usual migration paths.

I thought some folks would be interested in hearing they Why's and What's that makes this Spring Migration different.

Feel free to jump in with opinions, even if they are different from the ones stated here...

Or if you have anything you're not sure you understand, feel free to ask...



As always, I'm deeply grateful for the folks along the NE Coast who send me reports, many of which are never posted here. And the daily conversations I have with a circle of Veteran Fishermen, Old-Timers who are obsessive about analyzing the details (Hey, they're retired a lot of them...gives them something to do.... )
Regardless... they help I and some others, to get a clearer picture, of Why the fish are Where they are for a particular moment in time....

[DarkSkies]

For starters, we already have a thread that addresses the Coastal Bass Migration started by Jigfreak.
Feel free to take a look if you're interested in learning some things about this amazing Migration...

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...iper+migration

[DarkSkies]

Striped Bass Migration as it Applies to the East Coast

Three main bodies of striped bass are the most closely followed by scientists.

They are said to comprise the largest % of the Total Estimated Biomass, which is the total amount of Striped Bass that Fisheries Scientists "think" is out there.

These Biomass figures are derived from Sampling YOY (Year of the Young) catch averages (Sample Size).


This process begins with a series of yearly Seine Net Hauls.
In these Seine Net Hauls, the YOY (Year of the Young) Stripers are counted, and the results of several Statistically significant areas are compiled.

Then, by using Statistical Methods of Extrapolation/Statistical Analysis to determine a scientific Estimate of Actual Biomass size (the statistics term is called Population), based on the degree of confidence in the sample size....this is part of how the Estimated Biomass figures come to be published.

There are some other techniques used to determine populations in a specific area, (Electro-shock, Angler Reports ie registering with NOAA for a phone survey, and the Angler Surveys that some folks would answer by the Field Reps carrying clipboards, etc) but I don't want to hijack into that area.


If any of you folks are personally familiar with all these methods, please let me know and I will let you start a separate thread to help educate the members here.

[DarkSkies]

Striped Bass East Coast Migration:

As referenced in the thread by Jigfreak -

1. The 3 main populations of Striped Bass are the Chesapeake, Delaware, and Hudson pops.
   
2. There are some other pops which I feel are statistically significant, particularly the main rivers dumping into the LI Sound and some large NJ Rivers.
   
3. I am developing stats on those spawning populations now, and will eventually be writing an article encouraging more study on the striped bass from these areas.

[DarkSkies]

Striped Bass Migration as it applies to NJ and LI Anglers, and the Changes as of Winter 2011:

1. Please be aware that I'm talking about the main populations or bodies of fish one would find on the water here. There are always pockets of fish that will be separated, and I truly believe no 2 years are exactly alike in terms of fish behavior.
   
2. It traditionally holds that the bass run down the coast of NJ in the late fall to winter over in the VA/NC area. Some years they winter over in the Chesapeake Bay area, near the CBBT. Other years they winter further south, off the Central and Southern Coast of NC.
   
3. When the temperature is coldest, they will winter offshore.
   
4. Similar to the bluefish, but not as severe, as recently as 2 years ago the largest body of bass was found wintering approx 30 miles off the Coast of NC.
   
5. As fishing beyond 3 miles is prohibited, and these fish were highly concentrated, many boats pursued them far offshore.
   
6. This resulted in lots of anger from anglers in other states when they saw the laws being broken and fish being slaughtered in their winter grounds. I spend weeks meticulously researching this and wrote an article on it: Fishing in the EEZ.... http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ead.php?t=5801
   
7. Generally speaking, it was thought that Delaware and Chesapeake strains of bass wintered down in the areas I described.
   
8. The Hudson strain was said to winter in the NY Bight, and the deep pools of the upper Hudson below some of the reservoirs.
   
9. By the NY Bight, I'm referring to the deeper waters of the Arthur Kill and NY Harbor as wintering areas.
   
10. Here's why - deeper waters don't get as cold as some of the shallow bay water. The bay and river waters freeze up in the coldest winters, except for the Hudson (usually).
    
11. It has also been said by some, that Hudson fish do not go further south than Cape May.(I'll later come back to show that this is not a valid argument).

[DarkSkies]

Theory VS Reality....as it applied to the 2011 Winter Season - Facts and Myths about Hudson River fish

1. Hudson River fish - As mentioned they usually spend the winter in the NJ/NY Bight and the deep pools of the Hudson River - their range was thought to only extend as far south as Cape May.
   
2. For the winter of 2011 - that proved to be different for the Surfcasters like I and a few fortunate others who pursued them aggressively. We were able to catch fish up to 40lbs, and some of us have catches up to the high 300s in the period of December to February 2012.
   
3. It became clear to us that the fish that were supposed to winter in the Hudson were wintering in the waters off of Monmouth County in a line, that extended to Long Island... between Asbury Park and the Rockaways in Long Island. There was an abundance of fish above this line, from 50' ocean depths to the shallows of the jetties and coves on the oceanfronts. I have confirmed reports from surfcasters catching within this whole area.
   
4. To us, these were Hudson fish that never went upriver.
   
5. Once the temps moderated around the 2nd week of March 2012, these fish started to move around within this area, causing anglers in other areas to think that "new bodies of fish were coming in." This thinking was not entirely accurate because many anglers were not aware that these fish were here for the whole Winter. Again, not trying to argue, but if you were not out fishing for these fish or didn't know someone who was, it would have been understandably hard for you to grasp the concepts I'm talking about here....
   
6. Many folks stick to the old pattern that some of the Hudson fish were down as far as Cape May. This was simply not the case. When the season opened Mar 1 and Cape May Boats started fishing for striped bass, they were simply not there in abundance.
   
7. Somewhere around the end of March, a large body of Stripers was reported off the Delaware Coastline. These stripers, along with some smaller bluefish were making their way North...
   
8. These fish were in fact the Hudson strain of fish, mixed in with the Delaware Strain. There was no other reasonable explanation for these fish being where they were at that time.
   
9. The Hudson fish continued North, where for the first week of April there was tremendous action along the NJ Coast, from LBI to Sandy Hook. Some folks described this action as "EPIC" as they had never seen such level of activity in early April before.
   
10. What many didn't realize is that these fish had been diverted from their normal Hudson migration by the extreme abundance of food, and the temperate ocean waters which seemed to create a "line" across some of the bay areas that the fish would not cross. It was only when the NY Bight started to warm up that these fish moved along with the herring schools to make the long trip upriver to the Hudson spawning grounds.
    
11. As there was such an abundance of bait and moderate temps outside the Hudson, it took a very long time for the bass to even get near the Hudson....hence the great early season back bay in the Raritan Bay.
    
12. At the time of this thread the fish have just started to head up the Hudson en masse...yes there have been isolated catches of larger fish in the Hudson since March 1, but most anglers were not catching far upriver....I'll talk about this in another post.

[DarkSkies]

^^Seems the bigger bluefish are staying slightly out of the sandy beach area and have staged just a tad out there where there are now countless grass shrimp, supplemented by rainfish and spearing that just moved in in numbers last week.










Feeding window:

We finished up around 230. There were kayaks out there but, where I was there were no guys on the beach. Only three guys wading to the chest deep water about 2 to 300 yards out. They got into them good.

Thanks to Rip for that report.
I was trying to explain this to someone else yesterday. Hope I didn't get him mad. I'm a little intense in my explanations at times. There is a definite feeding window when it comes to bass and bluefish. If you are not aware of that you may get skunked and think there are no fish there at all.

Your job as an angler is to figure out what the window is, for that particular place you want to fish.









For bass, the usual window is at night. (for shore bound anglers)
This gets trumped if there are large quantities of bait which spur them to feed in the day (ie blitz action)


For bluefish, this window will mostly exist in the daytime.
Night feeds for bluefish are a whole different ballgame, and really depend on high bait concentrations, pinch points, tides, and current.

For the Raritan bay, the pattern has been that the bottom half of the tide will produce slightly
better bluefish action as the bluefish fill the flats to feed, and then taper off slightly to no action as there is a point after the tide turns when they leave.

As you learn to recognize this, you will learn when to stay and anticipate the action, or when to move on to another area.

Right now, bass are more frequently caught in some Raritan bay areas, near the bottom of the tide.
For those trying to get bass instead of blues, fishing the slack of the ebb, bottom, and bottom of incoming seems to be a good strategy now for northern bay areas.
Same for weakfish, where you will find higher activity around both tide changes.




Yesterday, the only really solid bluefish action (for shore anglers), with double digits being caught by guys who waded out, was toward the bottom of the tide.

There was one other area where they had tremendous action near the top, but that was because some large schools of rainfish moved in, and then the bite became bait-dependent, rather than tide-dependent.

[skinner]

Feeding window:
There is a definite feeding window when it comes to bass and bluefish. If you are not aware of that you may get skunked and think there are no fish there at all.

Your job as an angler is to figure out what the window is, for that particular place you want to fish.

For the Raritan bay, the pattern has been that the bottom half of the tide will produce slightly
better bluefish action as the bluefish fill the flats to feed, and then taper off slightly to no action as there is a point after the tide turns when they leave.

As you learn to recognize this, you will learn when to stay and anticipate the action, or when to move on to another area.

Right now, bass are more frequently caught in some Raritan bay areas, near the bottom of the tide.
For those trying to get bass instead of blues, fishing the slack of the ebb, bottom, and bottom of incoming seems to be a good strategy now for northern bay areas.
Same for weakfish, where you will find higher activity around both tide changes.

Dark I have to hand it to you. You are spot on on a lot of your analysis. You seem to be a fanatic about this. I hope this pays off for you and you get back to fishing again as you deserve some nice fish as well.
This is what Capt Al Ristori posted tonight:

Published: Saturday, May 19, 2012, 8:29 PM Updated: Saturday, May 19, 2012, 9:19 PM

"For some reason, striped bass have been hitting better on the incoming tide lately. I've heard that from several anglers, and Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands made the same observation today. His boat only had one bass today, but some big blues were added. Semkewyc noted that the water is discolored on the ebb."
http://www.nj.com/shore/blogs/fishin...e_incomin.html

[ledhead36]

Thanks dark good read, have been finding the bass hitting on the bottom of the tide as well. Not too many bass lately. I think the blues scared them off.

[DarkSkies]

Thanks people for the kind words.
I'm still not fishing regularly as my vehicle is being fixed.
It's killing me, you have no idea the withdrawal I'm going through....(maybe some of ya's do...)

Remember, though, regarding my analysis....
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.,....

And...to learn the things I now know...it took many disappointing trips trying to find fish, figuring out why they weren't there, and parlaying that,. along with a comprehensive log and friendships with some of the best of the best out there....to get a general sense of when one should be out there and putting in their time....

As I've stated over and over in many threads here...for the surf guys the fish are just not as concentrated as they were 8 short years ago....and it really has been more difficult to target and catch fish from the surf with artificials......

Anyone who tells ya it isn't.....isn't being completely honest.....


Thanks again....

[robmedina]

I know what you guys are saying and agree. I was actually saying the migratory fish are still around. I figured they would be gone by now. AS for me, I am going to target my friend the dogfish. At least I can make some money off the tagged fish, LOL!

[DarkSkies]

I know what you guys are saying and agree. I was actually saying the migratory fish are still around. I figured they would be gone by now. !

Rob, i have been estimating that 75-80% of the migratory bass have passed us by now.
This knowledge came from Capts and friends who fish for them up and down the Coast, and was developed from dozens of real-time conversations with these folks who fish every day for bass. I want to folks out there reading this to know that I do not claim to be an expert....,

However, I'm good at putting data together, and piecing similar conversations together with these folks, to try and come up with some kind of real consensus, as to where we are at, in different stages in the migration.

Being as accurate as possible is important to me....
It causes me to wince, when less than 2 weeks ago some well-known Capts were saying they were waiting for the bass to be done with the spawn, and they would show up "Any day now"...and then, a few days later, abandoning their striper trips and advertising fluke trips.....

I realize Capts have to fill the boats....they can't be completely candid at all times....but on the other hand...a little honesty goes a long way......some of the Capts I have spoken with regularly have admitted (with the exception of the few great weeks in the Raritan Bay fishery) this is the worst striped bass season ever for them..it saddens me that some aren't willing to admit that publically......

[SharkHart]

Traditionally the big bass run make their last stand off Monmoth beach and inside area of Shrewberry rocks and often are thin there when the run is in full effect IBSP to Long Branch. Well right now that was their last known position. I had have to guess few skirmishes or random small pods here on out.

Even though I did well with nicer fish this year it was all in super spots, no random pop ups which should happen, didnt even hear of any like that.

[DarkSkies]

Even though I did well with nicer fish this year it was all in super spots, no random pop ups which should happen, didnt even hear of any like that.

I know you keep extensive logs, Shark, try to be where the bass show up every year, because of it, and spend a lot of time on the water..

I appreciate your opinion about the bass being concentrated in certain spots/areas...there have been some cases where if you are off a mile or 2 when looking for them, you will not see anything happen at all.....and this is what worries me most.

1. no consistency,
2. the lack of activity along a whole area when a beach finally turns productive......


** Some have talked about the bass being all offshore this year.....
When you are counting bass that allegedly number in the millions, and not seeing anything inshore...this also speaks poorly of the general health of the fishery. In years past the guys fishing from land could count on at least a few, fishing that way, as those bass were part of the overflow, indicating a healthy biomass....

With the lack of fish along our shorelines,. or being concentrated in only a few areas....A few streets at a time, or one inlet one week, another inlet the next week, is a troubling indication of the poor health of the fishery....there are too many spots in between where there are no fish at all...thanks for your perspective.....

[DarkSkies]

The positive side to all this., Rob, is even though a majority of fish are in the Rhody/MA/Montauk triangle now....there is still enough of an uncertainty, that you, or I could find few bass at the beach, on any given night, as long as these ocean temps hold around 60 degrees. IMO these ocean temps are slightly lower for this time of year.








IF bait moves in, in certain areas, we could have a bite till the end of June in those areas. The disappointing part of my experience, is that when bait starts to fill in in a certain area, and I find it...by the next night it is usually gone......


Thanks for noticing the things you do,,,Rob....paying attention like you do, will make you a better fisherman in the long run....

[DarkSkies]

Back to the bass...and the Spring migration........
Based on conversations with folks who fish every day, it seems to some of us, that the bass did not follow normal migration patterns this year.....


1. Some of the big schools that had been so easy to find in the past, were replaced by smaller pods of bass, and smaller pods of bunker....for some reason this is the way things developed in some areas.....

2. It also seemed to some of us, that the bass weren't moving along the Coast, in the same way they had in years past.....again, smaller groups, odd migrational habits, where the bass would linger in one area longer than in the past, while others moved on more quickly, bypassing other areas.

3. Hurricane Sandy....definitely had a play in the way we are seeing some of this migrational shift....as it has changed structure, holes that used to be deep and hold schools of bass for weeks at a time,,,,,sloughs, and many areas of beachfront that used to be more receptive to bass migration....are no longer......Some back bay and river areas, that a lot of us counted on, where bass used to come in and feed, before moving on,,,have been covered by tons of sand, resulting in slow rises back to the level where they can support the smallest marine life.....What has been left has been the clam bed areas. As predicted, bass held in many of those areas for a time, giving guys the opportinity to have some great fishing.



4. Food and Forage....
I am obsessive about looking for and finding different kinds of bait when I am out there..knowing that the more forage I find, the more the likelihood will be of bass staging in certain areas for awhile.....

a. The normal small marine life, grass shrimp, crabs, crustaceans. etc. had its numbers severely diminished by Sandy., and in many areas has only started to come back to levels where you can see them. Despite weeks of looking for grass shrimp at night...I only recently started to see them....this is bad...for everything in the fishing food chain feeds on these shrimp and other small creatures.

When you hear about a back bay bite somewhere, (other than on bunker)...you can assure yourself that for some reason it's because that area has a higher concentration of small forage.

b. Many areas did not have good herring runs this year...The ones that did, were ones where a good bite developed....many of the rest have been barren wastelands....

c. The jetties that I know and love have been barren wastelands as well. and have only recently come to life (I have explained that to some of ya's, but may try to go into more detail when I get a chance...the death, of the most minute life on the jetties this winter...has been fascinating to me. and something I documented every time I was out there....

d. Bait migrational patterns have been different....in many cases the largest amounts of bait (other than bunker) have taken the offshore route, and the fish have followed them......





5. Striped bass numbers.....
Some folks said if only we were to save the bunker the striped bass population would be as strong as ever. What they didn't account for, was we were harvesting more than ever before.....
This has become evident last year, and most evident this year, when we have plenty of bunker, but guys are scratching their heads, asking where the bass are.....




Finchaser has a simple answer......"We killed them all"

Whether folks want to believe that, or not., this is the first year in a declining few, where people are publically starting to question if there are as many bass, as some claim there are.....
You have good fishermen going out every day, with decades of experience, and many are not finding bass. other than in the middle of (some) bunker pods...
Not trying to beat a dead horse, but any discussion of striped bass migration must take this possibility of declining numbers into account...

[buckethead]

Back to the bass...and the Spring migration........
Based on conversations with folks who fish every day, it seems to some of us, that the bass did not follow normal migration patterns this year.....

I am obsessive about looking for and finding different kinds of bait when I am out there..knowing that the more forage I find, the more the likelihood will be of bass staging in certain areas for awhile.....

a. The normal small marine life, grass shrimp, crabs, crustaceans. etc. had its numbers severely diminished by Sandy., and in many areas has only started to come back to levels where you can see them. Despite weeks of looking for grass shrimp at night...I only recently started to see them....this is bad...for everything in the fishing food chain feeds on these shrimp and other small creatures.

When you hear about a back bay bite somewhere, (other than on bunker)...you can assure yourself that for some reason it's because that area has a higher concentration of small forage.

b. Many areas did not have good herring runs this year...The ones that did, were ones where a good bite developed....many of the rest have been barren wastelands....

c. The jetties that I know and love have been barren wastelands as well. and have only recently come to life (I have explained that to some of ya's, but may try to go into more detail when I get a chance...the death, of the most minute life on the jetties this winter...has been fascinating to me. and something I documented every time I was out there....



d. Bait migrational patterns have been different....in many cases the largest amounts of bait (other than bunker) have taken the offshore route, and the fish have followed them......





5. Striped bass numbers.....
Some folks said if only we were to save the bunker the striped bass population would be as strong as ever. What they didn't account for, was we were harvesting more than ever before.....
This has become evident last year, and most evident this year, when we have plenty of bunker, but guys are scratching their heads, asking where the bass are.....




Finchaser has a simple answer......"We killed them all"

Whether folks want to believe that, or not., this is the first year in a declining few, where people are publically starting to question if there are as many bass, as some claim there are.....
You have good fishermen going out every day, with decades of experience, and many are not finding bass. other than in the middle of (some) bunker pods...
Not trying to beat a dead horse, but any discussion of striped bass migration must take this possibility of declining numbers into account...

Yes, could not agree more with these 2 points.

[porgy75]

I know what you guys are saying and agree. I was actually saying the migratory fish are still around. I figured they would be gone by now. AS for me, I am going to target my friend the dogfish. At least I can make some money off the tagged fish, LOL!

Hey I am glad to hear that too. dark and sharkheart you have to give us guys some hope! Without that there is nothing. rob what do you mean by making money off tagged fish. They give you money for reporting dogfish tags? Get outta town!

[DarkSkies]

Raritan Bay and NY Bight, including RB estuaries (Raritan River/ Hackensack River system, Arthur Kill, Staten Island) Spring 2014 -
(March - July)


I know this area better than many of the other areas I have fished, simply because I grew up fishing these places as they were closer. At different times I have probably walked and sunk, in most creeks and mud bogs in that area trapping killies and digging for tape and other worms. I would be embarassed to report the number of shoes I have lost wading around out there in the muck, and close calls I had when I couldn't get out of the mud.....
I have been fishing that area aggressively and consistently for the last 25 years......from boat, kayak, and land......

There are others who have more experience than me, and I defer to them when I need to learn more...such as the old timers who sparked my interest with numerous examples of bass spawning in the Raritan river decades ago.......




The Assessment Spring 2014:
(Note, the observations below are generalizations based on my experience, observations, and interviews with hundreds of anglers)
There is always a case where someone's experience doesn't fit what generally happens. Not looking to argue with anyone here....just looking to educate and raise awareness.....of what most seasoned anglers are (generally) seeing......


1. Later start - Later start to season because of colder Winter. This harsh winter probably damaged a lot of the early season forage population, but not as bad as 2013, when forage damage from Sandy was more marked and severe. I believe in 2013, grass shrimp didn't show up in many places until June. As of this date in 2014, there are very few grass shrimp and spearing in the usual places. They are there in the shallowest estuaries, but many of the other places are barren.

2. Dirty Water Bass - The early season is traditionally marked by anglers catching resident fish, which winter over in the Arthur Kill and other deep water ports of the lower Hudson river. You can ID these fish because they (usually) have a darker color and look "muddy" at times....hence the name "dirty water bass" and other names they have been called.
Every year, these bass are (generally) caught first by land anglers as the fish wake up from lethargy and start to roam the shallow water flats. These fish are available by the thousands.

In 2014, the numbers caught in this area, were only in the hundreds...
Boat anglers and others didn't start catching bigger fish regularly until April 17, 2014...
If the bass are so healthy, Where were these resident bass that are there every year?


3. Shallow water - Anglers usually start catching these (early) resident fish as the mud flats on the southern side of the bay heats up, near clam beds where the worms become active. For most years that (generally) means that the Southern side of the bay heats up first. The Staten Island and northern areas are generally closer to channels and deeper water, which (generally) means the bite turns on later in that deeper and colder water.




4. Find bait and find fish - any of the above general observations can be negated by large quantities of bait. In the spring it's usually large pods of bunker. To this day it amazes me that so few have an understanding of the bunker, or how they behave, other than asking others where to find them. When you begin to understand them better, you begin to see how it's all inter-related. We had an unusually warm winter back in 2011 when bunker were in some of the bays and harbors in February. Generally, they don't migrate from the south that early, but by March and April you can find them if you are willing to move around and look.

Generally, they come in with the flood tide, and leave with the ebb. The bunker you see are migrating as well. The ones you see today might not be the same ones you saw yesterday. Bunker also sometimes sit in deeper water in the channels and marinas, and only rise to feed when conditions are optimal.

I am amazed at the amount of times I'm out there crossing the channels in a kayak, and the bunker are just beginning to rise to the surface (boat traffic can also put them down). A Captain will blow right by me with binocs, looking for bunker, not realizing he just passed by the mother lode when he crossed that channel.

As mentioned, bass will follow large schools of bunker. If there are only a few big bass under them you might never know those bass are there. Hence the complaint from many who go out for a day of fishing "Well we saw all these bunker pods but nothing under them, very frustrating"

** A. Also, if there is an exceptionally large body of bunker, fish will follow them anyway, and the previous observations don't always apply, because the action is then dominated by the bunker.
B. When a large body of bunker leaves an area for the night, it tends to draw out most of the fish with it. Another frustration experienced by Capts and all fishermen. Understanding this, and fish behavior, is key to predicting where they could be the next day (Hint - bunker usually feed into the wind)

[DarkSkies]

5. Structural changes and fish location changes - this is so important I decided to put it by itself. Many folks out there are resistant to this logic, instead falsely using it as being the reason for "seeing the most bass I have ever seen!"
Hint - the bass are now more concentrated, in a lesser # of areas.


Why?
A. Sandy's storm devastated some bay estuaries. Some shoreline and creek areas still have not recovered and are devoid of life.
B. Many creeks that used to hold small forage and had clam beds a short distance from the mouth now have these clam beds covered by silt, which has greatly decreased the worm and clam beds in the bay.

C. Old Orchard Lighthouse and Sandy destruction - This was a significant event. If you are a seasoned fisherman or Capt you know why. The destruction of the lighthouse immediately distributed those rocks throughout the area, increasing the surface area and structure by up to 300%.
This area was traditionally known by most Capts to hold fish, and the bigger fish that came into the bay.
The old pattern was that, for weeks at a time after the spawn., bass would come down the Hudson, and sit and feed at old orchard before moving on. Sometimes they were there for weeks at a time. Many of the bigger fish above 30# came from this general area.

Since Sandy, this area has become prime hunting ground for bigger bass.

The pattern has shifted to one where they now show up, Before, and After, the spawn.
They are not always there, and no one is guaranteed a fish....but if you know and understand fish behavior, you would see that with the decreased % of other areas that have traditionally held fish....this Old Orchard area would
rise to the forefront.....more crabs, sea bass, black fish, and other forage fish than ever before....divers will confirm this.....the area is loaded with bait for most of the year.....


**And...it is part of the pattern that has changed and allows some mis-informed folks, to think there are more bass, when closer observation reveals that not to be true.....

















If you only fish from a boat, you know the names of usual places that hold bass and other fish in Raritan Bay....
* Flynns knoll and Romer shoals (clam beds)
* Old Orchard (up to 300% in structure area since lighthouse was destroyed)
* Round Shoal, and the entrance area to the Arthur Kill
* Mount Loretto and the shipping channels that graze the SI shoreline there
* Great Kills Harbor and the bass waiting a short ride outside.....(and sometimes in the harbor itself)
* Navy Pier to Keyport / the Belford clam beds and other clam beds in that area (The Navy pier will often hold fish when they are scarce in other areas. The channels are the gateway into the bay for migrating fish....the clam beds in that area can be confirmed by a conversation with any commercial clammer.)


There are a few more...but my point is this....a good Capt knows when these areas are most productive, and why...
Anyone who wants fish from a boat, you know the names of usual places that hold bass and other fish in Raritan Bay....
A good Capt, if they concentrated on those areas mentioned above, and fish are in the bay area....would most likely catch one, if they really worked the above areas thoroughly....
Someone who claims there are more bass than ever before, without recognizing the changes mentioned..... is either:
ignorant, arrogantly in denial, or has a hidden financial incentive to mis-represent the status of the bass #s to folks out there.



To Recap, for the RB/ NY Bight area (generally speaking)

1. Less shoreline structure and feeding area since Sandy
2. Higher concentration of the same fish in the areas that do hold food, with some becoming more prominent than before.
3. Offshore migration theories hold no water here, as fish must enter the bays in similar ways every year and travel the same routes to spawn.
4. Notably less quantities of larger fish. (the 20# bass has become the new "Large" Bass)
5. Significant gaps in year classes of other sized fish.