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...