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.