Delaware Bay Assessment, Spring 2011
It's well-known that the rips at the mouth of the Delaware Bay, or the "Cape May Rips" or simply "the Rips", produce good numbers of fish in the Spring and the late Fall. This happens as fish are coming in the Delaware to spawn in the river, and also as migrational fish come up or down from the Chesapeake Bay area,

This year, the fishing was good, but again a disturbing trend of less big fish caught than in recent years. There were less 50's caught. It seems the 30-40lb fish is becoming the new "50". In some cases, the 25lb fish are more prevalent than the bigger ones, when you look at overall reported catches.





Delaware River
Although some scientists don't consider this stock statistically significant, instead preferring to concentrate on the Chesapeake and Hudson stocks, there are a lot of people and businesses who depend on guys coming in and targeting these fish. The targeting is done during and after the spawn, though fishing is partly closed for bass during the initial spawn period. I'll refer here to the middle areas of the river, Phila to Trenton. It is here that most of the spawning activity takes place.

This year, there was about 2 weeks of very good action, beginning the first week of April. It petered off dramatically after that. Some also said the herring numbers were down. I saw that myself, as I was down there a few times, just watching the flotilla of boats. Some herring were caught. As little as 5 years ago, that herring fishery was vibrant and robust, with people lined up at various points along the shore catching them. Now, the numbers of herring have also decreased, prompting an eventual closure next year for herring fishing, and limits of 10/person this year.

Some would argue that it's all about the bait. With less herring in the river, less bass will be following them. In this particular instance, I would agree with that assessment. You can also blame the Spring rains, to some extent, which definitely affect this fishery. Water temps, turbidity, and flow affect it as well. Female striped bass need precise conditions to spawn and have their fry hatch at a good rate. Some may argue that those conditions did not all come together for 2011. To an extent, I would agree with that as well.

Remember that every year is different. You can't always have optimal conditions for a spawn, it's up to nature how that pans out.

What I'm trying to do here is highlight any trends that may be occurring, relative to the years 2005-2008, when recruitment was higher, and said to be the first years that any type of decline was noticed, statistically, or ancedotally.