Candid conversations with fishermen about striped bass....

[DarkSkies]

Some may think I'm too much of a fanatic about conservation.

I thought some of ya's would like to know what your fellow fishermen out there, are saying.

Striped bass have fully recovered, so why the intensity, is it still necessary?
As mentioned in many threads here, recent studies have shown that YOY indicators are down, and the ASMFC came out with a recent ruling stating that catch limits for striped bass will be recuced in the near future.

The publicity that happens when the big bass are off the shores of NC, VA, NJ, or LI is another thing to deal with. Any of us who fish a lot see the same guys keeping their limit every time. Even if they fish 5 or 6 days a week, they get their limit, they're keeping it...

What's wrong with that?
They're not breaking the law...what right do we or anyone else have to criticize them?

Very good point, what people are doing out there, is legal, and NOT against the law.

However, I thought it might be helpful to start chronicling some of what I am hearing fishermen say out there. I'm out fishin as much as I can when I'm not working. I meet a lot of different people. They all have stories to tell, and opinions on fishing.

IMO a guy/gal who is a fisherman will be more wiling to share honest opinions in a casual conversation with a fellow fisherman, than they will with a survey-taker.

So here, in unedited form, and as accurately as possible, I'll try to present to you folks out there, what your fellow fishermen are saying....

When possible, I'll try to document who they are, with first names. and how long they've been fishing. Hope you find this interesting, because I do...

[DarkSkies]

6-8-11
Conv with Joe Z, fishing for 35 years, fishes 6 days a week:

"I am around a lot of the surf blitzes and sometimes at the marinas when the boats come in. We are definitely killing too many big fish! These fish are not being replaced as fast as we catch them. Do you know it takes a trophy striper 20 or 25 years to get to that size? I eat fish, but the madness I have seen in NJ this season is sickening. I love to fish, so I still do it. But the greed and selfishness of some of these guys, it's just appalling."

[DarkSkies]

Monday, June 6. 2011
John, Ocean County

"Epic blitz, epic blitz! When I hear some of these surf and boat guys describe fishing I have to laugh. They know nothing about epic blitzes, 30 years ago, when the fish used to blitz all day, and sometimes for 3 days. These kids, they get into a bass blitz for a few hours, and call it epic. Some of them weren't even born yet when we had the most consistent fishing of my life, where you could get into blitzes in many locations. Fishing 3 or 4 years, and they think they know what an epic blitz is!"

[fishinmission78]

Dude, epic to some of these kids is if they get an hour of bass fishing. Many see the bigger bass and think that's how it always used to be. They know nothing about working for fish. If they can't catch a fish in 15 minutes, they bail.

[fishinmission78]

Monday, June 6. 2011
John, Ocean County

"Epic blitz, epic blitz! When I hear some of these surf and boat guys describe fishing I have to laugh. They know nothing about epic blitzes,"

If you count last Monday as being "epic" lol, we haven't had any great surf action in OC in 5 days. And this genius confirms -

6/13/11 UPDATED 12:05 PM We haven't had a bass hit the scales in 5 days now. I don't know what to tell you. The amazing inconsistency in the water temps, which have now dropped back down to 63, and one of the worst Springs weatherwise and participationwise, has us stumped

[williehookem]

I have not been fishing as long as a lot of you guys, but IU think the biggest thing I have seen is lack of respect out there. You will be fishing out there, and someone will come right alongside and fish 5' away from you. I think the old-timers would not have put up with that or threw the dude in the water. Now we don't say anything because you never know the guy could have a knife or gun.

[DarkSkies]

The title above says it all. I cannot believe that there are still people singing that tune.

Rather than speaking candidly about what I feel about people making comments like that, I think the charitable thing to do is say perhaps they are mis-informed....or they have not been fishing a long time, and only have the "fishing in the bunker blitzes" frame of reference with which they are making these assumptions.

Here's the latest in an exchange between Finchaser and another fisherman. I applaud Fin, grouchy as he is , for his diplomacy and restraint in giving an honest clear answer that IMO is clearly describes the current state of striped bass fishing......(reprinted with permission of Finchaser)
*******************


OrigPoster: (this person was referring to the bunker boats (bunker netters, AKA "Bait boats" with a "B" on the side) that are now offshore of Ocean County and Monmouth County...)
"Question is are they netting on the way to Point Pleasant... no wonder the bite stopped...."





Finchaser:
"We were out Sunday and yesterday and caught and released 16 bass, there are acres of bunker in some area's the recorder couldn't find bottom because of the mass of bunkers not visible on the surface.

There are just less big fish. what took 20 to 25 years to grow can't sustain the pressure and needless waste of big fish.

Divide up the bass to the over abundance of bunker schools and things look out of proportion, as many bunker schools have no bass.

Believe me, the bite along the beach has stopped, but out a mile it's game on the fish have just moved off.
People on party and charter boats don't need 3 large fish each.It's funny people won't eat big blues because they taste like bunker after they are in chum slicks and fed chunks but they love big bass that eat bunker day in and day out.Go figure."

*********************











Thanks for telling it like it is, Fin, and for exercising more than your usual diplomacy in that answer. There are tons of folks out there who truly believe the bunker boats are why they don't catch fish, or the netters in NC, or the illegal gillnetters in MD. They don't want to look at the white elephant in the room because it's too unpleasant to face for some....which is....that the biomass of striped bass on the East Coast is shrinking.

[jigfreak]

They don't want to look at the white elephant in the room because it's too unpleasant to face for some....which is....that the biomass of striped bass on the East Coast is shrinking. [/SIZE]

The white elephant is that half of them couldn't catch a fish if it weren't for bunker. I was out tonight and saw every good imaginable. Lucky a few guys didn't get hooks in them and have to go to the ER, the greed was so bad. Casting over lines, no courtesy, total level of idiocy. Half the guys I meet don't have the skills to find fish in the shadow lines of a bridge at night, or stalk quietly on a sod bank to find feeding fish, hours on end, as you patiently go from sod bank to sod bank.

[plugcrazy]

Bunker bunker everywhere not a bass to be found. I have seen that more than once.

[jonthepain]

You will be fishing out there, and someone will come right alongside and fish 5' away from you.

Twas ever thus

[captnemo]

Finchaser:
"We were out Sunday and yesterday and caught and released 16 bass, there are acres of bunker in some area's the recorder couldn't find bottom because of the mass of bunkers not visible on the surface.

There are just less big fish. what took 20 to 25 years to grow can't sustain the pressure and needless waste of big fish.

People on party and charter boats don't need 3 large fish each.It's funny people won't eat big blues because they taste like bunker after they are in chum slicks and fed chunks but they love big bass that eat bunker day in and day out.Go figure."

Big bass do not taste as good as the smaller ones, the ideal size for me being in the range of 28-34".
And the biggest bass, if they are eating bunker, their meat does taste different. If you have eaten a lot of different fish at different times of the year you should be able to tell the difference.

[bababooey]

Big bass taste like A**!
What captnemo said, 28-34" is the perfect eating size.
Or, you could just eat fluke. Imo the white meat from fluke is superior to striped bass. Call me craxy, but you don't have to worry about pcbs or anything like that when eating fluke. Fluke, it's the East coast "other white meat."

[wish4fish]

bababooey dude how do u kno what azz tastes like thats a little gay dude, unless u r talking about a chick i will check out the azz of a chick cuz chicks are like crack u do anything to get some bush, but dude, taste like azz i want to know what yur experience is, thats a scarey statement!

[williehookem]

^^
Back on topic, i found this digging through threads here, guys, in a thread called where are the striped bass. Hope it is ok to post here dark, if not please move where you think it fits best.

I found this on another site. This Capt charters in the NY Harbor area. Some guys say there is no decline, stripers are stronger than ever/ I suppose this guy, and his statistics, are Learn from the past, thats what the posts here basically say, and I agree with them.

Here is what he said:
bass decline

"I have charters for bass Monday to Friday, 5-9 PM, May 1 to Nov. 10. I have been fishing NY harbor since 1994. By '96, 5 fishermen were averaging 20-30 bass, per night, clam chumming. Right through the summer!! Most fish were 23-27 inches. We would catch a few each week that were over 28 inches, but not many.

Today,.....same spots,..... we catch 6-8 fish a night. Of those 75% are now over 28 inches. School bass are missing. Ask the guys who fish Little Neck Bay in the spring. They'll tell ya' the schoolies are NOT like they used to be.

We are KILLING TOO MANY bass!!
My suggestion? 36 inch minimum size, one fish per person. "

[DarkSkies]

Conversation with Ed & Wally....

Met these 2 guys the other morning, after I woke up from fishin all night and went to scout out any signs of life as there wasn't even a morning bite.....

They have over 85 years experience fishing the salt between the both of them. Both remembered the moratorium, and when fishing was something so good that you didn't have to drive all over to chase the fish, they were just there, running up or down the beach, Spring or Fall....

Some comments....

Fluke -
They were lamenting the hundreds of surf fluke they caught for 2011, with nary a keeper.

Bluefish -
They were reminiscing all the great times we had fishing the surf for big bluefish, and trying to remember the last time we had a great spring or surf run of tackle-busting bluefish.

Bunker and bunker boats -
They had no issue wiith the out of state bunker boats and trucks coming into our state to buy bunker and ship it out of state...this was discussed as we looked upon miles of bunker in the surf, nothing on them, and a few dozen boats clustered tightly together livelining bunker with nothing to show for it. They felt the focus should be on saving the bass, not the bunker....


Fishermen, boats, fishing, and respect of fishermen for others in general....
They said.."If you have a boat and can't catch a fish, you should take up golf! We are retired and like to fish a certain stretch of beach. Each year it gets worse and worse. Fishing is nothing like it used to be"

Weakfish -
"We don't know what is happening to all the spike weakfish. 2 weeks ago, we were catching (and throwing them back) every day in the fall. It boggles the mind how many of them there are this year, and yet they never make it to adulthood. It's probably the gill-netters. We used to catch weakfish every year like clockwork, to 13lbs, now that never happens anymore"

Striped bass -
"We have a friend who fishes almost every day of the fall. He keeps a log and fishes the same area we do. In 2009, he caught over 100 striped bass (keepers). In the fall 2010 he got 20. "

[DarkSkies]

Ocean County-

Someone I ran into one morning, after seeing miles and miles of bunker, with nothing under them....


"I usually average 300 bass a year give or take. I have 41 this year."

[DarkSkies]

Another conversation with a veteran angler...
re-printed with permission....



"The past two days of non stop casting takes a toll on my body, not as young as I once was. Saturdays results were just a continuation of Friday, nothing seen, nothing caught. Not even blues around, not that I'm looking to catch them. But when they are around I feel like the Bass may follow.

I'm glad ya got a few last night, but there should be more. Part of me wants to believe both sides of the threads about the abundance or scarcity of the Bass. I just don't want to convince myself that the Bass are not there in numbers, but my catch ratio doesn't lie. I also want to believe what some folks are saying about abundance, but I just don't see it.

I know I don't fish the most productive spots due to the crowds -- I don't like the arrogance or just plain dis-respect for the Bass. But it makes me try harder, crazy, I know, but that's my game. The past two days you could see for miles and beyond, I couldn't find any evidence of action among those sights, the ocean was dead, not even a blue. Years ago we would wait for that first hint of light, to look out and see some action somewhere, some life, a hint of hope that something might come in close, pull drag, bring some sense of accomplishment. Today I see nothing.

I'm far from a blitz caster, anyone can catch in those situations most of the time.

I'm looking to catch from my experience and abilty to figure out what the Bass is thinking. Recently I have been going back to old producers and against the grain, just to see what's going on, but the result is still the same. I love the front and haven't fished the back in years. My challenge has always been the front."

[hookset]

Part of me wants to believe both sides of the threads about the abundance or scarcity of the Bass. I just don't want to convince myself that the Bass are not there in numbers, but my catch ratio doesn't lie. I also want to believe what some folks are saying about abundance, but I just don't see it. [/I]

I know I don't see it either. I fish where the crowds are because it seems more fish come by where there is current. That hasn't played out for me lately. It is harder and harder to catch just one bass. I don't have years of logs like some of you guys, but something smells, and it's not the stinking clams on the beach.

[jigfreak]

Ocean County-

Someone I ran into one morning, after seeing miles and miles of bunker, with nothing under them....


"I usually average 300 bass a year give or take. I have 41 this year."

I'm usually at 3-400 bass for the season. My numbers this year are similar, 33 this year so far. One of the worst years ever for me. The fish that usually come in the back chasing bait have been ghost fish, the bait has been scattered, as well as the fish, definitely a year that will go down in the record books as one that I want to forget.

[clamchucker]

darkskies what you are relaying here is absolutely true.