Late Spring Recap
June is usually a great month for fishing ...some observations so far.....
(I'll try to post this in the S&A State of the Fishery thread when I get a chance)
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...of-the-fishery


1. The Northern activity in the Raritan bay/NY Bight.... (as had been predicted)....petered out as the Hudson Bass went up the Hudson to spawn....by some accounts it was one of the shortest-lived spawns in recent years....By May 16 bass were moving downriver.....and as of this date have moved on quickly.
Although some have remained in the RB/ NY Bight...in the usual areas....A large % of bass are now in the Western Sound....along with giant bluefish.....following the vast schools of bunker.




2. The BBay bass and blue action seemed to wane in consistency....but the inlets, and anywhere the bunker are...still seem to hold some solid fish.........




3. Weather is probably a big factor in that action, or more importantly the specific pattern....South and SE winds the last 2 weeks have brought the surf in Ocean and parts of Monmouth counties down to as low as 46 in some areas......It seems fish are being trolled out deep...also some action in that early pre-dawn window in bunker schools......but no one is jumping up and down and calling this the best year for bass ever......




4. Chesapeake/Delaware Bass.....The naive optimism of some puzzles me.....I recently was sent some internet comments about how most bass are "still" down South....

In some examples these are specific, concentrated cases..........what has happened is there are some usual hotspots....from Assateague Island to the Atlantic County NJ Area...where the bass will gather and feed for a short detour on the northern migration.
This year...many of the inshore hotspots seem to be where highest concentrations of bunker....and squid....have been found....
Bass have held in Southern NJ for far longer than they usually do.....again due primarily to high forage concentrations

Nonetheless, Chesapeake and Delaware bass are already being caught along the SS of LI and out east in Montauk.....
It seems some of them are again bypassing Central Jersey and migrating across the Mudhole,.





5. Chesapeake Bass.....2 weeks ago.....Pebbles and I were at a conference in Va Beach.....We came back over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge....20 miles of bridge, and not one striped bass was being caught....all the locals had turned their attention to Drum...
It was a sobering thought to me...that the vast Chesapeake....had been (emptied) of bass....

I'm sure a few could have been caught by some of us at night from the bridge pilings.....but the lack of striped bass was shocking....I sent some of you texts to remember that fact the next time a Charter Capt boasts there are "more striped bass than ever".





6. Striped bass can move quickly on their Spring and Fall migration.....documented as much as 10-15 miles per day......I have gotten so many comments this year..."Well we crushed em there yesterday and today it's like the dead sea".....
It's difficult to predict where they will be from one day to the next...when they are constantly moving....




7. Beach Replenishment......Dirty Water.....Loss of forage

The beach replenishment, and disruption of good bottom, has definitely changed the pattern of bass and other species hugging the beach on their migration....


However...to those who would say those bass have all simply moved offshore....I ask them to explain the presence of giant bluefish....in the very surf the striped bass are absent from....

No matter how you look at it....beach replenishment has changed some things for the worse...and it will be a long time before things revert back to how some of us remember...

Something to think about....