What is the worst surf fishing fall run you remember in recent years? I say 2009

[nitestrikes]

My worst? The 2 years before the shut down in the 80's

I think if people could be transported in a time warp back to those 2 years a lot more people would be on board for fighting to keep bass around.

[rockhopper]

It's like it wasn't that bad after all guys, there were a few good weeks. It took forever before the fish were finally concentrated. I don't know what that's about.

[hookset]

I think if people could be transported in a time warp back to those 2 years a lot more people would be on board for fighting to keep bass around.

Yessir! I was looking at some of threads and noticed this. I caught some nice fish this fall but would say there seemed to not be a lot of big fish in the surf, on the whole. There were concentrations for sure, but not in many places. I would have to say that 2010 was my worst fall in the past 10 years. The times of no fish far surpassed 2009. Just my .02.

[vpass]

I definitly would say this fall was my worst in 10 years. I almost caught no bass in Nov.I had 15 straight skunks in a row, I had 2 good days in Nov. and they were all small fish. My Oct. was better then avg. with many keeper fish. The last time I had a good Oct. better then this past Oct. was 2003.

[plugcrazy]

This year you could see a difference, and it was for the worst. Even the blitzes of little rats didn't happen that much. They say all the bass were out further, but what about the little ones?

[clamchucker]

This year, by far the worst in a very long time. And I cover a lot of ground when I fish, from IBSP to Sandy Hook.

[bluesdude71]

I would kind of agree with clamchucker. The last great run of fall bass and bluefish I remember was about 3 or 4 years ago. I was commuting once a week to NJ to help take care of my uncle, who was very sick, so I was fishing every weekend in NJ

We had some fantastic bluefish action starting in August. Then it was pretty good bassing in the back bays and rivers from August till Oct.There were a lot of peanuts around. When they left the bays, the action died down around Columbus Day. Then the action started up in the surf, massive bluefish blitzes on the peanuts. I don't remember catching a lot of big surf bass then, but there were schoolies galore. And so many bruiser bluefish we got tired of catching them. I think at that time Oct and Nov were hot, and it slowed down a bit in Dec, but we still caught a few bass. I think it was also a little warmer that Dec, I remember fishing around Christmas and I didn't need a heavy jacket, just neoprene waders. I wish we could have that fishing back again.

[DarkSkies]

Thought I would bump this thread to the top. Some interesting trends are starting to develop here...


The old timers I met on the beach last week said the following..

Conversation with Ed & Wally....
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....

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. "