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Old 07-22-2014, 05:48 PM
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Default FISHERMEN/Capt. Ron

I can honestly say, I've never had to work so hard in my life to catch fish!!
Even with the best of conditions in the prime area's I have fished for 35 years the bite has been "tough" too say the least. When we do find a line of fish, like this morning, a nice pic of shorts and a couple keepers, we go back to do it again, and catch crap! Everyone asks, what do you think is going on? Was it Sandy, Water temps, lack of bait? For the first time in my career, I have NO answer.
I have fished rough bottom, mud, snags, channels any place that I thought would produce even with the best of conditions only to come home disappointed.
Yes, we have been catching some very nice fish, probably more quality fish on average than the past couple of years, just not enough. There have been times when we could fish the beach and always have action on the shorts just to keep the customers happy, that hasn't happened this season. Our beach has been dead. I thought with the 18 inch size limit this year, some of the old haunts I've fished on the NY side would be a home run only to find a few fish here and there.
What scares me is the lack of bait life on the bottom, the shrimp and readings we would see when the bite used to be on...what happened? Was Sandy that powerful that it killed off all the start of the food chain?
We started to see more bottom life in some area's this past week and a few more short fish but nothing like it should be. This time of year the Reach channel should be loaded with bait and it's not, with the exception of Bunkers, and we all know Fluke ain't eating those bunkers!
So what do we do? We go out everyday with the same passion to catch our customers fish, we look for the perfect drifting conditions, we wait for the change of tide bite and pray that today will be the day our customers will remember, and not for getting skunked!
All of us do the best we can do, we take pride in being the best at it but sometimes Mother Nature bites us in the ass and brings us back to reality. We are just fishermen, we fish, if they are hungry and here, we catch them, certainly not for lack of effort on my part, or anyone else's....

We are Chartered this coming "FRIDAY AND SATURDAY" Morning.
Capt. Ron
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Last edited by 1captainron; 07-22-2014 at 05:55 PM..
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Old 07-22-2014, 05:53 PM
fishingmortgageman fishingmortgageman is offline
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Default Re: FISHERMEN/Capt. Ron

Well said Ron. It is not just your boat that this is happening to. I fish with some of the best captains from Point Pleasant to Keyport and everyone is having a very tough time. Something has changed and no one can figure out what that is. I just hope that good fishing returns at some point, even if it isn't this year. I guess that we are being taught the difference between fishing and catching.
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Old 07-22-2014, 05:56 PM
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Default Re: FISHERMEN/Capt. Ron

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Originally Posted by fishingmortgageman View Post
Well said Ron. It is not just your boat that this is happening to. I fish with some of the best captains from Point Pleasant to Keyport and everyone is having a very tough time. Something has changed and no one can figure out what that is. I just hope that good fishing returns at some point, even if it isn't this year. I guess that we are being taught the difference between fishing and catching.
Thanks Eric, but it's a tough lesson to be learned, even after all these years!
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Old 07-22-2014, 06:12 PM
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Default Re: FISHERMEN/Capt. Ron

Quote:
Originally Posted by fishingmortgageman View Post
Well said Ron. It is not just your boat that this is happening to. I fish with some of the best captains from Point Pleasant to Keyport and everyone is having a very tough time. Something has changed and no one can figure out what that is. I just hope that good fishing returns at some point, even if it isn't this year. I guess that we are being taught the difference between fishing and catching.
Numbers are off from NJ to MA. Sandy was a huge storm and changed the bottom for sure, but imo larger forces are at work. There is no way climate change doesn't affect every fish species in the ocean, from migratory patterns to predation habits and everything in between.

Hopefully I'm wrong and next season things will bounce back to normal, if any of us can even define "normal" at this point. Whatever happens I'm sure the pros will find a way to connect fish with fishermen.
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Old 07-22-2014, 06:16 PM
dales529 dales529 is offline
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Default Re: FISHERMEN/Capt. Ron

Thanks Ron for the Honesty and nice to see a Professional Capt start the conversation most of us non professionals have been having. With your work effort if anyone will find them its you.

Possibly its a little bit of everything and cant argue the habitat was affected by Sandy. Another issue in a year like this is the lack of boats out on any given day from MI to the Hook. Some days you only pass 3 boats in 20 miles. the point being that in a year like this you figure someone even by dumb luck will stumble on a hot area but its a desert out there even on the nice days. maybe weekends excluded but weekdays for sure.

I think some NEW set of numbers for that said "hot" area or depth is going to have to be established through trial and error and be an area hardly ever fished or not fished in years for Fluke. the Fish have obviously moved somewhere to adapt to the new habitat, lack of bait etc and it may be new to all of us.

sad part is we probably overfished our quota already
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Old 07-22-2014, 07:34 PM
CatchEmUp CatchEmUp is offline
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Default Re: FISHERMEN/Capt. Ron

Everyone talks about Sandy and what it did to the bottom. But how about what we did AFTER Sandy. All this post-Sandy beach replenishment PUMPING AND DUMPING millions of cubic yards of sand into and onto the shore. Completely BURYING big jetties that formed the building blocks of so much ocean life, thereby OBLITERATING entire ecosystems. There is NOTHING to keep the predatory fish there because there is NOWHERE for the baitfish and all the other creatures to hide. The whole food chain, from bottom to top buried.

Vast stretches of our shoreline have become UNDERWATER DESERTS. If anything they should have extended the jetties. Hundreds of millions of dollars getting spent that gets washed away during any and every storm, big and small. Where does it all go? It coats, covers and fills in all the holes, depressions and other rock piles further off shore all of which used to attract and hold fish. It's a brutal cycle and the ACOE in their infinite wisdom is going to keep doing this every 6 years for almost the next 30 years. And all the beach goers, waterfront property owners, mayors and politicians have bought into it - jumping up and down saying look at how much $$ I got you to save your beaches!!! It's a massive money grab all at the expense of our fishery and all that lives (or lived) under our marine waters.

Believe it.

Last edited by CatchEmUp; 07-22-2014 at 07:50 PM..
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Old 07-22-2014, 07:34 PM
tuna john tuna john is offline
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Default Re: FISHERMEN/Capt. Ron

nice honest report that adds to your credibility. I fish mostly Cape May and fluking has been pretty good so far, for the 1st time in years we are seeing a decent bite in the Delaware bay as well, but to agree with your point we wondered the same about the stripers here. While we see reports of N Jersey boats crushing we sit here and wondered the same as you. It seems Mother nature does what it does and we just need to adapt. Im sure things will get better soon. If I do get up that way to fish it would surely be on your boat..
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Old 07-22-2014, 08:05 PM
MikeyP MikeyP is offline
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Default Re: FISHERMEN/Capt. Ron

Hradest working Capt out there Ron for sure!! Well said...Im a surf guy and dont get on the boat much but i will say from the beach aspect of it...With the exception of 1 spot i fish "kind of"in the backj the beach front has been dead for me this year...Even by the rocks has been slow were as a few years a go i couyld go out and catch 10-20shorts off the beach and a keeper...Not this year in the ocean...I agree with Catch'emUp i 100% blame the useless beach replenisment project...It killed the bass bite off the beach and now the fluke bite...they have literally buried all the good beachs that have alway held fish...Its a damn shame how much wasted time/money go into that and how much of the oceans eco system they have killed....I hope it changes but im not feeling good about it
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Old 07-22-2014, 08:13 PM
abbashaya abbashaya is offline
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Question Re: FISHERMEN/Capt. Ron

Hi Capt Ron: whats happening with the night fishing with Capt dan?
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Old 07-22-2014, 08:15 PM
NoLimit NoLimit is offline
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Default Re: FISHERMEN/Capt. Ron

Climate change?!??!!

Yeah, it changes just about every day and most nights too.
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