It's Not Over Yet!!
 

Left the barn to a choppy Raritan bay! The ocean wasn't any better with some nice size rollers in the mix! I headed out with my buddy John to a Sea Bass honey hole that has produced over the years for me this time of year. Well the spot did not disappoint! Constant action and only had spot lock once! We only keep sea bass over 13" and we keep 8. Plenty of blackfish action also most a inch under size. Also dropped a real big blackfish but that's fishing! Clam and green crab did the trick! All and all a fine day on the water. Get out there if you can. The fishing is still good. Tight Lines!

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

No it’s not! Went out of Cape May yesterday and got a quick easy three man limit of nice fish up to 18 inches! Was a little bumpy on the way out but it turned out to be a nice day! Should still be good for a couple more weeks hopefully

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

Good to know and thanks for the report!

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

I guess all us "experts" on ocean storms, and how they impact seasonal migration patterns of salt water fish need to study a bit harder. Might be enough fish around for small boaters on certain pieces, just not the big concentrations that a party boat with 30 guys fishing would need.. Otherwise why have most of the bottom boats switched over to Stripers?

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

Yea pretty sure most of the party and charter boats have switched over to Stripers. Not like you can make it a Striper Seabass combo since you're restricted to possessing Stripers any time outside the 3 mile line.

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

Do you think stripers draw more of a crowd? People seem to fish what’s trendy nowadays? Stripers are probably the most sought out fish in Jersey. Down here in Cape May we don’t get a showing like up north so everyone keeps bottom fishing and it’s usually good until the end of the year!

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

Very different up north. A very consistent Striper fishery and you can practically set your watch by it and people look forward to it.

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

Thanks for the report, great to hear the bite continues. What were the water temps looking like up north?

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

Just curious what size boat and start to finish how much was your spot kick batteries and equipment install etc

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

Oh yeah I know. It’s world class fishing. Hasn’t been good below Barnegat for a few years now.

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

You can blame Virginia, Cooke Inc. / Omega Protein and the ASMFC for that.

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

64 - 65 degrees inshore

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Ain’t that the truth. Definitely other factors at play to but when there’s no bait there’s no fish.

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

It's the fact they grossly overestimated the reproductive estimates of bunker. As a result they also grossly overestimated how many could be harvested by Cooke Inc. without impacting the sustainability of the stock, the impact on water quality and the bays inhabitants like stripers. Now nature's natural filtration system for the bay keeping it clean for generations isn't close to the numbers needed and the Chesapeake as a result has become an unsustainable cesspool causing historically low young of the year numbers of juvenile striped bass. If a stock has no recruitment, it has no future. Add to that the predation by blue catfish which Virginia stocked decades ago again based on bad advise from fisheries management, also using Peer Reviewed protocols, no one factored in the expansion of the stock and extent of predation and damage they'd cause and now we not only have a problem in the bay, we have a coastal wide problem with stripers and a problem with every species including crustaceans in the Chesapeake.

It's somewhat equivalent to when F&G stocked too many lake trout in Round Valley not realizing natural reproduction was taking place which caused an overpopulation stunting growth rates of the entire stock. Cause and effect, the ocean is one tightly balanced food chain. Change one dynamic and you impact every link in the food chain. With stripers, management is just now addressing the result, still not addressing the cause. Cooke Inc. / Omega One needs to be pushed out of the bay and to some degree the ocean, urban and agricultural pollution needs to be addressed and to Andy's point on a different thread, an invasive species, the blue catfish which was stocked by Virginia, needs to be addressed and eradicated. They're taking over the bay and surrounding estuaries and rivers killing everything.

All this, by the way, using data from processes which passed Peer Review which is why I 've always said on this site that fisheries management based purely on scientific Peer Reviewed data, while necessary, not accompanied with common sense best in class industry practices will never end with the intended and desired results.

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

That's still swimming temps!

Re: It's Not Over Yet!!
 

There are still some sea bass inshore for small boaters, but inside 15 miles, there is no concentration of them. On the party boats, it is at least 10 to 1 porgy to keeper sea bass. It will probably be that way for another 3 or 4 weeks until the sea bass start to concentrate offshore.