PROWLER 5 - THANKSGIVING DAY - STRIPER REPORT

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by hammer4reel

Not this year .
And I spend a lot of time black fishing in October through February .

Water temps makes the blackfish move off of the many shallow water areas that can be good in October .
It concentrates the fish in less areas causing competition.
Colder water also pushes the dogfish out to even deeper water .

Right now dogfish are harassing anything that wants to come out to start a bite .
Catch a small blackfish and there are 3 or more dogfish. Trying to grab it while you’re bringing it in .
Drop a crab down and dogfish are all over it .

Your explanation makes good sense of course, and I totally understand what you are saying.. However, blackfish are a lot more active and aggressive in 60 degree water than they are in 40 degree water. They might be more concentrated, but they are also a lot slower.. Yes blackfish will hit in cold water we all know that, but as I have said here several times, whats known as "blackfish weather" is relly a myth. Cold winter weather spitting snow, is not prime time for blackfish.. When anglers had other cold water species to fish for, flounder/ling/whiting/cod, blackfish were pretty much left alone for the winter.. The mid winter blackfishing that so many guys are enanmored with today only started when the other species were decimated and there was really nothing left to fish for... Even the "blackfish specialists" moved on to whiting and ling by this time of year.. Dogfish were never the problem years ago they are today.. They were simply badly outnumbered.. You might catch one or two but usually before they got a chance to get to a bait, a tog would grab it.. Not that way anymore.. Dogs have the upper hand because no one wants to catch them, and the commercial market is pretty limited.. Europeans still eat them, but Americans want nothing to do with them.. Once people discovered how good blackfish are to eat, as well as how sporting they are to catch, the writing was on the wall.. I can recall gorgeous October weekends years ago, when blackfish boats barely scraped together enough guys to sail, while bluefish boats were so packed guys had to fish over each others shoulders.. Blackfish were easily the least popular "game species" in ny/ nj.. Times have really changed... I personally think the reason so many guys complain about the tog fishing these days is the simple fact that too many have been caught and eaten, they are very slow growing, and the population is way down.. Just my uneducated opinion.... bob