Didn't suck everywhere in 1980's.
But in sure sucked in a lot of places that it didn't in the past.

This pattern is eerily familiar to me , from the perspective of doing this since the mid 60's.
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You're correct Jay - not everywhere. But that is exactly what happend in the 80s run at Block - it was phenominal out there - the last buffalo so to speak - but it sucked most every where else. And its not just this season from the surf - it has been getting progessively worse for the past 5 years or so. I'm a realist and have seen good seasons and bad seasons, its all the nature of what we do. But then there are bad trends - we surfcasters are in a bad trend and its not just in certain areas - I discussed this at length with Tim Coleman before he passed. He saw the same trend and we likened it to the "canary in a coal mine" analogy. Surfcasters are the first to see lack of striped bass, we we start s#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g for wind its a warning sign.

There are theories that as a stock is pressured heavily, large fish tend to aggregate. Idea is that there's less of them so the big ones tend to group up for spawning purposes. As the stock diminishes the remainder clumps together. It can sometimes create the appearance that the stock is healthier than it actually is, as catch appears high- even though the biomass is low. This has been seen in reef fish, and has been in the news recently due to Atlantic cod.

I don't know if bass follow the same theme, seeing as they're anadromous. But it's something to think about, and could be an explanation for the isolated pockets of extremely large fish.

I wonder what the numbers are like offshore- on Stellwagen, Jeffreys, etc.

MY BEST YEAR EVER FROM BOAT. I ENJOYED A FEW (WHAT I CONSIDER)EPIC NIGHTS WITH MULTIPLE PBs. NOT MUCH FROM SHORE SINCE JUNE. NOT MUCH SHORE EFFORT EITHER THOUGH.

So far I am happy I do better in the fall most years any way .have yet to go to the canal for which I am Happy, the new boat has had me splitting time between the two. but I wont throw the towel in on the season yet

I'd say that if it wasn't for my kayak and freshwater fishing it would be a complete loss of a year, but even the freshwater action has been a little off this year.

Fortunately I have been seeing some decent action in some of my fave waterways.

Hope the fall proves that we were worried for nothing (but I won't commit that to stone!)

...been really tough...i have had to work for fish and the ones i have found have been small and few...spring was tepid and summer has been pretty brutal...

Sorry Guys I am not buying the chicken little the sky is falling because of a one bad spring , not saying there are not issues.. but what happen in the 80's had years of preceding issues (big gill net hauls down south that help collapse the stock) commercial pressures . what do we think are the proceeding factors
if this is a repeat ?

If you have been paying attention the last 6 years or so you would have seen them and read about them here even. Not only are we killing them, they die from disease and predation, the spawning has not been that great, could be due to weather, enviroment, a bunch of stuff but if there is not a few large classes of fish then it's tough on the species to maintain while giving recs 2 a day and continuing commercial killing of pretty much large pods of similar fish. There is a reason the fish are not as abundant and in the usual palces, there is simply less of them:uhuh:
the guys on the water like Clammer have seen it coming and many agree. It's not a chicken little thing at all.

You'll see.
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Sounds like he works for the ASMFC
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Indeed he will!!:uhuh:

I've only been at this game for about 10 years or so now (in fact this is my 10th season) and I have heard rumblings of a decline almost every year - BUT this is the first year where it pretty much seems to be a coast wide consensus!

much of what you say is true. but its been true for the past 60 years I fished the days of 1 fish 32 inches and had a hard time catching a schoolie no less a a 32 inch fish.. Just don't see one bad season as the end of the bass . I would love to see a 1 fish rec limit and make it a slot fish 32 - 34in I do what I can I catch and release 99% of what I catch ..
Sadly I have caught more keeper bass than keeper Fluke Hopefully
for all of us some common sense will be applied to the issues to reduce mortality and increase stocks and provide substantiate stocks for the future :soon: