Small Fish....Where are they?
 

At the end of my line.....
Well, after all the battles that go on here about "bass stocks depleting"...."no small fish around".....ect,
Well anyone that thinks that should come throw an eel in the water in SE Mass, cause I have never caught so many small fish and had my eels get blowjobs from so many small fish as I have been experiencing for the past week.
I assure everyone there are more than a bazillion 14" to 26" fish around. So the sky is not falling.

WRONG ><><<

pocket of schoolies at your local does not mean it is a representation of the entire coast.
Good news anyway.

We've had tons of small fish on the North Shore also Mike or at least that's what myself and the guys I communicate with have experienced.

i can concur with Veraka from Boston Harbor
to Glcstr and most pts inbetween, for the last 3 yrs

i've had cookie cutter nights from 14" to 26",
throughout the year~ Spring and Fall ~ more than once.

a wide sampling of anectdotalness, i'd say~~~
still, WE need to go to ~1 @ 36"~ and ~FIX the FORAGE~

Isolated incident
 

If all the small fish are in SE MA, then their is a problem indeed.

They should be spread all over the coast from NJ-ME. And that does not appear to be the case.

based on what, Woody? a couple of posts here??

i left out that in the Fall in RI, from Sachuest to SoCo, and in the Fall in NH, from Salisbury to Ptsmth Harbor,
i've had similar nights of schoolies galore, as well as witnessed blitzes of pods of teeners to mid 20#'ers.
i don't think that it's just me, Woody m'man, do you???

how's about some Maine-iacs chiming in?
i'd wager that they are seeing similar action out there!

I've had many 29-32" fishing slamming 15" pogies all spring (Upper Bay);summer, all along RI Coast...and from what friends tell me, the same at BI.......also, check reports from Western LI Sound right now....

JMAC//RED LITE

I don,t consider 26" to 32' fish schoolies ;;

back in the day ......commecial .schoolies were 6# & under //


except for early spring & most holdovers .......... there are very few twinkies ll

I can see it & have watched it for @ least the last 6 - 7 years ... there has been a steady drop in [true] schoolie fish .
let see if some of the fisherman that enjoy fishing schoolies will post ;
B/I & the fish busting on the sand eels explosion don,t count ///////// which 98% are larger than schoolies .

Talk to the charter captains that have based there business on shallow water plugging ;;


BTW nice fish JMAC :fishin:

I haven't seen or heard of a fish in Maine less than 20". Sure they must be out there and honestly would mind catching a bunch of them for fun but havent' seen it. Many fish in the "slot" 20 to 26 and I'd say most fish that I've caught with my buddies have averaged around 27" Honestly compared to last several year everything seems larger in the same area using the same techniques. Just my experience.

Once again, you can walk on the bass at Race Point in the middle of July.

WALK on them. Most bass I've ever seen this year.

pockets of no fish at your local does not mea it is a representation of the entire coast either.

Local accounts are helpful but tell us little depending on scale is the important part.

Remember, it works both ways. Fantastic fishing in a few locations in no way, shape, or form is indicative of the stock's health. Distribution of a species, both across age range and geographic area is a far better indication of what is going on than a mess of 30 lb bass off race point or 60 lb bass off RI.

One state or even new england alone doesn;t tell the story...this is why they study the sheet out ofthese fish...no questions on good science with S-B...pleanty of it...

Nice fish Joe. Congrats

Small Fish....Where are they? Usually at the end of my line :wall:

I concur that we have a lot of smaller fish on the north shore, but in my experience this year, under 20 inch fish are few and far between, most are 24-30.
I also didn't run into the schooliepalooza I usually do this past spring, could just be the bait was in a different place this year...

Wrong. You are confusing data and science. There is plenty of good data on SB, but when that data is selectively used to support an agenda it does not qualify as "good science". I have been told by a professor emeritus at WHOI that during a meeting with several senior NOAA scientists 2 years ago they reluctantly admitted their population estimate is alarmingly soft and could be off by as much as 50%. If that is the case then the stock is being dangerously overfished.

Keep in mind also that "good science" does not translate into "good fishery policy". Take a look at NE ground fish management and that is immediately apparent. The same process is at work in the ASMFC and it smells the same.

i've caught small fish this year,

from the Harbor to Gloucester.
14" to 24", i had a 16" fish inhale one of BB conrad's!!!
or at least tried to, tough li'l bastage he was, tried to hook me.

I have only seen more and more.

Either I am getting better at catching them or there are just a lot.

When I say a lot, I mean a crap-ton. That is Central CT area in the last four months.

I went swimming at Plymouth Beach on Sunday afternoon. The parking lot was packed and a lot of people swimming. Brought one rod and while my wife and grandson played on the beach and in the sand, I walked to Berts cove and fished between the jetties. It was an ebb tide and there was some brown weed. Did manage one 19" on sea worms. Kind of surprised me because there were so many people swimming and dogs in the water that I doubted I'd catch anything. I also caught a skate. I fished for about 3 hours.