Are the chickens comming home to roost?

[dannyplug1]

Been talking with my friends, it seems that there is a lack of fish along the whole coast. I have not hit any decent fish slow trolling live eels at night from the kayak (usually so good it shouldn't be legal, don't worry I don't keep any fish) canal is dead and I haven't herd of any fish over twenty pounds locally. Even the commercial guys I talked to at the gas station complained noting over twenty pounds. My question is do you think that fish greed and mismanagement have finally come home to roost? Just curious on other opinions as I have been thinking for the last several years that a new moratorium is on the way. and this time I fear that the bass might not recover

[iamskippy]

NY, NJ etc hammered em this spring, in my humble opinion its more of a weather factor than anything else.

However i will agree they need to crack down on the bi catch in the Carolinas.
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[Zeno]

Sure we did...I almost had a night where I caught three...but it turned out to be sea robins...I switched over to fluke fishing after last seven nights without a bump. This is probably the worst I have seen this in last twenty years amongst people I fish with. Granted we are googans and all the bass are offshore. The water is too cold. Sandy screwed thing up. The fertilizer runoff. The water clarity. The season is three week behind...and yes , I did hear that they are passing in ezz now to bypass crippling local ny/night taxes.
someone in ny/nj I am sure had a banner spring..just not no one I know
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[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by Zeno

Sure we did...I almost had a night where I caught three...but it turned out to be sea robins...I switched over to fluke fishing after last seven nights without a bump. This is probably the worst I have seen this in last twenty years amongst people I fish with. Granted we are googans and all the bass are offshore. The water is too cold. Sandy screwed thing up. The fertilizer runoff. The water clarity. The season is three week behind...and yes , I did hear that they are passing in ezz now to bypass crippling local ny/night taxes.
someone in ny/nj I am sure had a banner spring..just not no one I know
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Good thing we can dismiss this as just another gagoon who doesn't know any good fisherman

Been following your posts on FB and SJ, and feel you are spot on Z....

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Zeno

Sure we did...I almost had a night where I caught three...but it turned out to be sea robins...I switched over to fluke fishing after last seven nights without a bump. This is probably the worst I have seen this in last twenty years amongst people I fish with. Granted we are googans and all the bass are offshore. The water is too cold. Sandy screwed thing up. The fertilizer runoff. The water clarity. The season is three week behind...and yes , I did hear that they are passing in ezz now to bypass crippling local ny/night taxes.
someone in ny/nj I am sure had a banner spring..just not no one I know
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I've been around long enough to have heard guys singing those same songs back in the early 1980s.

[Zeno]

good read that just went up...http://www.reel-time.com/articles/co.../eat-bluefish/

[Justfishin']

Originally Posted by Mike P

I've been around long enough to have heard guys singing those same songs back in the early 1980s.

Ayup.
The first Derby's I fished were when you couldn't keep a bass. Didn't matter, I remember being there for a week with hundreds of other guys and no one caught even a schoolie.
We're headed that way again, due to more than one reason too.

[paradoxjim]

... and I was in graduate school working on a thesis to justify increasing the minimum size from the then 16 inch min. Oh yea, I remember the lean years last time around and I too have been crying wolf for the last couple of years.

[Rockport24]

It's really hard to deny something is going on - it's just not what is used to be, I don't care who or where you are

[Nebe]

Well... I saw this coming a long time ago. You can only wring a wet towel so much until it's dry.
That said, it's not dry yet, but getting close
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[piemma]

Originally Posted by Nebe

Well... I saw this coming a long time ago. You can only wring a wet towel so much until it's dry.
That said, it's not dry yet, but getting close
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I believe most thought we were full of it when we said this was coming 5 years ago. Well, in my opinion, its here now. I put my boat in April 9. I found the first pogies in Narr Bay on May 2nd. I have over 100 hours on the boat this year and have had 1 real good day and 2 fair days. Nothing over 25# and most 15 to 20#.
There is no doubt the bass are in trouble again. I will now live through my second collapse of the Striper species.

[Dick Durand]

Can't wait to see what kind of action if any the ASMFC will take.

[BluesHarp]

It's like a doughnut when you start eating all meat from the edges then all you're left with is a hole.

Bass are getting harder to find on the edge of the range and fishing for them is now are less consistent in the middle part of their range MA,RI CT. Fish the surf without the electronics of a WWII destroyer and you'll see it.

[wader-dad]

Bill Wetzel posted that this is the worst June he has ever experienced in Montauk. That is a lot of Montauk years and hard fishing.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by #^&#^&#^&#^& Durand

Can't wait to see what kind of action if any the ASMFC will take.

Their history is to be reactive, rather than pro-active.

Catch reductions were on the table 3 years ago---until the YOY numbers came out in the fall. Tabled. All was well again.

For "maximum sustainable yield" 3 bad years in a row should trigger catch reductions.You can't sustain what ain't sustaining themselves naturally.

[ronfish]

Originally Posted by piemma

I believe most thought we were full of it when we said this was coming 5 years ago. Well, in my opinion, its here now. I put my boat in April 9. I found the first pogies in Narr Bay on May 2nd. I have over 100 hours on the boat this year and have had 1 real good day and 2 fair days. Nothing over 25# and most 15 to 20#.
There is no doubt the bass are in trouble again. I will now live through my second collapse of the Striper species.

I agree with you and yet a lot of fishermen are calling for doing the same thing as was done after the last collapse- increase the size of legal bass. Well this didn't work so well the last time - why not try something different. A wise man once said a fool keeps trying the same methods and expects the results to change.
I have nothing against the commercial fishermen; I just think that once they catch their targeted species any bycatch should also be counted against the quota of that species, ie., stripers caught along with menhaden or dogfish. If the fish is dead why throw it back to feed the birds but it counts against the quota for commercially caught stripers.
I'd like to see a slot limit similar to the one used in Maine, yet without the large category- take a picture and if you want a mount get one made of fiberglass- they last longer.
Just my $.02 Ron

[bassballer]

Originally Posted by piemma

Nothing over 25# and most 15 to 20#.

Not sure what this means, but there seems to be alot of fish in this size class.

[JohnR]

Soap Box

All of the screaming in the world won't work unless there is something approaching a unified voice. People need to attend the public hearings and meetings.

/Soap Box

For all of the people stating "we could walk on 'em last week over here" there are a lot less places with a lot less frequency where that is happening. Ther plethorta of less than a decade ago of this saved fish is no longer plethorus

[beamie]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Soap Box

All of the screaming in the world won't work unless there is something approaching a unified voice. People need to attend the public hearings and meetings.

/Soap Box

For all of the people stating "we could walk on 'em last week over here" there are a lot less places with a lot less frequency where that is happening. Ther plethorta of less than a decade ago of this saved fish is no longer plethorus

Very true John,

Thing I get a kick of is no one on this thread is saying thats it...I'm selling the boat, all my rods and going golfing to help protect the species. Even if you don't keep your affecting the mortality rate of all your releases.

Give me a break, life is short, go fishing and try to enjoy it. Most things run in cycles and imo we are coming down from one now.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by bassballer

Not sure what this means, but there seems to be alot of fish in this size class.

BB, 20# fish is 10 years old more or less. So what we are seeing is the fish that are left from 2004 and 2005 YOY. Both of those years were huge YOY classes.

[JFigliuolo]

Originally Posted by piemma

BB, 20# fish is 10 years old more or less. So what we are seeing is the fish that are left from 2004 and 2005 YOY. Both of those years were huge YOY classes.

And there won't be much left to take their place when they are gone.... not for quite awhile.

[bassballer]

Originally Posted by piemma

BB, 20# fish is 10 years old more or less. So what we are seeing is the fish that are left from 2004 and 2005 YOY. Both of those years were huge YOY classes.

Thanks Paul, kinda scary how many of this class of fish im seeing being kept this year.

[tysdad115]

I recently talked with 8-10 Jersey "Sharpies" they had 2 decent days this year...these guys would know.

[DonLBI]

Originally Posted by tysdad115

I recently talked with 8-10 Jersey "Sharpies" they had 2 decent days this year...these guys would know.

I don't consider myself a sharpie but, I had one decent outing this year. and I had to go to the northern tip of NJ to have it. Even the boat guys I know are having difficulty finding them on a consistent basis.

[Rappin Mikey]

The fish only were in the river good for about a month this year. I would guess I caught around 30 keeper sized fish during that month. I was looking at some of my old logs (2000-2003) I was getting well over 100 back then. That was when I was just getting into surfcasting too. I know I am a much better fisherman now than then. My numbers should be going up not down.

[MAKAI]

We used to call nice fish 40 pounds. Then it was 30 pounds then 20.....not a good direction to be heading.
God, I'd hate to think of targeting blues again just to get tight on a consistent basis.
At least the blues the last go round were jumbos....not now.
This may suck for a while !
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[piemma]

From Dave Pickering's blog

Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Tough Going from Shore
When a veteran of the Cape Cod Canal tells you that this is the worst fishing he has seen in over 60 years you know the fishery is in trouble. It's not only the Canal, but fishing for keeper bass in general is poor from shore regardless of where you are fishing.
I got back to the Canal yesterday and my son Matt fished there on Saturday. Matt hit a bit of luck as he landed a fish of about 20 lbs. when a pod of large fish started breaking right in front of him. I went there on Monday and did not fare as well. I landed 2 small schoolies, and those were the only fish I saw landed as my father and I fished an entire tide with poor results. We didn't see a single fish break water.
From what my friends are saying RI is not fishing much better. The exception is if you can find a school of menhaden close to shore and then you have a chance to find a large fish under them. At this point I know many real good fishermen who have not landed a keeper this year.
I am beginning to see many similarities to the 1980's when things got so bad that a moratorium was imposed. Back then keeper bass were disappearing so quickly that the fishery was closed to protect the fish we had. Let's hope we don't get to that point.
Posted by David Pickering at 7:15 PM

[scottw]

seems to be a consensus up and down the coast from shore folks that things are not so hot, the tendency was to suggest it was the cool weather and a late start...season to season, while there are some variations you can pretty much put the needle on the record in terms of how things progress, they've progressed this year in a similar fashion to previous except for the noticeable lack of bass... it's hard to know exactly what is happening as all of these stories are anecdotal and fishermen tend to think the sky is falling if they haven't hooked up in a few casts, particularly if they've spent a fortune on gear and "put their time in"....seems as though we've solved the bait problem, plenty of that around...I suspect the schools of fish that the boat folks are hammering are in ever more limited numbers...they have to be given the pics from the decks...I know that there are reports of acres and shoals of fish in certain areas but those are a drop in the bucket in the overall scheme of things and will become a target....we are just too efficient at talking them as they migrate up and down the coast and that trend is going to continue as their ability to replace what is taken can't keep up...I think it's like many other things...we'll need to hit rock bottom before we head in the other direction....I always figured the regulators, for the most part would err on the side of caution and the fishermen, for the most part would err on the side of maintaining what they enjoy....I think I thunk wrong I've always felt that changing the culture through the clubs and shops and various events was the best way to improve things, and that seems to be taking place to some extent, maybe not fast enough and maybe over time..but for the reasons that many have pointed out, nothing will come from the regulators or many individuals until and if it truly reaches "crisis"

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by scottw

I think I thunk wrong

Not the first time, although on this post I agree.

In science we often say the plural of anecdote is NOT data, but the weight of evidence seems to agree with what a lot of us observe.

Talking to Paul and others who fished through the moratorium, it sure sounds like the past. Big, localized schools of fish, with barren spots elsewhere... A few people saying things are great, a lot of others concerned.

I grew up during the 'upswing' and remember clearly in the late 80's when bass were a big rarity for the surfcaster, and the slow re-emergence while we were targeting bluefish and the 'occasional' striper would be caught..

The drop in stock brought on the popularity of saltwater fly fishing... maybe the SWE will go back in that direction... If I was a custom plug builder, I might start tying flies...

[Nebe]

Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND

If I was a custom plug builder, I might start tying flies...

I'd make pipes. It's the same through drilling process
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