Lack of Stripers on the Beaches. Seals a problem.

[Woofish]

I have concluded my worst Striper season ever fishing off of the beaches on the Cape. It has been so bad I can not ever get motivated to give it a try. Every time I go out all I see is the happy face of some seal peering at me. I feel the seals are not the only problem with the striper fishing, but they are a big contributing factor when you fish from the beaches. Lack of bait on the beach, commercial bycatch, and a general reduction in the population are also contributing factors. Since I have not been fishing, I decided the other day to start a website about seals. If you have any stories about seals or information that would be helpful please let me know. You can access the seal site from *removed link* and click the seal button. I hope everyone had a better season than I did fishing for stripers.....Woo

This is a duplicate of a posting I made on the Cape Cod Salties site.

[Tinslinger]

To bad Sarah Palin can't organize a "Busmans holiday" for Nanook and the boys!!!!

[Woofish]

I guess I will have to contact President Obama to see what his feelings are about seals. Bush atleast made stripers a game fish in federal waters. Palin and her gun unfortunately are not available.....Woo

[Swimmer]

How is the bait supposed to swim by all the GD seals, so that it reaches the beach?

[maddog2020]

I was down fishing in Pleasant Bay in early Oct and saw a seal each day INSIDE the bay. Because of the break over in Nauset, the seals can get in to the area very easily now.

Needless to say I didn't have any luck catching even a schoolie the few times I tried throughout the course of a day.

Nauset has been terrible for me the past 3 yrs. Seals follow me before there is even light out - I can see their heads in the water.

Take a ride out to Monomoy -> gawd there must be well over 1000 of them by now. Where are the Great Whites when you want them ......LOL.

Where do those things go when it is dark?? I haven't any idea where they or how they sleep at nite. Any one?? TIA.

[Sea Flat]

I saw more seals this year than ever and I do not fish that part of the Cape. During the first week of June I was fishing at middle ground between Martha's Vineyard and Woods Hole. The fishing was hot and then the bite shut off real quick. I look over a short time later and there is a huge seal. A seal in June in that area is basically unheard.

Not done. Last week of August i was fishing on the Vineyard Sound side of Naushon Island and I look over and see a seal porpoising through the water.

No wonder there were more sightings of Great White's in that area than ever before.

I feel really bad for you guys on the outer Cape. I never really fished there, but a few times. I know that the fishing there used to be outstanding and now I just hear horror stories involving seals.

[Finlander]

I've watch the beach fishing on the Cape go downhill since about "99". There has still been some fish, right time right place, at night, but those days of bait all over the place and bass day after day in the same spot, constant fishing is over. I have still found some fish by, more moving around, fishing out of the way spots, more on the bay side were seal are less of a problem, small fish for the most part. The last two season I fished more based on weather, hard wind which pushed bait inshore and have done O.K. Thou I have to say R.I. has been more constant the last couple of years. Till they(the state and that will never happen) do something to keep the seal poplation in check the fishing is not going to get any better, I feel bad for tackle shops Blackbeard's, Nelson's as they watch the fishing go downhill and the business with it.

[Slipknot]

Ha, where do i start?

[BigFish]

Old news! Its a shame because I miss fishing down the backside alot!

[Woofish]

White shark got this one in 2007 off of Nauset beach

[Woofish]

I am an old dude and tend to agree with you Karl, but I have started the Seal site at *removed link* just to bring more attention to the striper problem and in particular the seal's role in the problem. I am not suggesting fishermen should go out and start killing seals, but there may be some smart people out there that can come up with some humane remedies to alleviate the problem. The purpose of the site is to gather as much information as possible on the topic. I urged everyone on this forum to please participate on the seal site. Your input will surely be appreciated. My thanks in advance.......Woo

[Jenn]

WooFish-I removed the link to the site as it is unfair to paying sponsers of the site.

[Sea Dangles]

Humble head tyrant?

[CaptMike]

I'm defintiely not in favor of killing them or anything like that and that's never going to happen because of the sea mammal laws. One of the best ideas I have heard is to have wildlife people or someone be allowed to walk by them and hopefully chase them off sections of beach. This is sort of akin to how they use dogs to chase geese off of golf courses and football fields. They'll obviously come right back but hopefully after a few times they'll stop coming back. It may not work but it's worth a try and one of the the only feasible ways to combat the problem.

[macojoe]

I have not been to chatam now for about 5 years, and don't miss it one bit! My days there are done forever!

[tattoobob]

The problem is, is no one fishes the back beaches at night any more the seals arn't bad at night. I drive down the beach at night and it is empty

[SAUERKRAUT]

Agree about the absurd poor fishing tide in and month out --on the outer Cape beaches. The ONE TIME this past season I got in front of a school of "decent" sized bass (i.e. meaning larger than the standard 16-23 inches out there) in the middle of the night, I lost four fish in a row to seals before I could get the fish out of the surf onto the beach. I was actually afraid to cast and hook another fish for a more than a precious hour--and this precious hour is right in the middle of a beach blitz that I hunt for trip after trip. So an 18 fish tide ends up an 8 fish tide, four lost rigs and line, and rerigging down time because of the damned seals. That is not fishing for me; I am not planning to buy a Race sticker next year.

We can only hope that some natural contagion, viral or bacterial, will get into the colony and decimate this seal population. Their sheer numbers are causing the seals to expand their geographic territory; and if something doesn't change, you might find them in every body of salt water that you fish.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by SAUERKRAUT

We can only hope that some natural contagion, viral or bacterial, will get into the colony and decimate this seal population. Their sheer numbers are causing the seals to expand their geographic territory; and if something doesn't change, you might find them in every body of salt water that you fish.

We can hope, but the folks over in San Francisco have been hoping for this for a long time.

[OLD GOAT]

I think we need to include other beachfolks, like the one with little kids that are playing in seal popo

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by OLD GOAT

I think we need to include other beachfolks, like the one with little kids that are playing in seal popo

Interesting observation

[J-golden]

If you can thin a deer herd, you should be able to thin the seal herd. some kind of organized hunt - i'm not sure what value seal meat/skins/oil have around here. But there must be something. If it gets to the point where Chatham has seal waste issues with water quality, there might be others getting behind it, and not just us.