How Many Fish Do You Catch In A Typical Year?

[BigFish]

Just making a general observation.....how many stripers/blues do you think you might catch in a typical season of fishing? Also....what percentage of those might be keepers?

I would have to say I must average between 400-500 fish for the season? I have never kept count before this season, do any of you keep track?

I would have to guess I catch about 100-120 keepers out of that figure? Only keep about a half-dozen.

Out of that say 500 fish about 100 might be bluefish.

[Flaptail]

With hundred fish days in certain places throughout the season fron the boat and many nights and days on the beach where up to 60 fish apiece have been caught I would say it's over a grand no problem maybe aproaching 1500. Living on cape gives one a decided edge and being able to be in the boat or on the beach and fish 5 out of 7 days plus four weeks vacation just to fish ( two in june and two in September) just makes it all the more possible. First bass in mid-April and last fish just around Thanksgiving. ( for 22 months straight several years back, just to prove you could, I caught bass on Cape Cod every month of the year). We had one morning off of Dead Neck in Cotuit in the first week of May this year where we took 22 legal fish up to 39 inches in one day never mind all the sub legals. I have 40 inch fish from the beach the last two weeks now and they are getting bigger each day. All in all though it's not how many or how big that turns my crank it's just being able to be there doing it that counts the most.

[KLMulder]

As many as I can.

[S-Journey]

Enough that I always lose feeling in both of my hands by August, and this year it's starting already:-) ""Hands don't fail me now""

[partsjay]

I must admit that I am rather jealous of you guys. I have been fishing for stripers for probably 5 years now and I dont even come close to those numbers. I do my homework and when I fish I do fish hard, but those numbers are insane. I think my best day was about 5 years ago at the ditch, I caught about 35 fish that day with around 10 being keepers, you could have caught them with a hot dog that day though, fish were everywhere. It's probably what got me hooked on fishing for them so bad.

[Iwannakeeper]

I am with partsjay - with a lot of envy.

I do not fish as hard or as often or for as long. So I hope another year or two of putting in the effort and one of those days when I land 30 or 40 fish will drive me over the top to fish absolutely relentlessly.

I feel like I have been biten by the stiper-bug. But the full on-set of striper-fever hasn't set in yet.

[BasicPatrick]

Being a log keeper I used to be very accurate and have very good records. Last year I slacked with being anal in the log book. I know that three years ago when I was really off the wall and fished basically every day it was over 3000 fish with 800 over 28". LAst season was probably over 1000 fish. This included both boat & shore. The numbers do not always paint the good pic because in the spring when there are so many smaller fish around you can have 100+ fish days and nights but most are very small. I would guess that this year it will be something like 1 in 10 fish at keeper size but once again it all depends where, when and what technique.

[Fish On]

You guys are amazing. I caught 2 keepers in the same night on east beach during the derby last year. That is the only time I've caught 2 keepers on the same day.

[S-Journey]

10% of the fisherman catch 90% of the fish, maybe we are blessed or something

[chris L]

alot .
sunnies and scup count right ?

[Slingah]

I don't keep track, and have a bad memory. I remember where though

[RIROCKHOUND]

Couldn't tell ya a number, esp. if we're talking other species; Blackfish in the fall forget about it... no idea....

As far as Bass.... I make about one west wall trip in the spring hunting schoolies, the rest of the year I target bigger fish; as a result I tend to catch a lot few fish, but a fairly high % are keepers (there are exceptions... last oct.... lots of small bass with some keepah's mixed in.... ask JohnR)
Last year I had, about 6 fish over or around 20 off the rocks, a ton more between 10 and 20 (not sure how many)... thats mostly fishing May, October, November average 3-4 nights a week, mostly on plugs, a few hit eels)

From the boat (13ft whaler the f/v "Wile E.")
I dunno 12 or so over 20, 1 over 30 a bunch more from rats to teens... almost all of them on live eels fishing in 10ft of water or .. almost all caught in June. made about 15 trips in june last year, almost all at night so average close to 1 20 a night... not shabby in my eyes.... July and August... I fish when I can, but not alot....

[S-Journey]

Slingah, thats all that counts

[redlite]

Not enough. I hate fishin, just like catchin'. I can't even begin to try and add up last years because the whole season blended into one long night. Was fortunate to have had a very high rate of success with big fish last year. Very few small fish. Used to go to the places when I was younger where you could catch 50 or more fish in a few hours everynight, but then I got that big fish syndrome.
Sold almost a thousand pounds of bluefish. Doesn't include those that I threw back and especially all those I fed
Didn't catch the one that I want though..................

[BigFish]

Slingah....I can attest to that!

[schoolie monster]

I've kept a log for the past few seasons.

In 2002, I fished alot for a weekend warrior. Often both days on the weekend, and took a couple week days off during each month.

I caught close to 700 saltwater fish. The breakdown was something like 540 stripers, 140 bluefish, one fluke and 2 albies. If I remember right, my keeper ratio was only 1 in 12.

Last year, I fished alot less and alot differently. I got out once a week, period. I took off a few days during the whole season. I also focused more on the outer islands, ledges rather than inside the harbor.

I think I caught something like 240 stripers, only like 15 bluefish (oh yeah, and my first tarpon, a nice seatrout and some jack crevalle... those were a bit south). I never had any big number days except one good day in the fall, but it was fairly consistent. And my keeper ratio was up to 1 in 5. From mid-June to end of July, that ratio was more like 3 to 2 (keepers to shorts).

That's 90% boat. Mostly casting soft plastics, though I did more with live bait last year. I hope to do more night fishing w/ eels this year since my top 10 biggest fish are all from surf... but I doubt I will be able to judging from how the schedule is going early on.

[striprman]

In my younger years in the boat, probably about 1000 fish all year, maybe more, but that includes all the 'tog and flounders, squet, flukes,blues. out of that, probably, 150-200 bass with maybe, 50 or so fish over 30 inches.
And maybe another 600 scup.

Now, I don't go as much (old age and to many responsibilities), but I probably still go 30 or so times a season (from shore). In the last couple years I probably caught about 75-80 stripers in those 30 trips, mostly keepers as I fish a chunk thats to big for a small fish to swallow.

[macojoe]

Have no idea?? But I do my share, not like most of you guys but I do ok.
Now Fluke is another horse of a different color!! I get close to if not my 200# limt most of the season from June 10 to Aug 31st
Last years papers say 4,181 #
I got 1 last year at 13# he was huge!!

[schoolie monster]

oh yeah, I totally forgot about cod... I gotta bunch of cod in november. That was cool for me cause I'd only caught them once before off a big party boat. Getting them inshore in 50-60' of water on pretty light tackle was fun. Don't know how many... I went out with fisherwoman a couple times and took my boat I think twice... 40 or 50. I didn't keep track of them in my log, but I think I caught 10-15 each time out...

And i got the ugliest fish of my life... a sea robin? sculpin? I can't remember what they are called, I've seen them before but never had the great fortune of getting one. Scary lookin' critter.

[B-assman]

For you guys who keep logs - do you just use a notebook or is there a good fishing log book available (with spots for tide / moon / location / number caught / size / species / etc) I've been trying to remember stuff and make notes on my computer but too often my notes end up on the back of a napkin and don't make it home.

[RIROCKHOUND]

I keep a 4x6 notebook on my dashboard, and fill in all the info at the end of the trip (both boat and shore)( or between spots) I tend to write the basics; Where, when, what was caught and what on, who with, tide weather, moon, and anyother info I think of...
Bryan

[schoolie monster]

I just created an excel spreadsheet with all the appropriate headings. I try to update it that day or the next while details are pretty fresh.

Like riprockhound said, I just do a pretty basic log. I have alot of headings, incl. location, tide, wind, weather, etc., but I don't get too crazy with trying to be exact.

I enjoy doing the log, b/c its a way to relive the day, but trying to do too much would be alot of work and I'm out there to have fun.

So I put in the basics and note things I think are important... incoming vs. dropping tide, rough wind direction/speed, general weather like overcast/sunny, water temp when I remember to look.

The most important thing IMO, is to just make observations.

If I think an area is better at the bottom of the outgoing tide, I'll note that in a comments section... or if a nice rip develops during a certain stage of the tide and it tends to hold fish... or if this flat is good for sight fishing for two hours of the incoming when its sunny between 10 and 2 when the angle of the sun is best... those are the types of details I try to make a mental note of when I'm out there and then I'll write them down.

Probably the thing I'm not doing enough is paying attention to water temps. Knowing what temps will draw in or push out the fish as the season goes on is pretty valuable and I don't keep track of that well.

[Iwannakeeper]

maybe we can post examples of excel spreadsheets we use.

And come up with a good one "approved by S-B.com"

Can always keep a hardcopy in the tackle box or glove box and just update the spreadsheet on the computer when we get home.

JohnR - does this sound like something you might approve of?

[Iwannakeeper]

I took a couple of minutes and made an example log with the striped-bass logo in the header.

If I knew how to post it and had JohnR's approval to do so, I would post it to see what people think. Not that I am any sort of an expert at this. But I want to keep a fishing diary, and may as well start today.

[Plug]

Not as many as I want but more than I deserve.

My Daddy always said, "Don't tell nobody about how much game you shoot, what size fish you catch, or the frequency of your loving. Some will be jealous and think your a liar. The rest will snicker and think your an inept boob. Neither one's good."

I always listened to my Daddy.

[S-Journey]

Your daddy sounds like a very wise man plug.

[MAC]

I catch a few