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My catch has gone up . . .
. . . mainly because of the fact that I've been able to go more this season than in the past 3 or 4 combined. I usually fish the Cape/Vineyard Sound/Elizabeth Islands and as my buddy got a boat where we live in the Merrimack Valley we have been able to fish the mouth of the Merrimack/Joppa Flats/Plum Island so I've been learning the in's and out's of that area as well. From what I've seen and been able to catch in the Merrimack/Joppa, I can see that there are plenty of fish up that way, in July and here in August there have been tons of schoolies in the river which is good to see.
Now down the cape I've seen the numbers of bass go way up since I started fishing there in the early 80's as a kidster. I've seen blitzes of bass this summer like I've never seen before, and these are inshore blitzes that are right off jetties and beaches. For a week during an incoming tide cycle, at the same time every night there were bass-blitzes where the size of fish ranged from small up to 32 inches in the Woods Hole channel, it is very nice to see all size of fish that will grow up and keep everything going.
My take on what is happening with the striped bass is that they might be eating everything else. This season more than any, we've been able to catch the largest Black Sea Bass and Scup as compared to every other previous year, from what I've heard this could be a harbinger of things to come when there are only larger fish left there aren't many smaller ones left. People are already worried about the fluke and I have to agree that there are big ones but fewer shorts and it could be overfishing or the predatory striped bass are eating all the small ones, could be cyclical as some suggest or it could be me. But to answer the question, for the time I have been so fortunate to put in, this season has been the best so far! Glad you asked.
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