Why has the fishing from the Cape beaches declined so much?

[LeCounts1099]

That old Wise great Striper in the sky finally got fed up with all the B.S. Cape beach closures for inane reasons... the jacked- up oversand Permit Fees with ever- decreasing legal territory to roam... and the petty exclusivity in who can & can't drive the beach S. of Nauset Inlet... etc., etc.

...Not to mention that Freak night- guard at the Nauset Lot having the nerve to bang on your windows if by some lunacy you decide you want to nap in your vehicle there between sessions at 3 AM in October!

That Great one in the Sky finally answered & attacked these corrupt human forces ruining the unfettered & raw Striper paradise that the 90 miles of Outer Cape sand used to be for many thousands in love with the place...

BY sending a plague of Seals & barrenness under the surf- line besides... that would affect & punish those most that (ultimately) profited then the most $- wise by active beaches!

(i.e., the Politicos, & Townships & Feds & others that used to economically benefit most when beaches full of Stripers used to lure drooling Casters AND their families from far & away, ready to spend their hard- earned cash in pursuit! )

These Politicos & Townies still have to live there, prosperous or not! We Casters have our mobility and can & will just chase Stripers & spend our cash in less restrictive & more productive spots/ Coasts elsewhere!

When all 90+ miles of Outer Cape are again legally drivable by Striper- hounds (in non- Summer bathing months at least...) THAT's when the "Great" Striper above will finally make the Seals disappear there, back to WAY North from whence they came... then the bait will return to the shallows... & the hungy Bass as they always did will again follow!

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

The beach will come back. When is anyones guess. It has never ever been consistent in reality. The 70's, the 90's and a ray of sunshine here and there. To believe that it and has been great year after year after year is naive, you have to beleive and hope that each year will be the one

( and then hope nobody else finds out).

.

ya fat chance of that happening with the internet

[redlite]

Originally Posted by ThrowingTimber

All that ky jelly in the water is attracting seals

HAHAHAHA----Vic, I just blew beer all over my mother computer!!!!hahahahahaaa


I grew up fishing the back side--Wellfellet to P-town--Its where I learned to fish from my father and the yokel locals----I lay in bed most nights and dream about how the fishin USED to be--how you could get out of the car and KNOW that you were gonna catch at least 1 fish over 30#'s and more often than not you would catch multiples-- This past year was THE first time in my life since I was born, that I did not make at least one trip down there---Over the years the fishing has steadily declined for all of these theories.
I personlly blame it mainly on the seal population that has grown out of control- I think a lot of it has to do with the Sh$t pipe too--more mung from it----I understand it is cyclical in ways, bait, natural migarting patters, but I will satnd by the theroy that it is mainly the seals, cause the problems really began with their resurgensce---Lets cut back on them some and see if it helps. I f it doesn't, no worry...they'll be back in short order....

Every night I am putting on my wetsuit and strapping on my corkers now, I tear up thinkin about the long lost memeories of waders, a t-shirt and a bucket of eels with the ability to walk MILES a night looking for fishin and not havin to worry about breakin off fish on rocks---or hopin one swims by---sorry...

[ProfessorM]

http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/499/
The world is changing and it effects every species

[The Dad Fisherman]

Something for the Truck....

[Backbeach Jake]

TDF, where might one buy a sticker like that? It's the nutz!

[Blitzseeker]

I agree....NEED the sticker.

[cow tamer]

With the recent proliferation of bunker and other bait species further south, what would motivate a striper to leave that and continue to migrate north where bait fish might be harder to come by.
Might this trend have started with man's intervention in restricting limits on menhaden to commercial fisheries further south?

[bart]

holy %$%$%$%$, a redlite sighting

Its all back beach's fault

[tattoobob]

Originally Posted by Backbeach Jake

TDF, where might one buy a sticker like that? It's the nutz!

New S-B.Com sticker I'll take a doz.

[Green Light]

The seals make sense. Here is another theory that was pedestrian in 2006...
A surf-master mentioned that there is a line of lobster traps run the length of beach beyond casting distance. Cows come in from the deep, eat the lobsters, then go back and never make it into the surf zone. That was the theory, any way.

What I do know for certain is that fishing patterns are cyclical in nature. If they are not bitting on the outer cape...where are they biting?

-Fish360.

[Blitzseeker]

I think it is confluence of seals and cyclicality of bait patterns.

Most will tell you that the last few years has seen the pattern of the long ribbon of sand eels a few hundred yars offshore that happens for unexplained reasons, on and off, over time. Fish are out there on that bait....so why come in for less bait and potential of getting munched by a seal?

When that offshore sand eel pattern breaks, as it always has in the past, you'll see the bait back closer to the beach, and therefore more fish in the surf. But with so many seals, I'm not sure if can ever get all the way back to what it once was.

[Brother Brian]

It may be due to the large amount of nutrient rich ground water now showing up in seepage due to old septic systems and large scale development
Approximately 80% of the nitrogen that enters the watershed comes from these private septic systems, and the remainder from other non-point sources. The effect is nutrient or nitrogen loading of the surrounding watershed above the critical load. Various species of plants and animals which inhabit estuaries cannot tolerate this level of nutrient loading, because it spawns a large amount of bottom algae, over-shading of eelgrass, and, ultimately, a depletion of oxygen in and an increase in the toxicity of the water. Each of these effects will send fish to other feeding grounds, while killing plants and animals that live on or in the ocean floor.
Could be the first signs.......

[The Dad Fisherman]

Originally Posted by Backbeach Jake

TDF, where might one buy a sticker like that? It's the nutz!

here ya go....all the seal clubbing paraphernalia you could want.......Just promise me you won't get the thong.

http://www.cafepress.com/iclubseals

[J-golden]

all good theories, but i'll go with the seals. their numbers have been steadily increasing, and i am one of those that was dedicated to the outer beaches. for now, it is not my first choice anymore. i find i'm looking to the inlets, or up inside more than i used to; but it's just not the same. people think i'm a savage when i tell them i hate seals, but.....bring along mr. whitey, and ring the dinner bell. i will never shed a tear when i come across a seal carcass with it's head missing, or a big chunk taken out of it.

[OLD GOAT]

Well 07 was the first year without a beach sticker(nauset) for me since the start of the seashore, since the town check in, since getting on the beach by going down Smith neck rd, since driving to nauset inlet by driving north by the nauset gatehouse insted of Callahan rd, sincehitch hicking with cans of gas , a battery,and a tool box as kids to unregistered junks left on smith neck rd. I wonder what theory the powers to be have on the missing fish. Oya i live just down the road a piece on the cape

[MAKAI]

I CAN'T IMAGINE A SEAL WOULD WASTE IT'S TIME AND ENERGY ON SMALL BAITFISH. I HAVE SEEN THEM POP UP IN 180 FEET OF WATER OFF THE RACE WITH GRILL SIZE FISH IN THEIR MOUTHS. PRAY FOR SHARKS,ORCAS,DISEASE WHATEVER. ITS A REAL SHAME WHAT HAS HAPPENED, I HAVE A FEELING THEY ARE JUST GOING TO KEEP SPREADING SOUTH AND WEST. SENDING A CASE OF LOUSISVILLE SLUGGERS UP NORTH TO OUR BLOOD SPLATTERED PALS ON THE ICE.

[Blitzseeker]

I think of it this way.....most of the fish on the outer beaches get there coming up the ocean side rather than through the canal.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I beleive that means they have to swim by 6,000 seals stacked up down around Monomoy & Chatham.

How surprising would it be that most of them turned around, or got eaten if they did't?

[Flaptail]

Opinions are like ass*oles, everyones got one but in reality the big picture here is a complex mix of alot of things I think.

I do know that a lot less people are fishing out there, especially after dark.

I do know if you work at it you will catch fish out there.

You can blame seals, waste water, the Great Striper in the sky, global warming etc but who really knows. Conjecture.

I believe that seals do eat more bait inshore than off and no bait means no fish but bait can still be found, especially at locations that hold large bodies of water behind bars at low tide. You have to adapt your methodology.

As long as the YOY indexes remain strong there will be no investigation by any scientific body.

I talk to a lot of charter guys and others who find fish all the time just off shore and have exeperienced it for myself.

I have also had a few nights in the last couple years where there were thirty guys on the beach plugging from dusk to 10pm and left and the fish showed heavy for several nights in a row at 2:30am til' dawn where I and a friend had them all to ourselves and would listen with sympathetic faces as truck after truck went by leaving the beach because "can you beleive how bad the fishing is here these days" to which we would reply "yeah it really sucks doesn't it?" knowning full well what was happening each night in the wee hours.

I beleive that most folks fishing the beach have really lost or maybe a lot of them never had the ability to read the signs or the the real desire to put in the effort and time that is required to learn the structure, get the rythym of the bass's use of the beaches. Some places they show for hours and some for as little as 20 minutes on a stage of the tide. You have to know this in order to capitilize.

It's a lot of work to read the structure, find the patterns of when they will come into a certain spot on what stage of what tide. Without this knowledge most beaches will always be looked upon as barren by those not willing to go the extra mile or sacrifice the warmth of the bed at home for wet sand.

And most importantly you have to believe that it will come back at some point. And believe me, they will but you won't hear it from me..

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

I do know that a lot less people are fishing out there, especially after dark.

I do know if you work at it you will catch fish out there.

Best responses yet. The best years I had out there were late 80's to about 1995. You remember those days don't you? There weren't any fish out there then either. Late 80's they were supposedly going extinct, and it took close to 10 years for all of the laymen to catch on. By the time all the "experts" emerged in the late 90's to early 2000's, it was almost over. For now.

[whiplash]

Flaptail ,Slip and BM have fished them out.

[Blitzseeker]

Agreed for sure. Many don't know WTF they are doing, but aren't shy about complaining about the fishing. Even worse, the scarcity of fish has increased the liklihood that someone from the clueless crowd will arrive and cast right over your shoulder....'cause when you're catching and others aren't, naturally all the fish in the ocean are right in front of you and you alone. Frustrating. Has always happened, but happens even more nowadays up there. Folks who drove from far away to get there feels its their god given right to get a fish, no matter what.

For me, I'm still doing ok but size and numbers aren't what they were 5 years ago, and the constant battle to get the fish in before a seal crushes your fish five yards from the beach at High Head or Coast Guard is tough to take. All that said, they're there....it's just tougher, and not quite as much fun, as it once was.

A "good day" now is what a "average day" was back then.....at least for me and the guys I fish with.

[LeCounts1099]

Flap... points generally well- taken... (& agreed with to some extent...)


BUT: aren't you someone who has written tons in the last 2- 4 years lamenting that the Cape Backside Surf- fishing "isn't worth a damn anymore," or various variations of that theme?


Unless I'm wrong or misreading you... haven't you been as vocal (in print at least) as anybody, that indeed the Great Backside as a Striper surf haven, is but a shadow of it's past now? -- & hardly worth the effort to you personally anymore? (thus you've embraced skiff- fishing on the Bay- side, etc.?)


Unless that was all a ruse then?...


OR maybe this assessment here NOW is a ruse to get crowds away from your new pet Canal (& near-by) '07 & '08 surf- spots?


redlite... you & I dream the same memories, & dwell upon the same regrets about the Cape-- paradise in the mid- 90's for Striper surf- hounds indeed! (Slingah I know was there too!)

We need to share stories & memories & future Cape hopes over beers one day, my friend... & Cape brother- in- arms! I was there ... & did all the same things in waders & T- shirts you did... & yet still have more stories from then to make your arm- hairs stand on end even now during this long fishless Winter!

[Flaptail]

Item 1. I did, but not "tons" if you read them again I do say positive things now and again about the beach ( truro)

Item 2. Anyone who has ever fished a skiff on the north side knows that the beach is really a waste of time compared to what you can find there. But some of us still have that spark that makes us go back to the beach after a real fish fix in the skiff. It helps you get through.

Item#3. I only fish the canal 3 or 4 times a year now so that point is way, way off. ( The best thing that happened to the canal recently was the herring closure so I may plug it more this spring but really detest the crowds there and at night it isn't safe to leave your vehicle locked or not and being alone fishing is not advisable)

Hope that helps. BTW did they have the street fair on 56th this past Veterans day in November? I missed it this year.
Item#4 My new spots are good, real good but a pain in the ass to fish. I hate rocks.

[Grampy]

Yep, no permits, just drive out on Nauset Beach, no four wheel drive unless you had a jeep and I didn't, have a camp fire, no problem. We had fish, fish and more fish and caught on with my Penns and my Utica Striper rods (you know the ones, they had wooden handles) but that was then and this is now and have things changed, with permits and fees up the whazo.

[CANAL RAT]

[QUOTE=WadingWill;572283]I never called anybody a moron. I just think the train of thought is funny. We overfished the places the seals would normaly eat, forcing them to find other habitats. Now they come to your neck of the woods, and ruin your fishing(which is debatable) so they should all be killed so you can catch more fish and have more fun.[/QUOTE

well i hunt for deer and i can tell you if theres too many deer it puts undo stress on the land and runins and desise runs ramped among deer. i would fully support a controled carfully reserched hunting season on seals with firearms only but we live in liberal lala land MA and uhaul deval and drunk ted kenndey wouldnt have it.... hell the liberals even runied trapping in this state.

point taken that we should conserve habitat, destroyed habitat is the main reason for species deciline but hunting,fishing and trapping licenses go to fund the purchase of wildlife managment areas where wildlife prosper.

[hyefisherman2]

seals and mung