seals wtf... - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

stiff tip · 10-06-2006, 05:00 PM

breef history... back in the late 70s and 80s untill the nauset beach brake, about 91 or 92 i fished monomoy island w/ friends,like flaptail etc. i can tell you of great nights w/ 3to 8+ fish nights in the fall . i never saw seals .. only once in a while early spring , when cod fishing ,but gone buy springs first bass...then alot more in the early 90s . first at the tip of monomoy layed out on the sand. first 50 then 150 and so on,now 6000+ mating seals, all kinds....... sooooo i do remember lots of tons of sand eels, huge schools of pogies, schools of tinker macks,squid and herring in the spring. all this in plesant bay and around nauset beach and monomoy il. fluke too....... NO more, i dont know what happened???i do know that seals eat lots of fish, probably more than we think. i know that they sometimes get caught in the gill nets for cod in 200+ feet of water. i know that there seal chit looks like round hard shell like droppings full of worms that the cod eat and pass it on....monomoy smell like seal chit on the sand bars and so on.......can i blame the seals for lack of bait n fish i dont know????but we need more info on the impact of seals and our decline in our fisheries total biomass....bait and fish.....dave

Tagger · 10-06-2006, 08:12 PM

icicles and a crossbow = dead seals + no evidence ,, been laying awake thinking about it ..

Karl F · 10-06-2006, 08:59 PM

Hmmm... me likee how taggage thinketh

justplugit · 10-06-2006, 09:03 PM

Yup the man is always thinkin, always ahead of the curve.

Skitterpop · 10-06-2006, 09:24 PM

Specifications

AC-130H Spectre AC-130U Spooky Primary Function:Close air support, air interdiction and armed reconnaissance Contractor:Lockheed Aircraft Corp. Power Plant:Four Allison turboprop engines T56-A-15 Thrust:Each engine 4,910 horsepower Length:97 feet, 9 inches (29.8 meters) Height:38 feet, 6 inches (11.7 meters) Maximum Takeoff Weight:155,000 pounds (69,750 kilograms)Wingspan:132 feet, 7 inches (40.4 meters) Range:1,500 statute miles (1,300 nautical miles)
Unlimited with air refueling2,200 nautical miles
Unlimited with air refueling Ceiling:25,000 feet (7,576 meters)30,000 ft. Speed:300 mph (Mach 0.40) (at sea level) Armament: two M61 20mm Vulcan cannons
with 3,000 rounds
one L60 40mm Bofors cannon
with 256 rounds
one M102 105mm howitzer
with 100 rounds One 25mm GAU-12 Gatling gun
(1,800 rounds per minute)
one L60 40mm Bofors cannon
(100 shots per minute)
one M102 105mm cannon
(6-10 rounds per minute) Countermeasures AN/AAQ-24 Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM)
AN/AAR-44 infrared warning receiver
AN/AAR-47 missile warning system
AN/ALE-47 flare and chaff dispensing system
AN/ALQ-172 Electronic Countermeasure System
AN/ALQ-196 Jammer
AN/ALR-69 radar warning receiver
AN/APR-46A panoramic RF receiver
QRC-84-02 infrared countermeasures system
Crew:14 -- five officers (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, fire control officer, electronic warfare officer); nine enlisted (flight engineer, loadmaster, low-light TV operator, infrared detection set operator, five aerial gunners) 13 total. Five officers (pilot, copilot, navigator, fire control officer, electronic warfare officer); 8 enlisted (flight engineer, All Light Level TV operator, infrared- detection set operator, four airborne gunners, loadmaster) Unit Cost:$46.4 million (1992 dollars)$72 million Date Deployed:19721995 Inventory: Active force, 8;
Reserve, 0;
ANG, 0 13 aircraft assigned to 16th Special Operation Wing's 4th Special Operations Squadron.

Flaptail · 10-07-2006, 05:24 AM

Ahh Stiffy, Monomoy in the ol days. Makes me want to friggin' cry. I don't think anyone here (or if there is there are only a very few) knew what we had there. 5 to 7 each night all 30 lbs or better, no mung no seals and no people. Just bait and bass. 'Member Memorial Day weekends there? First time there first cast 38lbs. We had the last of the good times there didn't we? I am glad I got to experience it before it all crashed and burned. One night in July 78', four boats, 8 guys and in the morning 37 bass all 30 pounds or better lined up in front of us before pushing off for Morris Island and Old Harbor Fish Market or me with 14 all between 38 and 42 pounds.

I tell you if we had had Sluggos back then and the knowledge and gear we have now there would be a statue in the Rotary in Chatham to us in Bronze standing on a pile of bronze bass.

Remember in 1979 getting Gibbs and Al Gag's first Needlefish from #^&#^&#^&#^& and taking them to Monomoy? The Gag's Chartreuse one was a killer. I think Danny Morin still has a couple. I broke off all mine.

The night my 30 pounder was cut in half by the shark while I was wading and two fish over 30 at the same time. One on a RedGill and the other on the plug. Don't know how I landed them both. Or you and Wayne in Ski's boat and the "incident". And waking up half covered with sand in your mouth and cold and stiff or sleeping beneath my overturned skiff while it spit snow in early November and still catching bass then.

That was the best SURFCASTING THERE EVER WAS.

Flaptail · 10-07-2006, 05:28 AM

And most importantly your 1100 pounds in one night.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Flaptail · 10-07-2006, 05:39 AM

And Davey, we are the only ones left on the Cape here from that group and Big Ed now down on Rhody who knew it like we knew it.

Sometimes on the beach at night when fishing alone I feel like the sole survivor of a shipwreck, the last one standing, the last one still searching for something we may never see again. I see #^&#^&#^&#^& and Wayne in the shadows, WATCHING. Cuckee and Cuckee II, bobby Rudzinski, Ski, Dennis ORielly, Danny, Iggy and the others, I can hear them laughing and joking as they run to the washline to haul another up the shingle. Gawd I miss those times.

Flaptail · 10-07-2006, 05:41 AM

It's my 51st birthday today, will I ever see anything like that again?

mountaincaster · 10-14-2006, 07:57 PM

Lady, you kinda scare me .......and I like it. semper fi

LINESIDES · 10-07-2006, 12:11 PM

The seals clearly hurt us.

stiff tip · 10-09-2006, 05:50 AM

those, were the days my friend , i though they,ed never end, catchin bass and singing through the night. the fish were all ways there , we all ways caught our share (plus) those were the days (nights) O-yes those were the days....... thanks 4 the memories.....fuc* the seals. i had it (momonoy) first. seals = big sea rats .its time 4 a impact study

Backbeach Jake · 10-09-2006, 06:33 AM

After this season, I could just kill them all. I usually don't feel that way about any creature, but these 600 pound vermin have got to go. Flap, Happy Birthday! I hope you do live to see the bass fishery return to it's past glory. But the Powers that be have taken a brilliant recovery and trashed it through mismanagment of seals and menhaden. I wanna friggin' cry with you. If I don't feel more enthusiastic by June, I'm considering hanging it up. My OJ is bitter this AM....

Flaptail · 10-09-2006, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Backbeach Jake

After this season, I could just kill them all. I usually don't feel that way about any creature, but these 600 pound vermin have got to go. Flap, Happy Birthday! I hope you do live to see the bass fishery return to it's past glory. But the Powers that be have taken a brilliant recovery and trashed it through mismanagment of seals and menhaden. I wanna friggin' cry with you. If I don't feel more enthusiastic by June, I'm considering hanging it up. My OJ is bitter this AM....

Fred, I feel the same way sometimes but then you have a couple nights and it makes you think........maybe just maybe. I love the outer beaches, I treasure driving along the sand edge as the foam reaches up to me. I think the night sky on an open Atlantic beach is one of the most beautiful sights a man can ever be priviledged to see. Looking up at a new moon sky and seeing the milky way above your head in a wide swath of white in an onyx sky with stars visible just above the horizon, it takes my breath away everytime.

It's a lonely, desolate, haunted and mystical place where it could be 1698, 1898 or 2098 and it still looks the same, unchanged and constant. Where waves crash minute by minute in the real world not the mechanized technology driven "world" we have created. Where, if tommorow man decided to end it all in a fury of splitting atoms and blinding light, it would still be there, with no acknowledgement that we were ever here, with wave after wave crashing upon the sand.

It's too deep in my blood to quit. I will keep searching as I am still hungry. It races through my veins and is constantly pulling me to it. I can not stop it. I think often of maybe I should just move to a new place but the Cape holds and has held my heart, it is where ai feel most alive and it is where I will rest my bones, lulled into that long sleep by the sound of those waves crashing on that lonely beach.

It will get better my friend, it will.

Jenn · 10-11-2006, 06:42 PM

[QUOTE=Flaptail] I love the outer beaches, I treasure driving along the sand edge as the foam reaches up to me. I think the night sky on an open Atlantic beach is one of the most beautiful sights a man can ever be priviledged to see. Looking up at a new moon sky and seeing the milky way above your head in a wide swath of white in an onyx sky with stars visible just above the horizon, it takes my breath away everytime.

It's a lonely, desolate, haunted and mystical place where it could be 1698, 1898 or 2098 and it still looks the same, unchanged and constant. QUOTE]

Flap if I werent very happily married I might have to start stalking you!!!

You certainly know how to capture (in words) what it feels like to be there....

Anyway fresh off a fishing trip from those parts and having the worst trip (fishing wise) of the year I am a bit depressed to say the least. and its funny that you guys mentioned the flatfish because I was just thinking the other day how when I was kid we would catch them from shore all the time and I cant remember the last time that I did! Sad.....

Flaptail · 10-11-2006, 10:22 PM

[QUOTE=Jenn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flaptail

I love the outer beaches, I treasure driving along the sand edge as the foam reaches up to me. I think the night sky on an open Atlantic beach is one of the most beautiful sights a man can ever be priviledged to see. Looking up at a new moon sky and seeing the milky way above your head in a wide swath of white in an onyx sky with stars visible just above the horizon, it takes my breath away everytime.

It's a lonely, desolate, haunted and mystical place where it could be 1698, 1898 or 2098 and it still looks the same, unchanged and constant. QUOTE]

Flap if I werent very happily married I might have to start stalking you!!!

You certainly know how to capture (in words) what it feels like to be there....

Anyway fresh off a fishing trip from those parts and having the worst trip (fishing wise) of the year I am a bit depressed to say the least. and its funny that you guys mentioned the flatfish because I was just thinking the other day how when I was kid we would catch them from shore all the time and I cant remember the last time that I did! Sad.....

Jenn, picture this.... It's near midnight, the beach is deserted except for one vehicle, the windows and sun roof are open and the sounds of The Flamingo's "I only have eyes for you" and that haunting melody echos off of the towering clay cliffs with the sound of a gentle surf and the stars go on forever..........Hmmmm... sound interesting?

capecodder · 10-09-2006, 04:26 PM

Fished the Traps Friday night from low to about 2 hours up. Seals everywhere. Hooked into a bluefish with a bucktail jig (all I could throw in the wind) only to have a seal grab it about 20 yards from me. He came to the surface with my fish in his mouth and took off. Luckily I broke off before he spooled me... I was one unhappy camper.

between the seals, mung and howling NE wind Friday night was a bust...

john hollenberg · 10-10-2006, 04:11 PM

That's the thing. The good old days were only a couple of years ago. I was lucky enough to have had fishing as good or better then anything I ever heard or read about. Last week I think I got my last #35-#37 fish from the outer beaches that I think I will ever get. I knew it would not last as it was but never did I think it would get as bad as it has and unfortunately there is no way to fix it.

stiff tip · 10-10-2006, 05:09 PM

err ,john the issue is seals , and lack of info and control...also good 4 u if u got some productive nights in over the last few yrs . but when i talk about the " good old days " i remember the dollars and total pounds each night power fishing all night 2-3-4 night a week for 4to 6 wks each fall ..... i,v fished through that run of fish in the late 90s n 2000s...but that run of fish is 1/10 what is was like compared to the old days i,m sorry to say .... but keep your memories,and hope for the best

john hollenberg · 10-10-2006, 05:42 PM

That is true. anyone who knows me knows I never fish all night and never fish 2,3,4,5,6,or 7 nights a week.

Anyone who knows me knows what I think about seals.

I do think there is more going on then just the seals though they are much of the problem. I think a lot more fish are staying south of us the past couple of years with the return of the bunker.

I also think the way the com season has worked out the combination com fishing and rec fishing takes #2,000,000 in a 4-6 week period out of Mass waters. That is a lot of fish.

Just my 2 cents.

Karl F · 10-11-2006, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john hollenberg

That is true. anyone who knows me knows I never fish all night and never fish 2,3,4,5,6,or 7 nights a week.

Anyone who knows me knows what I think about seals.

.

John..
anyone who knows you, is surprised you were home at the time of night you posted, and not headed out..
John sometimes forgets to go home..

Slipknot · 10-11-2006, 05:13 PM

I've invested thousands of dollars on a brand new camper in 2003 and a campsite in Wellfleet year round in order to fish weekends and long weekends and have a little place of our own on Cape Cod. I am not happy at all with the seal population and the current fishless beaches. I am seriously considering selling it but the wife and kids don't want to, maybe we should move it to Rhode Island or someplace on a pond or lake somewhere. If it were not for the canal and using my little boat in B. Harbor, I'd have zero decent bass this year. I fished the beaches enough this year that I would think I would have gotten many keeper size bass, but the largest I hooked got taken by a seal

I am sick of those searats. Maybe I'll just give up fishing

capesams · 10-11-2006, 05:20 PM

Slip...perhaps it's time to put an addition onto your boat..say 10'.that'll get you the mile off the beach that's need these days.

NIB · 10-11-2006, 05:21 PM

Well if i was walkin down the road an i saw a Giant Bear that wanted to eat me i would turn around.
U guys need to push fisheries managment to do a study on the obvious impact the seals have on the striped bass an forage fish stocks.
I know in California they would cry foul but this is the northeast where the gortons fisherman is from.It's a different world where fish an fishing can directly impact the thinning economy in New England.Seals eat fish,all kinds of fish.Where have the herring gone in only a few yrs.
There has to be a way to hurd em up an ship em back to where they came from.Man has controlled nature before.it dosen't seem right to play god but in todays world things are different.The scales have been upset.The seal is king an has no predatory fears.Great White's don't play where they roam anymore..

MakoMike · 10-11-2006, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NIB

.Where have the herring gone in only a few yrs.
..

To the pair trawlers!

stiff tip · 10-11-2006, 04:58 AM

i agree, john ... its more than the seals alone. and comm. sales comes n goes in 6wks. i think more people fish bass now.and take more home .. according to a study comm. bass fisherman kill 1, 380,000 this yr. rec. fisherman kill 9,000,000 ++lbs in ma. whos doing more damage to the the bass stock ....its a no brainer.....

Flaptail · 10-11-2006, 05:14 AM

Water quality, lack of substantial bait not just sand eels, seals and access closures for the mobile surfcaster. Big biat is a huge problem but while other areas, notably have had and do have a resurgence of big adult Menhaden could it not be the same issue keeping them from our sandy shores as what is keeping the bass away? Namely, seals. What would a herd of seals do to an acre of pogies about to enter Pleasant Bay? And does the deteriorating water quality in the bay have anything to do with keeping them out and Stage Harbor as well?

By mid July the gelatinous junk floating on the waters of PB and the water clarity overwhelm your senses. Lack of oxygen maybe? And that June rain and the effect it had on our embayments around the Cape?

Barnstable had more bait than I have seen in years this past spring and early summer but KarlF and I saw what might be the next battlefront on the seal issue. A large seal on the east bar in June in amongst the sand eels schools. Not a good sign.

Back Beach · 10-11-2006, 07:18 AM

Wasn't ready to concede that its the seals who are responsible for the decline. After the past two seasons, I can't find any other excuses other than the seals. First hand info from good sources indicates that there is no other isolate. There are fish offshore, but they don't hit the beach with any consistency. Glad I didn't waste time or money on the back side this season or last. Might need to change my name to "rock head" now, though.

l.i.fish.in.vt · 10-11-2006, 07:30 AM

i think it is a combination of many things.the seals have wiped out the ground fish,so why would big bass venture close to the beach. you have a good amount of large bait in the NY,NJ area so the majority of large are not coming north.i think the inshore water quality has changed. whether it has to do with the amount of chorine run off or fertilzer something is changing the water

Backbeach Jake · 10-11-2006, 11:25 AM

Water Quality never dawned on me. Now that it has, I'm thinking outfall pipe in one way or the other. 1: dumping nutrients into the middle of Cape Cod Bay and attracting bait there. 2: dumping toxins and reducing bait. I'm leaning toward the nutrient side of the scale because I've not seen a lot of dead bait on shore. Saw Right Whales grubbing for large sandeels this past Easter Sunday within an honest stone's throw of the beach, now they're gone after a warm Summer. Sandeels ARE a mile or so off the beach tho, seen'em. The mung was a little longer and stringier than usual and came in force real fast. Who knows? I do know that I was mugged by seals twice this year and that they've learned to look for an easy meal when they see a rod and reel. Is a 1209 capable of throwing a .30 slug?