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

[fishonnelsons]

A combo of all of the above, I believe - schools of bass hang around an area because of food/bait. They used to hit the beach hard in the night and early morning, feed, retreat back to deeper water during the day/sun, and then head back for the bait the next night.

Sand dabs and skates gone - cause, seals.

Sand eels are another story - gone from the beach but not 1/2 mile from the beach, so LIFish has a point there. Why aren't the sand eels going in close - run-off messing with the sand quality? Density of the sand, has it changed in the past years and the sand eels are finding other spots to burrow? Has the bottom changed (probably) due to storms, currents etc and now the sand eels pass by their traditional burrowing spots - Pamet as well as Race Pt don't give up the #'s they used to have.

The fish are their, just offshore. The question is why aren't they been staying their for the season, but just pass through. We have maybe 2 to 3 big schools a year that bounce between Billingsgate/Long Point/Race Pt, and the rest are fish on a journey.

Alot of great thoughts, but really

[HESH2]

fished it a few times last summer,youngest son fished it very hard with eels.he did the long walks and the all niters and got zip.seals are a big factor eating all bait close to shore.we used to fish the chatham inlet and the shifting sand there completly changed that fishery.guys in boats are getting the fish out in deeper off shore waters,surfcasters are having their problems.was up at the race fishing coast guard beach and was amazed by # of boats there on beach,years ago tin boats on beach ,now alot of big rigs on trailors waiting to go.

[Saltheart]

While fly fishing Monomoy , I saw several different incidents of seals coming up right in front of me with big bass in their mouths. These were not bass i had hooked , they were free swimming bass and some were very good size.

to the main question , i think the idea that something more attractive to them is happening further out is probably the best answere I have heard.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Saltheart

While fly fishing Monomoy , I saw several different incidents of seals coming up right in front of me with big bass in their mouths. These were not bass i had hooked , they were free swimming bass and some were very good size.

to the main question , i think the idea that something more attractive to them is happening further out is probably the best answere I have heard.

This is disturbing. Saltheart is to be respected.

[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?

[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.

[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

[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.......

[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.

[hyefisherman2]

seals and mung