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

[Slingah]

Originally Posted by bluefishercat

I think this is all an Internet rumour to keep the NY guys from going to the cape.

aaahhahahah...someone finally figured it out
there are plenty of HUGE bass!!! come on up...the gig is up

[l.i.fish.in.vt]

i don't think there is a lack of fish off the cape beachs,maybe a lack of decent sized fish and shore caught fish,but the boats had tons of fish right off the beach.paddling the kayak just off the beach i saw fish all summer.i know guys that were getting 50 to 75 fish a day during com season but only a handful of keepers. i think something is happening to the water quality that is affecting the bottom close to the beachs. when snokeling the bottom is devoid of bottom life, something is keeping the sandeels from borrowing along the beachs, you see tons in the water just off the beach. i also think that the majority of bigger fish are staying south in LI and NJ or heading north were bigger bait is available.i think the seals just compound the problem and make things even worse.i do find it odd that the bluefishing hasn'tfrom the beach hasn't been affected

[ThrowingTimber]

All that ky jelly in the water is attracting seals

[bassballer]

Originally Posted by ThrowingTimber

All that ky jelly in the water is attracting seals

LMAO

[Joe]

Think about the Hudson River and how far north breeding/wintering stripers go in its upper reaches.
There is speculation that at one time that other rivers further north were natal rivers for striped bass, but those fish got over-harvested of dammed off.
If a large segment of the fish with a predisposition to a certain location are harvested, and if there is anything to a fishes' instinct to migrate to a certain place, then Numbskull's theory sounds pretty good. One thing's for sure - the Cape was a huge inshore fishery for a long time and now it is not.

[bart]

Originally Posted by Joe

Think about the Hudson River and how far north breeding/wintering stripers go in its upper reaches.
There is speculation that at one time that other rivers further north were natal rivers for striped bass, but those fish got over-harvested of dammed off.
If a large segment of the fish with a predisposition to a certain location are harvested, and if there is anything to a fishes' instinct to migrate to a certain place, then Numbskull's theory sounds pretty good. One thing's for sure - the Cape was a huge inshore fishery for a long time and now it is not.

thats kind of like Ken Abrahm's theory on different populations of bass. same fish migrate to the same places each year. once they're gone, they're gone....

[WadingWill]

I love how people blame this on seals and think they should be killed. The seals NEED to eat those fish to survive. We go fishing because it's fun and we enjoy it, not because we have to or we will starve to death. If we humans hadn't raped the ocean of all the fish that used to be in it, we wouldn't see these seals showing up in these areas. They're a part of the food chain and natural cycle of the ocean, we are not.

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by bart

thats kind of like Ken Abrahm's theory on different populations of bass. same fish migrate to the same places each year. once they're gone, they're gone....

That's a good theory and I buy into it. I don't think that's the case on the cape right now, but with some of the older classes of fish we caught, I believe that's exactly what happened.They either died of old age or were caught. I would call that scenario depletion/attrition, not genetics though. If it were genetic wouldn't the offspring of the missing fish return to take their place? It would be just like salmon. Who the %$%$%$%$ knows.

This used to be a decent day on the water. Pic is from 1990. My old 12' tin boat and 4 fish in the 40# class.The small one was in the low 20's just for scale. I took the fish right in front of highland light.

[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...