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

[piemma]

I'm a believer in the cycle theory. Mike is right, it wasn't always glory times on The Back. We had down years and spectacular years. 94, 95 were banner years for big fish. 99, 2000 not so much. 2001 Fall was HUGE.
My old record books show that 96, 97 we "sucked wind" from mid-July thru the 1st of Sept. I think we tend to remember the good night and forget all the bad ones.

There is no question that the seals have effected the quality of the fishing. I still think the Bass will come back.

[NIB]

NIB has caught all the fish in NJ..

[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.