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

[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.