I Don't Care What Anyone Says........ - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

BigFish · 10-25-2009, 07:19 AM

Bait sure did not seem to be the problem??

afterhours · 10-25-2009, 07:28 AM

my worst season in memory.....reminds me of the 80's a bit...

Slingah · 10-25-2009, 07:54 AM

I did not fish enough to form a negative opinion. I did not work hard enough to be let down. There was plenty enough action to keep me interested. I did some recon, landed a few good ones, dropped some real large, saw some slobs taken by others and had many laughs.
Next year I am giving it a different approach. Putting in more time, trying new and different locations and applying different techniques.

SAUERKRAUT · 10-25-2009, 09:57 PM

[QUOTE=Slingah;719450]I did not fish enough to form a negative opinion. I did not work hard enough to be let down.

Well, I did fish hard enough (and I still am) to form a negative opinion of the striper year, 2009. And I did fish hard enough to be let down by the fishery which I believe is over harvested and ever more stressed.

Also Bluefish: I do not target them, but I do not believe I caught more than a dozen the entire season.

Brother Don on the New Jersey shore tells me the Spring run down there was quite awful compared to years before. I wouldn't hold my breath about the on site experience he will report after his month of November passes.

Krispy · 10-25-2009, 10:16 PM

I did OK this year, especially considering I didnt fish all that much

Clammer · 10-25-2009, 11:02 PM

SAME AS THE LAST CRASH ::

A FEW of us have been saying it the last 6 years .its getting worse & worse .......................personally my worse fall I can ever remember .

& those that manage the fisheries are talking about the stock of fluke , seabass, scup & tautog / while they are stating stripers are @ a Ok level & are they f #$%^&*() nuts ......within 5 years .............. when they wake up ........ ya best look at you photos because it won,t be a swimming bass .
yet they closed the scup , seabass & fluke / short because of over harvest & to protect the fishery .

In MY whole life I have never even seen a season come close to the number & sizes of seabass & scup that were & are still around .......... 10/25/2009 & we are catching scup & seabass of all sizes on green crabs ;;

It should be called fisheries mis.management ;;

Commercial hurting the bass population .

try 9 million rec taking 2 bass a day with @ least RI & MA a 365 day season /...F #$%^&*() nitwits

piemma · 10-26-2009, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clammer

SAME AS THE LAST CRASH ::

try 9 million rec taking 2 bass a day with @ least RI & MA a 365 day season /...F #$%^&*() nitwits

I agree with Clammer. Us old guys have been saying this for years now. Got to stop the 2, 28" fish. Put in a slot or make it 1, 36" or even 34" fish a day.

Remember it's not the guys on here that I am talking about. The jamokes that take 28" fish are the ones I address. I know it's legal. I here all the BS about "they (28") are the best eatin'. Pretty soon you will not be eating *&&%^ for bass because they won't be any.
We have got to put a stop to this insanity because the fisheries management guys are idiots and are driven by stupidity.

I tell stories about the old days all the time that are good. So let me leave you with one that's bad.

It's 88 or 89 and the moritorium is on which means you cannot keep ANY bass no matter what size. You could go 10 nights in a row throwing eels at the best spots on the coast and all you would get would be bluefish. One morning Eddy St.Onge and I fish Deep Hole and between the 2 of us we got 5 micro bass the biggest being 16 or 17". We are elated, high fiving and going crazy because we hadn't seen a bass in 2 or 3 weeks. We left and stopped at a bait shop that is now closed called Top of the Dock and told the owner that we got 5 bass. He threw us out of his shop for being BSers and spreading rumors. He said flat out "There are no more Stripers".

Hard to believe? We lived through it. You can believe it will happen again unless some kind of sanity sets in. I watch guys doing snag and drop in the Upper Bay this Sring. Catching 28" bass and keeping them by the boat load. 4 guys on a boat and absolute "stupid" fishing and they keep 8, 28" fish. WHAT THE *&&^&^% a!!!

You guys may think I am full of s*&^%# and I hope I am wrong but I have seen it and this is starting to look just like the collapse in the 80s.

Back Beach · 10-25-2009, 07:36 AM

A couple canal high liners I spoke to yesterday mentioned it was sporadic (but good if you were lucky enough to be there) this fall. You basically had to be on patrol 24/7 otherwise you'd likely miss out. Same thing applied to a bunch of other locales...if you could be out 5, 6, 7 nights a week and keep up with things it was a little better.

Other than being out most nights, you were largely reliant on pure chance and %$%$%$%$ luck. I got the " you shoulda been here yesterday" report more times than I can ever remember.

Late fall was an exercise in futility...early fall was quite good for me though.

All in all it was an average year, IMO. I don't feel fish availability/numbers is the problem; it’s the distribution of fish meaning nobody knows what will show where and when.

Is the sky falling? I don't even remotely think so.

Slingah · 10-25-2009, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Back Beach

A couple canal high liners I spoke to yesterday mentioned it was sporadic (but good if you were lucky enough to be there) this fall. You basically had to be on patrol 24/7 otherwise you'd likely miss out. Same thing applied to a bunch of other locales...if you could be out 5, 6, 7 nights a week and keep up with things it was a little better.

Other than being out most nights, you were largely reliant on pure chance and %$%$%$%$ luck. I got the " you shoulda been here yesterday" report more times than I can ever remember.

Late fall was an exercise in futility...early fall was quite good for me though.

All in all it was an average year, IMO. I don't feel fish availability/numbers is the problem; it’s the distribution of fish meaning nobody knows what will show where and when.

Is the sky falling? I don't even remotely think so.

good post.
I think a lot of surfcasting is just that ...luck...
Going to a spot and blindly casting a plug over and over hoping a fish will bite can get you down or frustrated.
Too many variables to be able to call it a bad season from employing just that that method.

Back Beach · 10-25-2009, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slingah

Going to a spot and blindly casting a plug over and over hoping a fish will bite can get you down or frustrated.

You making fun of me?

BigFish · 10-25-2009, 08:26 AM

Most plug fishing is just that...."casting blindly"! Its the entire premise behind the technique! The fish are not always rolling on top and busting bait.......you mostly have to work for them, casting blindly, cycling through your plugs, altering your retrieve speed and finding what they want and how they want it!

JohnR · 10-25-2009, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigFish

Most plug fishing is just that...."casting blindly"! Its the entire premise behind the technique! The fish are not always rolling on top and busting bait.......you mostly have to work for them, casting blindly, cycling through your plugs, altering your retrieve speed and finding what they want and how they want it!

Newsflash - most fishing is blind, regardless of what you use; plugs, tins, chunks, fly, eel, rubba, whatever

. That may be the great equalizer, in most cases you do not see your quarry.

Slingah · 10-25-2009, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Back Beach

You making fun of me?

No.... I think your accomplishments speak for themselves....

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigFish

Most plug fishing is just that...."casting blindly"! Its the entire premise behind the technique! The fish are not always rolling on top and busting bait.......you mostly have to work for them, casting blindly, cycling through your plugs, altering your retrieve speed and finding what they want and how they want it!

Oh I agree...I'm just saying it can be frustrating for me and not really a good indicator on the overall outlook/season. Just my opinion.
All I know is I am going to fish some different spots next year....like the big fish ones JohnR is talking about. I have been fairly successful in the past, do alright now and will hopefully improve my numbers next year.

FormerUser · 10-25-2009, 08:47 AM

What a horrible year!

I've been fishing all along the Westerly beaches and surrounding areas every day for the past 3wks.Nothing to show for it.The Fall run was non-existant this year.

Its was such a poor year,out of the three setups I use the most I only changed line once on one of them.

JohnR · 10-25-2009, 08:24 AM

I think surfcasting is more fickle than boat fishing but less based on luck. In a boat, you move without thinking less about it. Your "spot" tends not to be a 20-150yd cone around some point or geographical fixture as in the surfangler but a drift of 500 yds along some particular location or rockpiles.

In the surf, if you are skilled, spend 4-5 of every 7 days of every week on the water at known productive big fish spots while using big fish methods you are going to do well regardless. Fish distribution will determine whether you do real good or just OK.

If you are fishing from the boat and apply that same high degree of skill and time, you are just going to have more quality numbers and more quality fish.

Me, I don't have that skill. But I get schooled by those people in those conditions often enough to tell you dats what it is