WhiteGhost2
66 post s
30-Jun-2008
4:01 AM
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Just finished 58 straight days with 14 doulbe days and I am exhausted so I haven't had much time to be on here. Clammer where are you, Piema, Fishaholic, and anyone else.
The fish are now moving to the south but you need to try a lot of areas to find them. Reports from other places are pretty much the same. Some fish here and there but no big concentrations like the last few years.
There is a definite shortage of school bass this season. You find them one day and they are gone the next.
Seeing more pogies out in the middle of the bay now. Dont' know if that means they are moving out or what but its the first time I've seen it this season.
The bluefish with some of the pogie schools are simply enormous. We had one to the boat a few days ago that had to be 20 pounds. That's a real twenty, not the twenties that everyone else thinks a 25 inch blue is. We've also boated a couple that were 14 lbs while live-lining. It should be an amazing August and Sept. for blues this season.
An update on the book. The first part of the editing is done. Getting ready to send in the photos' this week. So we are a bit ahead of the time table for publication. I know the Eelman can't wait to see his face on the cover. I am extremely happy with the cover of the book and having Billy grace it's front page. That's one hell of a fish and a pretty good photo if I do say so my self/
We have now gone over 100 pre-ordered copies of the book, so if you havn't ordered one yet sign up. The copies from this site will be signed by me as well as the Eelman. So Billy, get ready to have your wrist get tired.
Hope everyone has a good summer and enjoy the fishing.
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RIROCKHOUND
24 post s
30-Jun-2008
5:41 AM
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Lurking Jim.
Nothing exciting to report.glad to hear your seeing the schoolie shortage as well.
We've been saying (Paul, Me and others) that we are seeing very few. Hit a bay spot last night that should have had a dusk schoolie bite.
Nada.
Went to another spot out front, nothing, walked in back, in an area that should be loaded with dinks, and never saw a ripple. Should be tail slap city the last week of June! very odd year... Bryan
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WhiteGhost2
67 post s
30-Jun-2008
11:57 AM
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RIRockhound: Yeah, that's not a good sign. I hope we aren't beginning to see another crash again. This is EXACTLY what happened the LAST TIME. The schoolies disappeared, everyone went to the big fish, and then there were no more big fish either. You'll be happy (or maybe pissed) that the same thing is being seen in a whole lot of other areas as well. I have a friend in Maine who began fishing on June 2nd and as of the 25th he hadn't caught a bass, not one, nadda. Nothing. shit. In his areas he usually gets between three and four hundred fish in June.. Not big ones but he at least catches fish.
If I were only fishing with plastic or lures this season I don't think I'd have 150 in the boat at this point. It's been awful. There is too many fish stuck between 28 and 35 inches and nothing below and not too much above.
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RIROCKHOUND
25 post s
30-Jun-2008
12:08 PM
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I shouldn't say I'm 'glad' you are seeing the same thing.
it scares me for the future, thats for sure...
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CLAMMER
37 post s
30-Jun-2008
3:28 PM
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Jimmy I,ve also been preaching the same thing .. Its like a repeat .. every year the schoolies are declining & the large are realively easy to catch >in the spring ::
I can,t find schoolies so I,m not bass fishing ;;
I,m fluking & today was a bonus /got some good size sea bass ;; $5000 with of schoolie gear & no schoolies ... On THe SIDE CLAMMER ><><><><
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Piemma
38 post s
30-Jun-2008
10:47 PM
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I agree with you guys. I have not caught many short fish this year. All "cookie cutter" 15 to 20# fish. I too am worried.
Let's see if the schoolies show in the Fall with the peanut bunker. If we don't see a lot of small fish then we are really in trouble.I have a question.
Who is the authoritative source on the year classes for Striper? Where would I find such information? Does anyone know what the year class index was for 5 years ago as those are the schoolies we should be seeing. P
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Bay Watcher
Last Edited on 30-Jun-2008 10:49 PM
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RIROCKHOUND
26 post s
1-Jul-2008
2:30 PM
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http://www.dnr.state.md.us/dnrnews/pressrelease2007/100407c.html http://www.stripersurf.com/ageweight.html My guess is a lot these 15-25lb fish are 1996 Year class.
We should also be seeing a shit-load of 28-30" 7 year old fish as well from 2001....
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Piemma
39 post s
1-Jul-2008
2:34 PM
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Thanks Brian:
BTW, I guess it's where we have been fishing because Mike Luccini(sp) has been into the shit load of 28 to 30" fish you metioned. I know he fishes the canal but not sure where else. See you Thursday!
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Bay Watcher
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CLAMMER
38 post s
1-Jul-2008
3:36 PM
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I have a friend that fishes just about everyday ... he,s a schoolie & bean counter guy ;;
I just talked to him again the other night .. best year he,s had for fish 24 to 36" with the largest being 41" all on artificals . But he said the same thing >>>>>>>>>>>>> no twinKies to 20" fish ><><.
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WhiteGhost2
68 post s
2-Jul-2008
12:07 PM
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Paul": The 2003 year class in the Chesapeake region was supposed to be the largest in the last 15 or so years, some say it was the biggest ever. Those fish should have arrived by now seeing its five years later.
Rutgers University reported three years ago that 70 percent of that stock would die due to mycobacterious. A desiese that eats at the fish from the inside out. Right now it looks as if they were correct from everything I'm hearing.
Usually, here in RI the Hudson and Delaware Bay stock keeps us going. The problem is the Hudson has had a few down years after producing huge numbers for almost 20-years.
Hopefully that trend will turn around this year or next.
When you got all the traps and nets taking the small ones and the rec guys killing all the big ones, something is eventually going to give. There are more people fishing for stripers today than ever before, simply becasue there isn't really anything else to catch like there used to be.
During the last crash guys swithched to winter flounder, tautog, cod, pollock, fluke, weakfish, and offshore stuff. The only thing we have left is fluke.
Its like burning the candle at booth ends, sooner or later the two ends will meet and there isn't any candle left.
I have one other season like this logged in my records. I believe it was 2001. In 2000, I had just over 1300 school bass for the season, in 2001 it fell to 949, but in 2002 it bounced back to over 1600. I'm hoping that this is just one of those "bounce downs" like then and they return next season. As for the fall, I wouldn't place any hope on the fall fishing, it sucks as far as school bass go and from what I've seen so far this season we will be up to our asses in bluefish.
One other thing to consider, we've never had a robust population of bass AND bluefish at the same time. Not that I can ever remember. It's usually one or the other in short supply. There are more bluefish in the bay now than ever and they are big. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.
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WhiteGhost2
69 post s
2-Jul-2008
12:18 PM
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One more thing. The rec guys are killing a thousand times more than the commercial guys are right now. From what I've seen the last two or three years, most of the yo-yo's out there are taking anything they catch. The commercial guys are capped by quota (with nets) and numbers with a rod and reel. (five)
Are there pirates within those ranks? Well of coarse there are. But no where near as many as in the rec catagory. most friggin recs don't even know how to take a friggin fish off a hook. They step on them, slam them on the deck, gaff them, drop them, toss them in the air like a ball if they release them and more. This new breed of fishermen, acually, bozzo's, only care about hooking them, taking them home to showoff how good they are and then stretch the size of them to amazing proportions.
we had one guy in the tackle shop the other day that said he and two friends had caught seven 35 pound fish in an hour in the Prov. River. I don't know ten guys put together this season that caught that many 35's in one day let alone an hour. And I know some of the best striper anglers left on this planet. So don't piss down my back and tell me its raining, when I can clearly see the sun shining.
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Piemma
40 post s
3-Jul-2008
10:58 AM
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Jimmy:
I agree with everything you said.
The big fish have left the Bay so maybe there's some hope.
I had one guy call me, while my wife and I were in Maui 2 weeks ago clebrating our 40 anniversary, and say that he was catching 20# bass in front of the shipyard and they were just snagging and dropping. He actually said to me "I don't see what the big fucking deal is with these bass, anyone can catch 20# Bass"
So he calls me the other day and says, Hey Paulie, where are the bass? We can't find any. I said, Funny? I got a bunch this morning including a 35.5#, which I let go.
He said, Where? I said, I though it was not big deal catching Bass. Go find you own you fucking idiot! Jim, the one big problem I saw with the massive amount of pogies this year in the P-River was that there WERE bass under them. We usually haven't seen that. It use to be snag in EG or wherever and run to somewhere else. This year every fucking jamoke in RI and Mass were murdering big fish in Providence.. Kept everything they caught and if they did release a fish, it died anyway because they gut hooked all of them. Now that the Bay is pretty much empty, except way South, maybe the remaining survivors will have a chance. Semper Fi, brother!
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Bay Watcher
Last Edited on 3-Jul-2008 11:01 AM
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Trapper
1 post
3-Jul-2008
12:10 PM
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Snag & drop does not make a bass fisherman.....it is a little more complicated...hmmmmmmmm
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CLAMMER
39 post s
3-Jul-2008
12:31 PM
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TRAPPER that,s exactly Paulies point ;;
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Piemma
41 post s
3-Jul-2008
12:43 PM
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Thanks Mikey. Maybe I wasn't clear? BTW, Have RIRockhound and Spence on the Lady Jeanne this morning. What a hoot.Spence is something else. ----------
Bay Watcher
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Trapper
2 post s
3-Jul-2008
1:37 PM
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..I agree with Piema & Jim........that there is a LOT MORE to bass fish'n than the one year wonders think.....let them experience the wonder of striper fishing....time, technique, are all learned....mags articles & books by proven striper pros are a good part of the learning experience....combined with time & effort...there are plenty of schoolies around....just about everyone focused on the mid-sized fish keyed in on pogies.....what I'm concerned about is the huge numbers of 35 lbs plus fish being hammered by recs down in te Mid-Atlantic in the winters months.....
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CLAMMER
40 post s
4-Jul-2008
4:13 PM
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Paulie ;; ya should have told me > it would have been worth the price of amission ::::: Damn ><><>
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RIROCKHOUND
27 post s
6-Jul-2008
7:23 AM
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Mike;
I was just there in case Paul threw Spence overboard.
Nothing to see here... :D
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CLAMMER
41 post s
6-Jul-2008
11:30 AM
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I know Brian .. that wasn,t reffering to you ><><><>
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RIROCKHOUND
28 post s
7-Jul-2008
4:21 AM
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Mike,
Gotcha.
headed out on the bay to work as soon as my crew gets to the office (late; D'Oh!) Be on my second office (r/v Gilbert) all day....Hows fluke fishing been Mike? And to keep with the 'where is every body' thread...
Sat. AM, fished out front of Newport, bass and fluke, NO BOATS to speak of... WTF, given that it was a holiday weekend.
guess they knew fishing was going to suck.....
I wonder if the cost is starting to wear on people??? No one fluking at either spot we hit, which usually have 4 or 5 boats at least....
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RIJim
14 post s
7-Jul-2008
6:44 AM
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I've been surprised with the lack of boats on the water. Must be the gas$. Sunday am was beautiful, not a ripple on the water.
Fished Friday 7/4 from 8pm to 2am - with eels, only got 3 dinks. Prime water was not producing. Sunday am, calm water with bunker - 3 bass, largest was 27. So it guess it doesnt benefit me to lose sleep yet!
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CLAMMER
42 post s
7-Jul-2008
8:39 AM
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Brian It or miss ; I,ve had some nice Jo,s but then the next two days I couldn,t even get one large ;;
Run into some good size sea bass [twice] but no numbers ;;
I have to stay local to make it worth it . so I,m giving up better locations ;;
Damd there was a mess on fish at the dealer yesterday ;
jumbo fluke , scup & descent sea bass ;; I never thought I,d be screwing around fishing .. when good bass fishing has been steady /right thru the July 4th Holiday ;;
Guess its the age ><><. Later MIKE
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eelman
61 post s
8-Jul-2008
2:39 AM
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I have been fishing but its begining to get old now and a bit routine, had all the 20 and 30lb fish I could ask for and a 41 as my largest.The gas factor is starting to hurt also, between my truck and boat yesterday I spent $170 on fuel! Thats 3-5 gallon jugs and a fill up on the truck. MA commercial, I think I am going to do it...need the Money!
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Lil Toot 35
3 post s
8-Jul-2008
6:16 PM
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Hey Jim,
Out at the Island it is a little different....we have plenty of schoolies out there, but the rest of the fish are like you said....stuck in a slot..28-35" fish. We do have a good batch of mid 30 and some 40 lb. fish around too. Sand eels up the wazoo....I have not seen this much bait around since the early 80's....In the spring all the bass were chocking on worms, and now when they hit the deck they are spitting up sand eels.
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WhiteGhost2
71 post s
10-Jul-2008
1:20 PM
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LiL Toot: Glad to hear that there are some schoolies someplace at least. There were no where near as many fish in the bay this spring as last year, especially those big ones. But I guess every year is different.
How are bookings going down there with you guys. I'm still about 25 to 30 below average so far but with guys up here doing trips for $300, which is loosing money as far as I'm concerned, you can't compete with that. Sixty to seventy five bucks for gas and that leaves them about $225 for all other expenses. Friggin unbelievable, its just a boat payment and gas money, they might as well use a fucking gun and just say Stick-Em Up, I need some cash.
Ran into one the other day with three guys on his boat. He asked ME where the fish were or where could he find some. I told him he had a better chance of getting a blow job from the fish than me telling him where to go. Balls beyond belief.
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CLAMMER
43 post s
10-Jul-2008
2:53 PM
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you owe me a blowjob ><><><><
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