I've spent the last month or so gathering reports on what seems to be happening with our striped bass fishery. The one thing that has stuck out from this investigation is the number of eye witness accounts of huge amounts of medium to large size fish staying and hanging offshore. This has some real predictability to it as well. From those I've spoken with, ever since the tuna have shown in good numbers over the last five or six years, striped bass have also been found with them. Sometimes and on some days in aggrevating numbers, especially if you're looking to catch tuna. The stripers are being reported to be hitting tuna gear as much if not more than the tuna themselves. In some areas, stripers are being reported in water as deep as 150 to 200 feet. Is this something new or some new behavior? I don't know if anyone knows that answer for sure. I can't recall ever hearing about fish in the order of the numbers being reported recently from any of these areas-ever! Is it possible that they have ALWAYS been there? Yes, I suppose it is. Is it possilbe that these are some sort of sub-species that have developed since the recovery? I suppose that is possible as well. I'm not aware of any studies or research being done, or ever having been done to look at this phenomena. The questions it raises for inshore anglers are nothing short of astonishing. Has there been a change in migration patterns? Is this due to rising inshore water temperatures? Is it a factor of a more plentiful bait supply offshore and if so is this permanent or temporary? These is little doubt that there has been a great increase in the numbers of sand eels offshore as well as mackerel. Is this what is casuing the stripers to remain offshore and not move inshore as they usually have? A friend of mine fished for tuna three weeks ago off of Stellwagon Bank. His take for the day was three tuna in the 60-pound range, but he and his crew also caught 32 stripers from 15 to 35 lbs in any area they had no business being in at this time of year. At least not in what has been accepted theory of normal striped bass behavior and migration patterns. With the lack of decent size baitfish inshore this past fall and for most of the summer months, (at least in RI), this could account for the lack of numbers of fish in close to shore. The spring time squid run wasn't what I'd call stella this past spring. We've seen better in other years. The numbers of menhaden or lack there of in the spring and early summer didn't help much in holding any amount of fish inshore either. As the summer progressed, there were few if any peanut bunker to speak of either. Reports of these smaller menhaden were sporadic at best. Some area reported an over abundance of smaller size fish, (school bass) while many other areas reported almost none at all. Is this a big hole in the stock or is it a matter of bait, climate, water temperatures, that is causing the fish to do other things? These are questions that should be or have to be answered if we are going to get any idea at all as to what is taking place with our striped bass population. At the same time, the report from last years winter survey off the Outer Banks in the Carolina's was the worst survey EVER conducted by that research vessel. The average number of captured and tagged fish was 5,000 per year. In 2008/09 they only captured and tagged about 150 fish. That is a pretty dramactic drop! That begs the question of, if the fish are using the offshore waters here during the summer time, then why aren't they finding or seeing them offshore down south in the winter time? Where are those fish going once they leave New England? OR- are they staying here all winter to feed and not moving or migrating at all? Maybe a survey should be done up in our area to see if that is in fact happening. They must be going someplace. The lack of school size stripers is still of great concern to many of us. The fact is you can't have big ones without any little ones coming up behind them to fill in. Is the lack of smaller striped bass a natural occurance or is one of bad management and over fishing? Each has its own merits and followers. I for one believe it's a combination of both. It's great having the big fish that we do have. But sooner or later we are going to run out of big fish with no little fish around to take their place. Those big fish are also the breeders, so thousands are being removed from the fishery each year now by anglers who are excited about catching their first big fish. For many, it's likely their first big fish ever. Regardless of what is taking place as to where the stripers are now going or staying or feeding for most of the season, you can still only remove so many before it becomes a serious problem. NO big fish- no eggs, no small ones, which equals NO FISH> That's a fact.
