May 7, 2008
The problem isn’t a lack of herring, but difficulties buying the bait. While schools of river herring and Atlantic herring are swimming off the coast of Massachusetts, anglers blame a spike in diesel fuel prices coupled with a regulated “no fish” zone for the bait resulting in a shortage of herring that can be used as bait for stripers. Lobstermen are also having a hard time tracking down herring, which they use for bait in lobster traps. “The bait industry might come down to frozen herring or pogies [aka menhaden or bunker]," said one bait dealer and lobsterman.
It’s been hard to find striped bass in the New York Bight with a big surge in bluefish nailing everything anglers throw at them, but anglers fishing off the Jersey shore are beginning to have more luck scoring stripers. Even better news – the striped bass look very healthy. "These are beautiful fish. There are no sea lice on them; they're clean, healthy fish. I think we're in the groove now. I think we'll be all right from here on out."
May 5, 2008
Big striped bass aren’t an easy catch in New York’s Hudson River these days. One angler says using sonar is key to hooking 25-pound linesiders. “Every serious striper fisherman owes it to himself to have a good quality graph recorder aboard. You simply cannot do a good job with one of those cheap rigs that simply beeps at you very time a fish, a log, a partially submerged tire or any other junk in the river passes under your boat.”
May 2, 2008
With the flounder season slowing down, anglers on New York’s Staten Island are targeting stripers and bluefish. Most of the striped bass are schoolies, but there are reports of some keepers. The bad news – blackfish season ended in New York on Thursday, and anglers targeting mackerel are striking out.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources said Friday that it’ll extend the Susquehanna Flats catch and release season for striped bass by one week. The fishery, originally scheduled to close tomorrow, will remain open until May 9. The state cited “cold water combined with the forecast of an extended cool weather period” for extending the striper season.
Cold weather slowed fishing for a few days this week, but anglers on New York’s Long Island are catching plenty of striped bass, bluefish and weakfish. Blues are running up to 10 pounds, with anglers using diamond jigs and bunker chunks. A couple of days of warmer weather should spark more action.
April 28, 2008
Plenty of reports of bluefish chasing schools of bunker (Menhaden) off of the New Jersey shore. And when there are blues tearing up bunker, you can usually bank on stripers picking up the scraps on the bottom of the blitz. Anglers in Jersey’s Raritan bay are scoring with bunker chunks as bait, along with lures.
April 26, 2008
Quite a biology lesson coming from California’s Lake Elsinore. Authorities there released more than 3,200 pounds of hybrid striped bass into the lake in hopes that the stripers will eat a growing population of shad minnows. Why? The minnows eat zooplankton, which filter out harmful algae that can rob fish of oxygen, and result in fish kills. They’ve also removed 1.4 million pounds of carp from the lake in the last five years – the carp also feed on the zooplankton. The carp – although considered a delicacy by some anglers – are being taken to a processing plant, where they’re turned into fertilizer.
April 25, 2008
Anglers in upstate New York are beginning to target striped bass heading up the Hudson River to spawning grounds near Troy Dam. “Stripers start spawning sometime in May, continuing into early June. Their eggs are fertilized and then cast adrift in the current, hatching in a few days. The small striped bass spend their first summer in the shallow waters of the lower Hudson. By fall the juvenile stripers move out into shoreline cover found in estuaries along the Atlantic coast.” The bait of choice for Hudson River striped bass -- herring.
April 13, 2008
Ditch those pricey bloodworms and pesty sandworms, and slap a clam on your hook. That’s the feedback from anglers targeting stripers on Long Beach Island and other parts of the Jersey shore. “Bloodworms or sandworms were thought by many to have an edge over surf clams for early bass. Now clams are the overwhelming choice.” Another good tip – anglers using clams are having better luck using red hooks, with some believing that “the color looks like blood or a vein in the otherwise pale clam, and is an added attraction.”
April 11, 2008
The total striped bass harvest for both commercial and recreational sectors in 2006 was estimated at 3.82 million fish, a 46% increase from 2002. But scientists say the spawning stock was 55 million pounds in 2006, down from a high of 75 million pounds in 2003. More interesting tidbits: Maryland fishermen led in the harvest of striped bass with commercial fishermen in 2006 netting 65 million fish, and anglers taking 66.5 million fish. Virginia was ranked second in its commercial haul, totaling 61 million fish, followed by New Jersey (50 million stripers); Massachusetts (33 million); and New York (30.5 million).
April 10, 2008
Anglers are nailing mostly short striped bass in Delaware’s Indian River Inlet on flies and soft plastics, especially after dark. Live herring is also scoring fish in Delaware. On the New Jersey side of the Delaware Bay, anglers are having luck catching striped bass on clams.
Beginning in June Maryland anglers can win up to $25,000 in cash for capturing Diamond Jim – a striped bass tagged by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Boater’s World is also offering $500 for the capture of Diamond Jim “imposters” – other specially tagged stripers. Toyota and Bass Pro Shops are donating a Toyota 4X4 pick-up truck and a Tracker boat for other prizes in the 2008 Maryland Fishing Challenge.
April 9, 2008
There may be more striped bass beginning to make their northern migration, but poor weather is keeping many anglers inside. Nonetheless, there are some reports from New Jersey of stripers running 24 to 27 inches. The bait of choice – clams.
April 6, 2008
Herring, a key food source for striped bass – and a popular bait for anglers targeting stripers – are much harder to find these days. Herring numbers have dropped 90% in the last 20 years, and shad stocks are down big time as well. But some good news – anglers are reporting catches of striped bass near New Jersey’s Trenton Power Plant in the Delaware River.
April 4, 2008
There’s a great story today recalling two New Jersey fishermen in 1938 who -- after being caught by game wardens with 267 striped bass on their boat -- claimed that they found the striped bass floating dead in the bay. “The stripers died when ice formed on their gills in the cold bay waters,” the father and son fishing team argued. Amazingly, the judge in Toms River bought the story.
April 2, 2008
With the opening of the 2008 striper season two weeks away, schools of bunker (menhaden) and herring are already attracting striped bass from 20 to 30 pounds in New Jersey’s Raritan Bay. “Over the next several weeks, big migrating bass will be on hot pursuit of these massive schools as they fatten up.” The Hub
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Tracking Striped Bass Migration, and the Bait
May 10, 2008
Anglers Blitz Bluefish on the Brooklyn VI
We didn't find a single striped bass during a trip on the Brooklyn VI party boat out of Sheepshead Bay, N.Y. But there was non-stop bluefish action on diamond jigs. We started off the morning in Jamaica Bay, only a few minutes from the dock, where the biggest fish -- some 8 to 10-pounders, were nailed. The boat then headed south, and spent much of the morning and early afternoon jigging for bluefish off of New Jersey's Sandy Hook.
