Alright this may be a bit lengthy. I arrive at this theory after having fished over 20 hours in the last three days. I fished at night, all parts of the night, during the day, in the morning, and in the evening. Actually, it's more hours and extends back to last Tuesday. I can't tell and tell about where but lets say it was near
and far, but mostly near. I have heard. I have seen. I have fished the hardest I can remember in at least the last five years. Cold. Wind. Mostly just cold and wind. I fished the full moon high and low tides. The word is out that the bite is on. It's pretty
much the same word on the street no matter what water you're talking about. It's go time. But things are different in different waters for different reasons. And that's where this theory comes in. But let me first say this. On one of my "near" outings I was out on the scout looking for striped bass. Far away from anyone else. The kind of place where you have to ditch your truck, take a long walk, and then find all
things fishy. There's no tides. There's no getting mugged, by the locals or other anglers. So I went and did my thing and looked down and saw literally, about 50 of the largest carp I have seen. I had nothing to throw at them because I only had the 12 weight. So I planned part of today to "go get some". I found
a bag of carp flies I had bought years ago at The Fly Fishing Show and was surprised I still had them. I rigged up the 10 wt with an extra long leader as to not spook them. And off I went. Well today it was
overcast and hard to see in the water. Since I'm not on the Costa Pro Staff, like all the cool kids, I run with a $3 pair of polarized glasses that I think are just dark glasses. I couldn't see the wolf pack I saw
the day before in the high bright sun. When I did get a glimpse in the water it was, well, empty. Not a single carp. Well I did see one out of range and that was it. Okay, that was my carp story, kinda goes along the same line as my snakehead stories, and recently my bass stories. One cool thing was seeing the N.J Fish & Game out patrolling the local haunts. It's good because the Delaware River in New Jersey is closed for fishing for striped bass April 1 to June 1. But now back to my theory. It'll start below.
Lets start with American Shad fishing. It's going on right now as they migrate up rivers to spawn. They are a favorite of "shad guys" (and girls!). They can't wait. They love it. They have a disorder also.
The shad are laser focused on one thing, spawning. They don't eat. You fish for them by annoying the shit out of them and they bite your shad spoon. Fish on! Then think of salmon, like Salmon River
salmon. The ones you used to be able to use a treble hook and snag, because they don't eat. Then they tightened up things and you had to use a hook, albeit bare, below a weight. Snagging was outlawed but as long as that hook, sometimes very close to a weight, was in the salmons mouth it was a legal catch. Then folks starting using the fly rod, with egg sacks, and then other things "because they do eat". Well, actually you're just annoying the shit out of the fish as they sit in pools, moving pool to pool, and have no where to go but up, "If you would just get that thing out of my face!" So they use their hands, well they have done, well their mouths and take a bite. They only have one thing on their minds, sex.
I am sure there are other species out there that don't eat while getting close to spawning....and that brings me to the striped bass. There's a whole kinda new thing going on these days. Fish wintering over in the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers and Raritan Bay. Fish far up the Raritan River. Better runs of striped bass up the Delaware. And a lot of fish in the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers. And the wintering over and early eating activity of the Toms River fish. I am sure there are more rivers down south, but I'll stick to those.
There are four primary striped bass strains. Hudson, Chesapeake, Delaware, and Roanake. They're might be a couple more, maybe in New England, but the four big ones are it. No they don't spawn in the Raritan River, nor the Hackensack, Shrewsbury, or Passaic. With the mild winters, for reasons unknown, they may, do, and will stick around. Poachers catch them in January and February. Up in the Hackensack last December a guy caught a 47 pound striped bass. Not Newark Bay end either, up. That fish missed the plane, train or automobile to winter over down south.
So what's going on? Do all these bass in the Raritan come from up south? No. They winter over here or come in from the deeper NY Bight and when the bunker or other food arrives it's chow time. They are fattening up before the making the trip up the Hudson. They stage in the rivers off the Raritan and and Newark Bays that leads to some great fishing when things open up March 1. Remember to add the Navesink and Shrewsbury to that list, pre-spawn Hudson fish.
Now let's say, not every fish that can get laid will get laid. Ever hear of the "Honey I have a headache analogy?". Not every fish that COULD spawn is going TO spawn. Just like not every fish winters over in the south and travels to Martha's Vineyard and Block Island for the summer. Tons of fish, males and females, just don't go. They are full of eggs and sperm and either have no interest, no matter what their biological clock isn telling them, or they miss the chance to reproduce because they caught up in the smorgasbord that is going on. "I'll get some next year". Females eggs die and they get absorbed. Sperm, well just gets released when a male bumps into another male.
Now the fish we used to get out front on the beach in New Jersey in June were post spawn Chesapeake and Delaware fish. You know when "AC is bangin'", yeah that. Now let me say, yes, some of the big fish do winter over down south and make the run up to the Hudson and Delaware. That was evidenced this year when a boat going cod fishing out of the Shark River, I think, ran into acres of big bass on bunker. Of course they stopped and fished that. Who wouldn't? And then the boat guys in the Raritan and points north would run into the Hudson post-spawn fish. And in the mix are smaller fish that stay put. They're happy with the bays and rivers if they don't get too hot or come in and out of the surf zone in parts from New Jersey to New England during the summer.
But my theory is this. After having fished, alot, the past week, throwing flies on every tide to waters that hold pre-spawn fish, and not getting a tap, I have to ask what is going on? I am fishing fishy waters, high and low, and the bait and fish just aren't there. Don't tell me about the social media reports. Come out day in and day out and this is what you will see. Boats trolling and throwing the biggest and noisiest plugs to spots that hold fish. These are pre-spawn fish, almost all females, that just want to get where they are going. They are in sex mode. The Raritan Bay fish, are fattening up before they head 140 miles up river to spawn. Will they eat along the way? To a point, and then when they are close they stop. Oh, they'll hit your annoying trolling thing-a-ma-ching or big plug, but not because they want to eat it, they want it to go away. I question if they are following the bait, or are they all, herring, shad, and bass just going upriver at the same time for the same reason?
So as I watched the catches occurring before me, I saw something. Anglers are not fishing fishy spots, they are fishing holding waters, kind of like a bathtub. Yes, it takes some skill to maneuver your boat or to throw your plug 200 feet into that spot, but are you really fishing? Are you fishing to fish that are actively eating? Or are you just plopping your shit in their face like it happens with salmon and shad? All of the casts and troll-overs occur at the same places on the same tides. You can see the holds, the lines of travel, and plop!, take that in your face. Right now there isn't a ton of bait around. Big shad, I guess, herring a striped bass favorite, only there in relatively small numbers. Cormorants don't eat underwater. I've watched them dive under hundreds of times as of late and come up empty handed.
So I have been wasting my time. Getting frustrated, until this theory entered my skull. It's not a wah-wah I'm not catching theory, I just think some or most of it is true. Now, that's talking about the early, early big first push of fish. They say the smaller males arrive first, they must have missed the boat this year, and then followed by the biggest females. Well, I don't buy all of that. They say the primary spawning area is 30 miles south. Why would you drive 30 miles past the strip club to go eat at a closed restaurant that has no food? Unless, there's another strip club past the restaurant, now without food but soon to have plenty.
The fish, salmon, shad, herring and bass, come in waves. Pushes of fish if you will. And as they make their way up the river they stop and rest at places that work for them like slow pools before a long run. Throw in big tides, with a full moon high and low, and you could see why a place holds fish as they move. And that is what's going on. Fish that have sex on their minds, taking a break from the road trip, and getting annoyed into biting your trolled or thrown lure. As for us fly anglers, that's just a joke. If you were to put a fly in the same spot as a bored out Rebel with bb's in it I can tell you your Hollow Fleye ain't gettin' bit. Why, it's just not that annoying. They aren't on the feed bag, yet, but they will. When the bait is plentiful they may set up in feeding lanes as they travel and may make an effort, but even that's limited when they're goal is to shed the eggs and sperm. After that it's post-spawn game on.
People try and tell me that pre-spawn bass travel 30 miles upriver from where they are supposed to spawn following the bait. Then they drop down 30 miles, spawn, and return upriver to eat? Only to have to travel back down past the 30 mile away love shack zone heading to the ocean and then to Cape Cod? C'mon man, even a fish isn't that stupid.
So, with that, I'm going to change it up a bit. I'm going to find fish that are eating. Fishing fishy spots without thinking the only way to catch is to bother the shit out of them to striking out against a lure or fly. It'll be hard but I'm going to do, well try, it. I'm not saying the above theory is correct, but I put a lot of time and thought into it. I can tell you that fly fisherman aren't a threat, or an annoyance to these river spawning bass. Boat anglers and spin fisherman hooking fish way out in big current and dragging, or waterboarding them, through and back up the water, will seriously tax and kill a striped bass. Especially one that is hormonally and weight-off and doesn't have all the right things in place for a fight like that. Add to that the netting, flopping on the deck, up in the air for a few pics, and that's all she wrote. She may not have enough in her, or him, to get to where they are supposed to be heading to keep the species going.
I would be a hippocrite to say that I am not fishing for striped bass. I fish for them in the rivers, in the bays, and on the beach. I have spent out a bass or two. I am sure I have inadvertently killed one or two along the way. I try my best to reduce that possibility. Fly rod. Single barbless hook. Fishing from shore or from a boat in water where the fish can be safely landed. I'm not preaching, but just calling it like I see it. I think any spin angler should reconsider using a treble hook on the back end of their plugs because that plier-shaking release is a doozy to watch. Bass eat headfirst anyway. You only risj hooking it in the head, the gill plate, or even in the eye. And maybe pinching down the barbs would make the release of those three hooks in the face a little easier. And for the fly anglers please crimp down those barbs on your hooks, it makes the release that much easier. And always try to keep them wet.
I guess it's back to the dinks for me....
