So remember less than a month ago it was 150 degrees out and the river was up to nearly 65 degrees. It, in my opinion, threw things off in regards to the 2023 striped bass spawning run in the Delaware. It will be interesting what the numbers show for this year when the seine studies are done for YOY.
Remember, things have to be right for fish to spawn. They want to, but they don't have to. Female striped bass in the water are no different than female humans in the bedroom. "Not tonight honey, I've got a headache". For striped bass a lot of things have to line up for them to successfully get their freak on. And this spring was not perfect. Some early fish tortured into hitting big plugs when there was no bait. Then some bait, some bait, and then some fish that started to eat, for like a day or so here and there.
And with somewhere around 5-6 inches of rain in the last five days let's say the river is blown out. A month ago I was talking about flows around 8,000 cfs and now this morning we are at 59,400 cfs. That
means it's big, angry, ugly, and carrying every type of flotsam and jetsam down the river. You would think that would be a Danny downer for fishing but, like history, we have seen this before. Below is the chart from last April. It was on April 18th that we had another huge rainfall that brought the river to
over 30,000 cfs. We thought it was over. But the river corrected itself pretty quickly by dropping like a stone and clearing up and then within a week it was lights out fishing pretty much to a small crew until a few asswipes blew it up. The water temps were about the same as we saw before this blow, but, but the big variable this year was that stupid equator-like heat up we had which I fear may have just changed this year for good. And again, I'm not boohooing myself for not catching. The boat guys have been catching, not as well as last year, but catching. So we shall see what happens after things settle down.
We need bait, and we need fish. I think I mentioned this guy in posts past. He had himself quite the April. He's fishing was down south where the Jersey side is legal to fish from. He's catching all of his fish on bloodworms. That is a very impressive collage. One thing I noticed was on one day he has a leg brace on the right, then another day on the left, I guess both his knees are shot?
And then there's the good old ASMFC. I speak abut them often. Useless in my opinion. There's a ton of good folks with hope that one day things will be done to improve the numbers and sustainability of striped bass, but that has yet to happen. Circle hooks, good-yes I guess, slot limit- horrible in my opinion, but it does release the big breeding females and super large males, but the mortality is still high, and selective closing of "certain" waters, good but not enough. Let the people fish, artificials only, no treble hooks, catch and release. That would be my vote.
But today the asswipes at the ASMFC are having their May meeting. They shocked the planet a few months ago by introducing the brilliant idea of having commercial quota transfers between states. So, to keep it simple, New Jersey has no commercial fishing. We do have that asinine Bonus Tag Program, which, by angler self reporting (ha fuckin' ha), shows that we are not using out full commercial quota, even though it's for a 24-28 inch fish. So just to be clear, come May15th, in New Jersey, it's hammer down time on striped bass from 24 inches to 37.99 inches....yeah good move.
But back to the ASMFC. So their idea is to allow a state, like New Jersey, to transfer it's unused quota to another state. Of course there's a "fee" either in striped bass pounds or something else that has to be "paid" for the transfer. Partial reasoning of this is because southern states like North Carolina have had zero commercial catches, well reporting, in recent years, and they want to help out there slaughter states like New York and Massachusetts, well actual;ly any of them.
There was a ASMFC plan to rebuild the striped bass stock by 2029, but they reported this year, that due to overfishing, the chance of that happening was reduced by 83% from 2022. So, since that sucked and they are so concerned, they introduced the commerical quota transfer to help, well, kill more bass.
So why is today a big deal. Well the board will decide, and have to act, on what to do about rebuidling tstriped bass. Since they spit the bit for the 2029 traget date, now with last years adoption of Ammendent 7, which replaced a failed Ammendent 6, they have to man up and make a f'in' decision. Most anglers, like the American Saltwater Guides Association, strongly urge them to adopt Adendum II, which states,
So, does it sound good? Yes, what that means in reality is, the board, if they choose Addendum II, will close the meeting, have more meetings about meetings, and then arrive at some stupid plan to rebuild the fishery in 10 years, which it will fall short on again. The only way to rebuild the fishery is to stop killing the fish. They are holding strong that recreational mortality, by keeping or catch and releasing and killing, is the culprit in the collapse of the striped bass. Think what you may. I say, make it a game fish, catch and release only, closed waters during certain times of the year, not just pre-spawning areas but those fall choke points also, with artificials only and no treble hooks.
We'll see how they screw this up today, yet again.