12.31.24 The year in review....

     Well 2024 is in the books. It was a good year but it was a tough year. During the winter months I did some of the shows including The Fly Fishing Show in Edison, Stock the Box in Newport, Rhode Island, and the Long Island Fly Fishing Expo. I also did a few talks at some local fly tying/fishing clubs. I also awaited the release John Fields book, Fly fishing for Trophy Striped Bass, in which I was lucky to be a small part of. 

     For the first time I took the hours long drive down to the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay for some late winter fishing. While I haven't brought one to hand I enjoyed learning and fishing new waters. I saw some of the larger specimens that chase early running bait and would like to catch one myself. Hopefully the winter will be relatively mild as I just can't do really cold anymore.

     I fished hard during the spring close to home and had some good success. Two fish stand out that were 30 pounds with girths pushing 25 inches. My favorite fish of the year was the one of the top of the page which was 42 inches long. That fish was one I worked for, with many skunked outings, and landed after some precarious footing and a perfect cast. It ate, which I watched, as soon as the big fly hit the water. 

    I did a lot of fishing with Delaware Joe who was always ready to go as long as his body isn't telling him otherwise. We spent a lot of time in the jet boat and I was able to see things from that vantage point that I haven't been able to see while on foot. River fishing, which has become my favorite, really comes down to luck, with a balance between what I do, what the fish are doing, and what Mother Nature has in store for that day. 

     While a lot of beach and back bay fishing is all about the bunker, I prefer the herring. They are an interesting fish, and the river conditions, and the moons, play such a role in when and where they show up. 

I'm not sure if I like it better when they push up or drop back.

My flies seem to work well even though they wouldn't be chosen for any publication. I guess that's all that

matters. I like tying the big flies. What's funny is I've had some of my best outings throwing a proven pattern even though it may be all beat up, are even sparse, and with one or no eyes. 

     I made the solo trip up to the Vineyard and experienced the same weather conditions were had down in New Jersey...WIND. All day and all week. That's one thing about the spring, the weather was all over the place. Too hot too early, with drought like conditions, then the heavens opened up, and the howling wind, all the time. I still had a good time and was able to give the SS Archer 2 a shot, even though I got blown around the pond. I saw fish, lots of them, but most were in transit and not foraging and not interested in my flies. 

     Theresa and I spent a week in Hilton Head and it was hot as balls there as it was in New Jersey. I fished a few times and really enjoyed what the possibilities could have been but skunked the entire week. I saw a few redfish and made some casts in thick cover with lots of my casts laying down on top of the grass. We hope to call South Carolina home sooner than later. 

     I gave the Jersey salt a shot a few times over the summer but that fishery has changed as well. Long are the days of a good early first light popper bite or even dragging some AMC's (Archer's Mole Crabs) around through the trough. It was then a wait for the mullet run which I missed altogether. It seemed to be a North Jetty/ Barnegat Inlet thing this year. Monmouth County just didn't have much of a run. 

     For the first time I got to fish the South Shore of Long Island. It was fun, but I was thirty miles west from the action that was happening in and around Fire Island. They had a good bite this year. I wonder how many fish were pricked, caught, released, and harvested out there this fall. Some boats reporting a 1,000 fish over a couple of days. 

    And this fall was extremely difficult with the passing of Bob Popovics. What can I say, one of the best, one of the nicest, and one I will miss him moving forward. RIP Bobby. 

     I was lucky to get out for the fall run a bunch of times. It was, as it always is, hit and miss. But one day I hit it right and had it all to myself for hours. There were guys in site but nowhere near close enough to feel like I was caught up in blitz fishing. It what's you fish for. 

     Why was it so good? Because it went from nothing to something really quickly, and lasted. There's one thing to find the the boys on the beach or boats in tight and get into the fray but I prefer to be all alone and find my own fish. Well maybe they found me. I caught myself, which lasted a minute, catching and landing and recasting, only to take a break between each fish and savor moment. 

     Before the fish up and left I enjoyed spending time with the two New England Joe's down at Brad Buzzi's house. That was in and around The International Fly Tying Symposium where I got a front row seat and some time in speaking with Bob Clouser. 

It's something I'll remember and not sure if I'll be able to do again. If you look at Kreh, Popovics, and Clouser as being legendary in fly tying he's the last of the greats. 

     December brought the Grinch to town as the ASMFC punted the fish around again taking no action...whatsoever...to save, or slow down the carnage, when it comes to the striped bass stocks. They didn't have all the data, facts, and science, but they had enough first hand accounts from anglers up and down the East Coast to do something. But nope, the bass lost again. 

     And I ended 2024 hitting that milestone of 1,000,000 people who have come and read this blog since I started it in 2009. It's really cool. It's my story, but it can easily be anyone who fly fishes, has a job, has a family, and navigates all that life throws out there for us to deal with. 

     What's in store for 2025? Well I have an action packed spring semester that I hope it doesn't interfere with my favorite fishing time of year. I hope there's a Martha's Vineyard trip out there and hope to fish the Chesapeake Bay more just to complete the circle of fishing where striped bass are. I'd put a trip north of border into Canada on my bucket list as that fishery seems to have exploded in recent years. But I've never been a traveler or destination type guy, and I'm pretty cheap. The truth is I really just like fishing close to home, on foot of course, and for my own fish.

12.30.24 One last shot for 2024...

     With air temps forecasted to hit the 60's and water temps holding around 45 it seemed like a good idea to go and give it one last shot for 2024. Surly there would be a schoolie or two around coming in and sniffing around for something to eat. 

     I got down to Bradley Beach in the dark and fog and waited for Leif to arrive. It was just about high tide when we got down to the water and it looked promising until we realized we were just

casting and retrieving flies along the sand which is usually not covered by water. I had my eyes set on the East End Avenue groin as it sits higher off the water and is good at high tide. The only problem is getting there can be dicey. Not dicey like injury or death, but more like wet and 

miserable. With a two foot swell and the top of the tide it called for waiting it out a bit. We fished both sides from that groin and another before the tide ebbed. Leif went to another pile of rocks

and I stayed and played Double-Dutch with the waves before getting out and up on them. More importantly I didn't take any water over the bow. I think we were both confident that we might catch a bass between us. Good looking water, lots of it, birds in and about looking and picking, and the weather for late December was comfortable. 

    I gave both sides and and off the tip a solid effort before coming to the realization that the late winter fish, albeit smaller, just haven't been hanging around like they have done in years past. I can remember when Andy would come out doing the last season and have 30 fish days on his light spin set up with a chicken scratch Bomber. Those days are gone now, not sure why but they are. 

     When I got home I hit Facebook and this memory came up from 2016. It was a post from eight years ago, you can see that HERE, where I was lucky to bring eleven fish to hand. That's they way it used to be, a time when if you put your time in you caught, something, or at least the fish were around, even during the colder months. 

     So after few hours we were done, confident that if there was a fish or two around we would have caught one. It'll be months, like five, before Leif and I fish together again on the beach. A lot can happen in that time and I hope we're lucky enough to spend a another year fishing together. I'd love to do a Martha's Vineyard run again next year. It's early but it's time to start thinking. 

12.29.24 President Jimmy Carter, a fly-fisherman, has died....

    Our 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, has passed away today at the age of 100. Carter served this country as President from 1977-1981. I was just eleven when he took over the office but have heard good and bad things as far as how his one term went. But one thing I do know is that over the years he was always giving back and very active in community service. He was seen for years building homes for Habitat for Humanity, like thousands of them. 

     Carter was also an avid fly fishermen. He fished all over the world. In the below image he sports a Catskill Fly Fishing Museum hat so he must have spent some time on the Beaverkill, Willow, or one of the Upper Delaware Rivers. 

    He ran a good race, and did so with his wife Roslyn at his side. She passed away in 2023 and they were married from 1946 until her death. He did good for himself having started out as a peanut farmer, becoming President of the United States, and of course becoming a fly fisherman. 

     And if you look to the right you can see the traffic ticker has hit over 1,000,000 unique viewers who have clicked on the blog since it's start in 2009. I must be doing something right  

because it has grown exponentially in the last few years. As of today we come in as the 21st most popular fly fishing blog in the world as rated by Feedspot. I haven't dipped in under twenty

but maybe this year I will. What's funny is I've never been on Twitter, don't have Instagram, and have no You Tube Channel. Unlike the top blogs out there that have multiple authors or whose content is just hyperlinked from other content creators, mine is all original. Although from time to time I do use images I find on social media. The blog is something I love doing, but it isn't easy, in fact it's hard work. Lots of time editing images, researching for posts, and then going back and correcting mistakes, which I have tried to cut down on in the last few years. 

     So keep reading and enjoying it. I'd like to expand it a little bit. I flirted with the idea of a podcast but there are a million of them out there and I suck at technology so it would be a mess. What I am thinking of is doing something like a fish along. I would come and fish on your boat, or on foot, either local or a ride away if I can crash on your couch. It's not meant to pimp out guides, charter operations, or lodges. Just average anglers who fish and wouldn't mind sharing the water, no spot burning I promise, a little conversation sharing your story, and then a blog post outlining it all. Could be fun for me, the other person, and the audience. We'll see where that goes.

12.28.24 It's that's time of year again....

     Now what? With fishing over for the year and the silly seasons of the holidays just about past us what is there to do? Add to that a winter break for those that teach or go to school and you can feel pretty much lost this time of year. The only hurdle left is New Year's Eve which we usually take a pass around and are asleep by 9 pm, which is about our normal lights out time.

    The Honey Do List? Why even try to complete it? It's like a spoiled kids want list, it never goes away. While there are some things I'd like to get done, well start if we're being honest, I probably won't do much more then move stuff around or organize a drawer or closet or two.  

     And what's a better motivator to get yourself, well your house, "organized" and clean, well have intruders over. Last night we had Marc (Fishing bud of course) and his wife Laura over for a nice dinner. While we were all smiles when the door opened at 6 it was pretty much mayhem and choice words for each other leading up to that shiny-happy-people moment at the front door. But it was good. We looked good. The house looked good. The food looked good. And they looked good as well. It was worth the work and getting all those dustballs and stuff left around the house away that have become permanent decorations. It made us almost feel normal. 

     Earlier in the day I decided to tighten up my fly tying room. "Theresa, I'm going to bring Marc upstairs to show him my fly tying room." "Upstairs?". Ut oh, major violation and cause to change readiness operations from floor one to two. But we did it. Just don't open the closets. My Mom always said there's nothing like having a party as it gets you to get organized and give the house a good cleaning. And having them over was good, for human interaction sake, and to jump to and get ready for it. If you've ever had a party and said after the last guests left, "Wow, we pulled that off", then you know what I mean. 

    The winter is a great time to catch up on your fly tying. There's nothing like spending some time with a heater under your desk while tying and listening to some fly fishing or tying podcasts. If it's a Sunday the maybe it'll be the ambient noise from the NFL playoffs on the radio or television. 

     I know for me it's time well spent as I need to replenish my stock of flies, both big and small, for the upcoming year. It's a cross between mummichog type flies all the way through large Hollow style flies. Beast Fleyes, I'm out on. Why? Because I suck at them and don't have the patience to hang around that long on a tie. I also have to spend some time at the desk to get ready for the fly show season. I'll be at the Squimpish Flies booth one of those days at The Fly Fishing Show and don't want to embarrass myself. 

     Each and every person who has a fly tying space has some signature thing that makes it their own. I like my sticker collection that is on a glass top that sits on my fly tying table. That collection is one I rotate if I need to. In the last few years I have been using Cortland lines so it might be time to swap out one of those stickers for that SA sticker. I went from tying on a Regal to a PEAK vice so those stickers were switched out. Looking at them at this vantage point I see how poor of a job I did in laying them down straight. But it is what it is. 

     When I take a picture of my space I like to go around the room and pick things out that have some meaning. Pictures, books, artwork, and flies tied by myself or others all have a story behind them. There's no greater room than the one that Bob used for years in his home in Seaside Park. 

     I have a Tom Lynch photo of that space sitting on top of my converted computer desk top now organizer. I'm not sure if there's a more famous fly tying room then his. It was there where many of the patterns Bob created were perfected as well as the venue

for the early Atlantic Saltwater Flyrodders meetings. When people talk about or write about the history of saltwater fly tying and fly fishing in the northeast there is always mention of that room, and of course Bob. 

     So it's a fitting place to display that photo of Bob. He was always a teacher, always worked hard to encourage those that showed an interest in the sport, and, at least to me, a ball breaker about all things fly tying and fly fishing. A few years back I awoke to a ping on my phone, 

Bob always gave me words of encouragement, "Even YOU could tie these!!!!" Thanks there buddy. So I will enjoy looking up as I tie and thinking what he would say about one of my creations sitting in the jaws of my vice. But truthfully though, after his chop busting  he would bring nothing but constructive criticism and encouragement. 

     And in the bookcase I have some things placed there that have, or had, some meaning to me over the years. There's a Rich Murphy Fly Fishing for Striped Bass book, I got the signed #1 copy, the only striped bass fly tied by Pat Cohen, and a Skelfish etched metal striped bass.  

There's some pictures that have some special meaning and some model fire trucks reproduced from the ones I worked on in Newark. As Theresa and I continue to whittle things down and organize before the big move, two years and counting hopefully, I'll have to reevaluate things that are must keeps or must get rid ofs. I have come to realize the most important memories in life have far more meaning then holding on to every single photo, thing, and chatchga, that I've touched during my life. 

Besides, who's is going to want it and how much space will I have in the nursing home one day. 

 

12.27.24 Poachers, poachers, poachers.....

     It was on March 30th 2020 when NJ Conservation Police Officers performed a sting operation to catch poachers working the back bay waters near Atlantic City. They watched and waited through the night for the fishermen to arrive back at the dock. When they did they found two men in possession of 66 illegally taken short striped bass. It's amazing to think that just four years ago the regulations were two per angler per day, one fish 28-43 inches and a second greater than 43 inches. So if you went out your buddies boat and legally harvested a 40 and 45 inch striped bass, easy to do these days, you would have about 70 pounds of bass in the cooler, not fillets, but in whole fish. Just say a party boat had fifty guys on it and they were on them good that day....guys that's why we have a problem. 

      In the above case each angler was issued summonses totaling $12,800 in fines for their illegal poaching activities. While we always laud the efforts of law enforcement and are entertained by the posting or press releases of the officers efforts, rarely are the name of the accused published, or the outcomes of the cases after the are heard in court. Any other arrests done by law enforcement usually publish the names of the accused, but not so much when it comes to certain wildlife violations. 

    Back in 2018 a trio of West of the Border guys were caught and issued summonses for poaching. I did find out the disposition of their cases in Brielle Municipal Court. If they got busted in Brielle they were most likely poaching the Manasquan River, a well known hotspot for illegal activity. Below are the fines they racked up,

     I wanted to see how the NJ DEC Conservation Police reported to the public the activities and arrests made by the department. I went to the NJ DEC website looking, and I didn't find much. There was a history of the department narrative and then at the bottom of the page

were various links to department related news and press releases. The most recent "News" were press releases dated from 2020. They must have eliminated the spokesman and social media person from the budget. I have found navigating through New Jersey's various department websites to be lacking and untimely, almost a joke, and not very transparent. 

     There are some Annual Reports from the DEC but no year end statistics on striped bass issued violations. What I did learn was that in New Jersey there are about 60 conservation officers that cover the entire state of New Jersey. For comparison Red Bank, a town that is one square mile, has 45 officers. So needless to say the department has a daunting task of enforcing wildlife laws both on land and on the water. 

     

     During my internet search I found more, like the above, press releases regarding poaching. They all just say the same thing, who (officers), what, when, and where. It's almost like they are trying to protect the accused, you don't see that with shoplifting, DUI's, or possession types of incidents. Maybe it has to do with the fact that on one hand you have violations written and the other arrests? I'm no lawyer and I'm not sure on that. But I think publishing names might be a deterrent for some who practice catch and poach fishing, which usually isn't a one-time thing. 

     The NY DEC put out a press release a few weeks back detailing operations during the early days in December 2024. They found the poachers busy at work in and around New York City, specifically in Queens, Staten Island, and Nassau County.  

     Poaching isn't limited to those on foot. Each fall we hear of private and for-hire Captains pushing the limits and fishing outside of the three mile line in the EEZ, or Exclusive Economic Zone. That area, from 3 - 200 miles off the coast are federal waters, and fall under the jurisdiction of NOAA. You would think the US Coast Guard would have easy pickens finding these law-breakers but we rarely hear of that. Usually all it takes it one USCG vessel to make take the drive out and around to get everyone to play by the rules, 

which lasts for a couple of days, and then those that fish like that head back over the line. "It's big deal", "That's where the fish are",  "I do it for my clients (and that tip)". Now I'm not innocent here, I have found myself mistakingly caught up in the flotilla over that line, and called out by another Captain, before retreating inside, all alone, with no fish around. 

      This kind of ties in to the latest posts regarding wintering over striped bass. Oyster Creek used to be a pinch point where the law and poachers used to meet, but that has been shut down. Our back bay and river fishery here in New Jersey is closed for the targeting and harvest of striped bass due to the high fish concentrations in certain areas when they winter over. They say, in years past, it was easy, but cold, to drag out the boat and find the fish hunkered down in the deep holes and channels and be able to consistently catch, and if you're going out there in the dead of winter, to keep. 

     I tip my hat to the LEO's who choose this line of work where the task is daunting, with not enough officers and too much area to cover. And they just don't do striped bass and other fishes, it's deer, and bears, and turkeys, and anything else wildlife. New Jersey isn't the only place where Bad Boyz do their dirty work. Down in and around the Chesapeake, NYC, the Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers, the Providence River and the Boston Harbor all have the same types because poachers are poachers. 

It's just another obstacle striped bass have to face. Every. Single. Day. 

12.26.24 Where do you winter over when you live in the cold?

      Canuck- a nickname for things Canadian. It's a word that's been around since 1830. It usually has positive connotations but can been used negatively depending on the sender. Most are familiar with the term due to NHL team the Vancouver Canucks. 

      I touched on the Canadian striped bass in a post I wrote early this year, HERE. I was exploring a little bit about striped bass to our north, specifically those fish they see in Maine and into Canada. Are there United States striped bass AND Canadian striped bass? And the easy answer is yes. Two different countries and two different strains of striped bass. 

     I always have to state, I'm no expert on most of this stuff, but share my thoughts on the loose research I do on these topics. There are a ton of people, who actually live and fish there, that know a lot more on this than me. The only fishing in Canada I have done was one day on the Margaree River on Cape Breton Island in 1993 and on the Minipi Lakes system in Labrador in 2007.

      In a nutshell our friends to the north have a recovered and robust striped bass fishery, now. Striped bass are native to Canada, and the fishery, like here in the United States has gone through some very lean years, but unlike our ASMFC, the DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) in Canada, has rebuilt that world class fishery to what it is today. During their rebuild, and into today, there is no commercial fishery for striped bass. They have recently opened up commercial fishing to the indigenous peoples that reside near the striped bass waters. Some up there say it's almost too good up there, with a theory that the striped bass population is threatening wild Atlantic salmon populations. If you delve you may see the word COSEWIC, which is the Committee on the Endangered Wildlife in Canada, which complies stock assessments and publishes reports for the Canadian fisheries managers.  

     But this isn't a history lesson, it would take a lot of time to get their timeline right and down on paper. My question is, "Where do Canadian striped bass winter over in the dead of winter?". I'll just call those Canadian Striped Bass, CSB, for short. 

      I grabbed this illustration from my earlier post. On it you can see where the Kennebec River in Maine is as where the United States/ Canadian border is. Historically there were five spawning CSB rivers, the St. Lawrence, the Miramichi, Schubenecadie, Annapolis, and St. John's Rivers (not the one in Florida). Over the years, and due to a variety of factors, those five rivers have been whittled down to three. The Miramachi River off the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Schubenecadie, and it's tributary the Stewiacke, off the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. Now that doesn't mean you couldn't catch a striped bass in one of the previously know spawning rivers because they do. 

     We all know the basic gist of how striped bass work say south of Massachusetts. Born in either the Chesapeake, Hudson, or Delaware Rivers these fish summer up north and winter down south before staging for their pre-spawn runs in the spring. But north of Mass. we have the Kennebec River striped bass population. And there is much debate if there is a healthy spawning population there. There used to be, and now may be, thanks to the stocking efforts of Hudson strain striped bass placed in the Kennebec. Those are one of migratory strains. Non-migratory strains are those below the Chesapeake, like what's left of the Roanoke fish. 

     So what fish do those Maine anglers get all juiced up for for their two-month season each year? I don't know. While most of their fish are schoolies, they do get their big girls that make a showing. They don't get the cows we see here down in New Jersey, but they get some. Are they post spawn Hudson and Chesapeake fish or are they the "returning" fish of the Kennenbec. 

     There isn't a border crossing out in the Atlantic separating the United States from Canada. Do fishes move up and down between the countries? I am sure they do. But, through DNA testing, the Canadians have identified two strains of striped bass that they call their own. The closest being the Schubenecadie strain which is 265 miles from the Kennebec in Maine. Remember, 265 miles, the same distance from Island Beach State park in Jersey to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. So they could take that ride if they wanted to, or if it made sense. Our southern fish migrate south to spawn, and maybe to find more temperate waters over the winter. So it wouldn't be a stretch to take a swim north, but why would they do it?

     So the point of this post, and wanting to put the whole wintering striped bass thing to rest, is where do striped bass go in during the winter? We know it's cold here in New Jersey, and really cold up in Maine now, so that must mean it's really, really cold up in Canada. Their fish aren't heading to North Carolina, and why would they drop down to our cold winter states for a few months before their spawn? The Fundy fish have a straight line down whereas the Lawrence fish would have to hike down and around Nova Scotia before heading to the United States. So they must find wintering over "hotspots" or tolerable waters before any kind of spring warmup and thaw.

     In a publication titled, Recovery Strategy for the Striped bass, St. Lawrence Estuary Population, Canada, 2011, researchers state, "Canadian striped bass populations typically migrate upstream in the fall and overwinter in fresh and brackish waters to avoid the cold ocean waters". In another article, Left Out in the Cold: The Understudied Overwintering Ecology of Striped Bass In Canada, Andrews, et al., it outlines the locations and behavior of striped bass during the winter. In that article they state, "....therefore the ecology of Canadian populations may differ significantly from US counterparts. These differences suggest that US striped bass overwintering habits may not be synonomously applicable across species range in both the US and Canada and is one of the reasons why knowledge gaps exist especially for striped bass overwintering in Canada". 

    Wow, that's a mouthful. The articles also go on to explain, further about overwintering, that CSB may "find any port in a storm", my words, meaning they may seek refuge from harsh winter conditions by spending those months in non-natal rivers, only to migrate down, out, and up their true natal waters during the spawning runs. There's also the mention that several rivers have power plants with warm water discharges which attract, and keep warm, bass protecting themselves from the cold water. 

     Interestingly there is a power plant on Nova Scotia in the Town of Trenton, on the banks of the East River of Pictou. That is a reported overwinter stop for striped bass although it's not a spawning river. In New Jersey we had a coal-fired power plant in Trenton, which was demolished in 2022. There was another in Trenton, Michigan, which came down earlier this year. All of them on rivers, all of them with warm water discharges, all which held overwintering fishes. In New Jersey the Trenton plant sat on the Delaware River, a spawning river, while the Trenton, Michigan plant sat on the Detroit River, where there are no striped bass. Warmwater sounds all good, until the generators get shut down, and the fish die from thermal shock. Shutdowns, emergency or scheduled, are routine for these types of plants. 

     In addition to the warmer fresh and brackish waters, and warm water discharges, there's mention that striped bass may head upriver(s) to deep lakes for refuge. One example would be Washademoak Lake which feeds the St. John's River and empties into the Bay of Fundy. In an interesting note the authors state that tagging studies and genetic sampling in the St. John's found that United States striped bass were found to overwinter in the SJR only to return to their natal waters in the USA during the spring. 

     So there you go. That's what I got. And to recap,

• There are USA and Canuck strains of striped bass
• Both have tolerable allowances to cold water
• "Our" fish migrate, more, but can holdover if conditions allow, only retuning to natal rivers to spawn
• "Their" fish move, move to warmer waters which include, non-natal rivers and lakes to winter over, only to leave and "find" their natal waters in the spring

     I mean that's my dumbed down version. It's what I found out and what I'm sticking to. Time to find something else to write about. It might be time to get back into my fly tying room for a bit. It has become a storage room and will need to be reorganized before I do any worth while tying.