Tonight we'll see our last full moon of 2025. It's the December full moon aka the Cold Moon or Long Night Moon. We all know about full moons and fishing, or at least we think we do. "Never fish on the moon, but before or after". That's what we've heard, but that also goes with catching a blitz or a personal best when the wind is blowing hard south. Shit just happens.
I've always said, in my opinion, that each year is different in regards to the spring and fall migrations of the striped bass. That's not a genius statement on my part. But what I have found is that when it comes to baits each year is different, and I think that affects the bass differently year to year. Luckily I have been around some incredible year bites in the last 15 years. The sand eel bite in 2011, the white legger bite in 2012, when we were fishing in shorts in February, and the incredible peanut bunker bite in 2016.
What I have found is that we either have a solid sand eel or peanut bunker (well cupcakes and adults as well) bite each year. It's one or the other. Sometimes, like this year, it's mixed. We had early sand eels and then lots of bunker off the beaches, except for that intermittent week-long push of peanuts in and around IBSP. The boats saw the better part of the action then those on foot.
Here's the skinny for 2025. It's over. It's over for most anglers who have hung up their gear and moved their efforts into other things before Christmas hits just three weeks from today. There's still some die hards fishing and or least watching the reports. The umph of fishing the fall run has dwindled, and the rewards will come to those out there doing it, or the lucky guy or girl who happens to be in it when it goes down, if it does at all.
So the question is, will this moon be it? Moons bring high highs and low lows when it comes to tides. Bait likes to move on the moons. And we have a rising barometer and winds switching from the south to the west.
Those are pretty good conditions although we're supposed to get a temp drop and snow on Friday which will affect the anglers more then the fish. But what, if there's any left, will the bait do? Remember, IMHO, you either get sand eels or peanuts, plus some other baits, in alternating years. So will any peanut bunker, or white bait, leave "out back" on this moon. Will the sand eels come in? And then the big question is, "Are there any bass around to intercept them?".
I will say, outside of the boat reports and some banner days where anglers got into them on the beach, that most are reporting the, "My worst fall ever". And that may be true. I can say for the three times I went down, which is a joke as far as effort is concerned, I was underwhelmed with what I saw as compared to recent falls. It never felt like things were building, or were about to "go off".
A year with a mixed bait smorgasbord is like looking at a menu at a 24-hour diner. Do I want breakfast for dinner or a grilled cheese and tomato soup? Or maybe a Rueben? Or, "How's the Salisbury steak special?". In the end, many times, you just can't make your mind up and wind up ordering something, but you're disappointed when the server drops it off at your table.
Yes striped bass are opportunistic feeders. We all know the spectrum of what they eat especially when one for the table stomach's contents are examined. But I believe, at times, they want what they want when they want it. Like the 30-year son stuck in his Mom's basement, "Ma, I want my Cheerios!". Many times this fall I've seen reports from the boats stating, "We had good marks but they had lockjaw today". And, "We set up for a jig bite (drop and reel) but couldn't get hem to eat".
Sometimes they want what they want, like a spoiled kid. They are either on one bait or the other. When you have a so-so year of sand eels, white bait, and bunker, they become picky and don't eat as voraciously as they could. You don't see the pushes, and don't see the blitzes. And when there's too much bait around, even though I've heard all I can about Omega Protein wiping out the bunker, they just meander around the pods and eat what and when they want.
The last time I was out in Bradley Beach a young kid came up to me looking to fish. He said he had just flown his drone "right off that jetty" and he showed me the clip. That enticed him to drop what he was doing and head down. Nothing showing on top but tons of striped bass, good ones, patrolling around the bunker slick, not pods, that ran parallel to the beach, but off a ways. If they don't make it nervous and get them onto the beaches then there's really no shot, especially for someone waving a fly rod with 20 foot casts off the rocks or sand.
So maybe this year is just that. A year of a stacked menu at the diner with customers, the bass, not knowing what they want to eat. Were there good fish around this fall? Just ask the boat anglers. Did we see the push of schoolie and slot sized bass, not yet, and maybe not at all. That's concerning. Either they are in a bad way numbers wise, or have chosen to ride the winter out holding in rivers and bays until the spring. It might show that what's left of the Chesapeake fish are the SSB, or big breeders. Down there right now they are having a solid fall run, but the smaller fish haven't showed up yet. And the Hudson and Delaware fish, maybe they're just around, and not migrating in beach-hugging numbers like we look forward to each fall.
Each year is different. If you put the effort in I hope you were rewarded. If you one and doned it and hit it right, good for you. And if you're out there during or after this moon have a selection of offerings in your plug bag or sling pack. If you think they're on something, because you see bunker flipping, but you're not catching, maybe go big because they're looking for something different. That's how someone catches with a BEAST Fleye or a metal lip when there's lots of tiny baits around with no bites. But, in the end, the bass have to be there, and we all don't have drones to send up to let us know what's swimming out of range.