11.04.23 And in other news....

      So while I am sulking in my no-bass-since-September-19th-ass there's some other things happening in New Jersey related to fishing and striped bass. There has been a lot of controversy the past year and a half regarding wind farms off of our coast. It really came to a head when whales and dolphins started to wash up on the NJ/NY beaches in higher than normal numbers. There was also a lot of pushback from the fishing and environmental communities. Well this week Orsted cancelled two wind farm projects which were scheduled off the Atlantic City coast. Now that's not to say wind farms are dead in New Jersey as there are other companies and plots of ocean land that have leased out. Personally, speaking to my brother who is a Union ironworker, he tells me this is a big blow to all of the trades in Ne Jersey as they had been making plans on how to train, supply man/woman power, and safety for these huge projects.      

     I've been watching and waiting for Frank Pallon'es shoe to drop regarding beach replenishment along the New Jersey shore. These projects are usually awarded in the summer and have a December to January start date. I don't know if he's been stuck in Washington but the beaches are looking, well real good, but a little skinny these days. I said it yesterday. With each storm/swell/tide/moon the shitty donor sand taken from the oceans bottom and pumped up onto the beach moves and takes away habitat and structure for the marine life. While it temporarily appeases the locals and the Pallonies it winds up just going back into the water, forming large bars with no breaks, or winds up at the False Hook where is has to be dredged out, like it is now. Stay tuned, it's coming. In 2015 the Star Ledger reported New Jersey has spent over a billion dollars for sand pumping, not beach infrastructure, and that total has been added to in the past eight years. 

     And finally in striped bass news. The Addendum II draft has been released this week. What does that mean to you? Well let me stumble through it. So the ASMFC is responsible for striped bass management. They also manage other fisheries. You know my opinion of the ASMFC and fisheries management. It a joke. A joke driven by money and politics. But anyway. 

     The ASMFC and the various boards, like the striped bass management board, hold meetings and they come up with plans to "manage" things when certain triggers are, well, triggered. Be it a poor year of recruitment, increased mortality, or a reduction in the amount of spawning striped bass (SSB). In the 

meetings they discuss both the recreational and commercial fisheries. They also break it down by the states to set quotas for each state and then CE (conservation equivalency). So, in New Jersey, where we have a Gamefish status for striped bass, hey that's a joke isn't it, our commercial quota, we have no commercial fishery, has been "shifted" over to our recreational side in the Bonus Tag Program. Some say that it's better to have that program, where the amount of fish harvested is far below what a commercial fishery would take in New Jersey waters. Early this year there was the suggestion by the ASMFC that quota transfer between states be allowed.....which was the dumbest idea I've heard in a long time. 

     So, again, I'm gonna fumble through this as I am no expert or even a novice. So there was Amendment VI (6) which was formulated in 2003 to help protect striped bass, which was in a really good way at the time. But now they have determined, based on the 2019 stock assessment that striped bass are overfished but that overfishing is not occurring. WTF does that mean? 

     To determine if the striped bass are overfished you have to look at the spawning striped bass numbers, or SSB. They determine that 200 million pounds of spawning striped bass (SSB) is a healthy number for the biomass. Say they determine that 100 million pounds of SSB are swimming around, that would make the fishery overfished. 

     To determine of overfishing is occurring they look at the fishing mortality rate. Say they set the threshold at 2.0 and it comes back at 2.8, meaning more fish are killed and removed from the biomass, then overfishing is occurring. While I can't find concrete evidence that the fishery has been determined that overfishing is occurring, it sure looks like it to me. 

     In the fall 2022 the ASMFC came up with a plan to "rebuild" the SSB, again spawning striped bass, by 2029. They felt they, or we, had a 78% chance of reaching that goal. So that happened and then in early 2023 during the winter meetings they adopted Amendment VII (7) which included five triggers regarding striped bass which would have to have them jump into action. 

     Well some triggers were hit and in the spring of 2023 we saw that action in the form of an emergency action tightening the slot down to 28-31". The EA was supposed to end in October 2023 but it has been extended. 

     So, that brings us to Addendum II of Amendment VII (7). Right now it is a draft and will be open for public comment through December 22, 2023. What it means for you is the chance to have a voice and tell the powers that be which option you believe will help save the striped bass. In the draft they talk about changing harvest regulations, commercial fisheries numbers, and the total mess of management of the Chesapeake Bay fishery. 

      Here are the coast wide options you can choose from,

And what those options should mean is that by choosing said option one can predict how much of a reduction in fishing mortality that could "possibly" occur. Remember, this is all being done to protect the 2015 year class of fish, which we are hammering down on this weekend, as that class year of fish have replaced the cows that were crashing big bunker over the last two weeks. 

     You can read the entire Addendum VII (7) draft HERE. What has people all cranked up already is how they have offered a different size limit for the private vessel/shore anglers VERSUS the for hire fleet. For hire, meaning head boats, those that carry 15 or more passengers. Their slot would be from 28-33" rather than the 28-31". Dividing people keeps them further away from solving issues collectively. 

     In the end we know this. The continued killing of striped bass will not help the stock rebuild. I think the plan of a 2029 SSB rebuild, once calculated at 78%, is now down to less than 50% is the mortality rate seen in 2022 continues into 2024. 

     

     And while the New York Bight fishing has been, well just about incredible, this fall, like right now, know this is a just a small percentage of the area where striped could be. There are just a few, yes huge, pods of striped bass in the bio mass, and right now they are camped around the bays, rivers, and ocean along New Jersey and New York. Yes, there's a lot of fish, but don't be fooled by what you see right in front of you right this second. 

     So, what can you at least do? Review the options above and choose one and defend your reasoning. 

Then type up an email or letter and fire it off to the ASMFC. Each letter is made part of the public record and recorded. If you want to take it a step further the public comment meetings are held for each state that you can attend virtually or in person. Funny, how NJ and Pa have glommed their meetings together and only by Zoom. That will be held November 15th. I have and we'll attend it.

11.02.23 Didn't have a chance today, well maybe one....

This may wind up being the longest post ever. I think it's important to tell the story of fishing this "epic" fall run through the eyes of a fly fisherman, and maybe even the surfcaster. If you follow reports on social media from boat anglers you will definitely here about today. "Epic" will be a common thread. 

     Today is my day off and I wanted to fish and catch fish. I was going to find them and break the skunk streak I've been on since I had a multi-fish day when the mullet were around. That may be well over a month ago. But it's not for lack of putting time and effort in. I, again, had a winning plan, or so I thought. 

     This post will tell spots, not really a spot burn, because when it comes to the fall everyone knows the spots to hit starting from Sandy Hook down to Island Beach State Park. A true spot burn would be posting as a bite is happening. Things change hour to hour yet alone day to day. 

     

     When I left my house around 515 am it was a brisk, well dam cold, 29 degrees. I was going to drive east, hit the potty on the Parkway rest stop, and continue down to Long Branch. Why? No real reason. 

When I got down there things looked perfect. Flat. Birds up. Pretty sky. It didn't take long for the first boat to hook a left into a flock of birds I was watching in front of me. There were birds but no fish. But I stayed and watched and looked north and south, nothing showing. So I made the first of many moves. 

     I stopped in between Long Branch and the Hook and took a peek but it was kinda boring and not what I had in mind. Incoming tide. A NW to W wind which could put bait on the beach, somewhere. 

     I went with the two-hander today, a move I'm not sure really improved my chances any. Two flies. Good knots. I was ready. When I got out there was some guys there already and I talked to a guy who'd been spin fishing since 0230 am. He landed four before first light "out a ways" past the rock field on a pencil popper. I took a walk and found the birds out with nothing showing close. Guys came and went while I was there and I didn't see any fish landed. I decided it was time to move. I headed south. 

     Along the way I pulled into a few spots and found anglers waiting and watching or leaving, that was a sign that nothing was happening. When I pulled into Deal there was some guys watching and few fishing because there were boats in the mix of bait and bass, and some dolphins running though. 

     The water in Deal was like a dark tea to You-Hoo color and that turned me off. But I went anyway. It was then I noticed the swell that just sucked, and sucked the whole day. The waves broke on the bar and then continued in and broke on the beach, followed by two or three others in each set. There was a break but the timing just didn't allow for good current and setting up to make casts with the fly rod. 

 

     If you look above you can see what I mean. I like big water but I will swear the swells kept the bait off the beach and the bass as well. I made some casts into the pocket, blindly, before moving up onto the rocks. Another thing I noted was the recent multi-day swells and different winds have quickly changed the structure on the beach. It just isn't good, especially in "Jetty Country". 

     By now I'm like three hours in and only made a handful of casts. This isn't what I was hoping for. The bait and bass and birds were out of range, all the boat anglers wanted were on the outside of the bar. Just before I made yet another move I got to see Andy, a regular on this beat, and someone we haven't 

seen in some time. Andy prefers the colder weather and water and those days when numbers of fish surpasses the temperature. So we caught up and I had to rethink my plan. The traffic on Ocean Ave. in Long Branch was a mess due to construction, I had already been north, and Bagel Talk was calling me. Maybe I'll hit Neptune and just head south before calling it a day. 

     I decided I would head north, give Deal a chance to sit down, and hit a familiar bagel shop in Long Branch. When I worked at Monmouth Medical on the kids psych unit we would order from The Bagel Guys all of the time. It was good, but they, like many, don't sell small milks, chocolate yes, plain no. 

     When I rolled into Sea Bright I didn't take notice to the cars in the lot. I was sure it was another scene of a few guys fishing and more watching and waiting. To my surprise to the north it was shoulder to shoulder with bait showing, birds overhead, and bass chewing. If you look at the picture above it looks perfect, but you don't see the swell that wrecked my day, all day long. Also, those fish are way out of fly rod range, one or two handed. 

     If you look above, and picture yourself there, you would be excited, as I was. There were fish in the neighborhood, and hopefully they would push that bait over the bar into my waiting arms, or at least into my casting range. 

     Something special must have been going on to the north of me a bit and you can see the crowd all bunched above in the top left cortner. Some guys started to trickle from the north down to where I was. Some in a trot, one guy running for his life. But most guys just stood there ground and fished. The boats were on them, or at least in the middle of them and I am sure did well. I made a move on foot to get away from everyone and I walked to the south and liked what I saw. By then the boats had been drawn to the larger pod of breaking fish as they moved out but there was a little something-something going on in front of me. You could feel it starting to build. Water getting nervous. Birds getting attracted to the color of the bait or the spray from the bass. 

     I was looking mostly through the lens but I had my rod cocked and locked and ready for my shot. Sea Bright has a good sand bar and sometimes the bait and bass are inside, but these swells kept everything out front. So I'm watching and waiting for the right time to swing the camera around and 

fire off a cast. I saw something blow up and got ready. Well, the blow ups were the kicks from Mark Spitz who was doing laps in the troughs of the waves up and down the beach. I know we have to share the resource but c'mon man! I waited till he passed and could still feel it coming. The image below

gives you some context of where I was and where the fish were. They are behind those waves. Below is a tighter picture taken with a zoom lens. I say that as not to give you the illusion that I had a shot and spit the bit yet again. 

     I moved a little bit more south, a 100 feet maybe, and some of the boats caught interest and swung in. What really helped and made it so enjoyable was the wall of water that would be built as the waves 

hit the outer bar. It made loading the two hander hard, but a single hander wouldn't have got me out there either. I still had hope as the water in the wide trough could have held a bunch of bait and bass but that never happened. Nothing flipped in close nor did a peanut bunker land on the the beach. And then it just went flat. Please Jesus just have those bass push that bait in. Ready, set, go. 

     That blow up above was the closest fish I had all day and like that they fell behind that wave and were gone. The fish moved fast and it was more left to right than in and out. I thought I might make a move down to Monmouth Beach and head them off thinking that pocket might be a place where I could ambush them. The only thing I was thinking was, swell = surfers. 

     When I got in it was still big, it's like three hours into the ebb tide. There were two surfers holding court so I moved north. I could see the line up in front of the birds up a ways. I started the walk. 

     If you look above you could feel my pain. The fish just weren't inside those waves. As I got closer to the crowd I could make out a guy who must have been giving the fish a hysterectomy because he was in that crouched position for a while. I watched as he did what he was doing, then lift the fish, and then drop in into the water that had run up the beach scarp. C'mon man, at least get that thing down into the water. 

     That was the only fish I saw caught all day, even when it was going good in Sea Bright, and I was there for an hour. Out of the corner of my eye and nearly in front of me the birds started up again and there was fish underneath them. While that picture may show a tame surf and one you could work with

it only took a few seconds for the next wave to come and just rain on your parade. There was enough white water that gave me some hope but it just never happened. I did follow a pod of fish, and after 

following them I decided they were mullet rather than peanuts. They way they swam, tight, in a v, up in the column, just really mullety. That's not fish being blown up on but rather where the incoming 

waves met the outgoing inside the bar. I followed that bait down to where the surfers were and nothing ever showed an interest. You can see that bait below at the bottom of the wave. It was walls of water

like that all day long. I left that spot knowing my day was done. Before I hit the road I stopped back in Deal and saw the same shitty off-color water I had seen earlier. There were still fish out a ways running thought the bait but it never came in. I saw Richie who had a fish at first light and came back after lunch to see if it got any better which it did not. 

     Not wanting to give up I headed south and passed through Bradley Beach and saw the flags were blowing to the SW meaning the wind was now coming out of the ENE. I didn't see anything there nor in Belmar except a lot of surfers and anglers lined up on the inlet jetties. At 5th Avenue I made a right hand turn and I was done. 

     So that's a good and real report from a regular "average angler" fly fisherman. Maybe others did better but like I said I saw one fish caught in the melee. It just goes to show you how different the fly rod experience fishing a fall run can be from a surf and boat perspective. I "fished" for six hours, had fish in front of me for a few of them, and only maybe had one shot, if that. While my wife can't understand how and why I don't catch fish, now going on for over a month, after today I am rest assured that I had a good plan and positioned myself in the best places possible. If it went off somewhere else what can I do? You can only be in one place at a time and the way you fish is you have a fly in the water, otherwise what's the sense og going?

     When I got home and popped into Facebook I was reminded of a great memory. It was five years ago today, HERE, that Joe and I had a ton of big fish all to ourselves. It was only a short few years ago when big fish weren't as common as they were today. It was a day where the forecast was totally blown and we were the only boat out, and we found them good. You know how I feel about boat fish, but that day boat fish counted.