Okay so i have always thought about this so i'm hoping some of you can clear this up. I've been striper fishing more and more each year as i'm getting older (planning college classes around fishing time means i get a lot of fall fishing in) and have gotten the fall run pretty dialed in in my opinion. I still have a ton to learn but I have learned a lot in the past five years or so. So, what i have observed for the fall run out of Barnegat Light is that there seem to be waves of different sizes of fish for the most part. It seems like the last week of october starts a troll bite for bigger fish and then the first week of november (teachers convention week=lots of fishing time) it really heats up with snag and drop but still all bigger fish and rarely anything under 36 inches. Then it either tapers off or remains consistent depending on the presence of bait but eventually those bigger fish move down the coast. Then come the midsize fish either before or right around thanksgiving soon giving way to the smaller class of fish towards the end of november and early december where you fish all day to catch some keepers. I am sure this is due to the type of bait that is present, but it is always pretty clear cut what you can expect depending when you go out. There are always some derivations from this and its not exact but that is what i have observed for the most part. Now, i am not a good spring striper fisherman and i know this, im not a fan of trolling so i only really concentrate on the snag and drop in the spring. Regardless, i haven't observed any pattern similar to this that i described for the fall run. It seems that it is just big fish either trolling or snag and drop. So my question really is where are all the smaller fish for the spring run?? Offshore?? I would love to hear some information on this as i am curious where or when the smaller fish make their migration north.
Each year is different. I do agree with you that the fish travel in waves, 20s usually run with 20s, 30s with 30s, and so on. However their migration timing is always different. This year for us our largest fish came right around Halloween. In years past it has been later.You talk about the snag and drop and troll, I am assuming then you have never fished back when it was always a sand eel bite in the fall. My point to all this is to make a log track your catches and other info. Bc when you think you have it figured out a curve ball gets thrown your way and your fishing log can really give you an advantage over other fishermen.
As far as answering your other question about smaller fish in the spring. Male stripers do not reach sexual maturity until about 2-3 years of age and about 5 years for females. If I remember correctly they also don't begin to migrate till after year 2. I've seen and caught plenty of small bass in the spring, maybe why you haven't is just due to the amount of larger fish migrating and spawning, that I just don't know. Also it's a little harder for a 24" bass to fit a whole bunker or mojo in its mouth, but not saying it doesn't happen
I remember 2011 was a huge sandeel bite and one of our best years, and i do agree that the waves of fish come different timing and different patterns year to year. I was more asking why we don't have the same type of fishing we experience in the fall, in the spring. That does make sense that i don't really target them with the snag and drop and trolling, but at the same time i have never come across a big bird play with smaller fish breaking up top in the spring which happens routinely in the fall.
In the fall, the bait is leaving the bays in mass and heading towards warmer water. In the spring most everything comes inshore to spawn. The bait is just not that concentrated in the spring.
I remember being in a massive school of 20" fish in the mid 90's. Heard an old charter captain say "I hope I'm around when these guys grow up!"....Thats what happened 10-15 years later.
Another time in 2005 fish time frame, Brownie and Bob K one AOK caught a 60 year record club record a 56 1/2 lb striper. The very next day the XYZ caught 59 1/2 lber. Their 60 record held less then 24 hours!! I retold the story to some captains in OBX and the wise old captain told me "It was the same school of fish"!
I work with a marine biologist who does studies of Striped Bass in the Spring.....one thing he says is that females swimming up river to lay eggs will usually not take bait. Once they lay their eggs and travel back down river then they will start to eat again. I have tried with limited success for Spring runs along the Delaware, but with limited success. Bottom fishing in the Spring is usually full of dog fish in my experience, and that makes bait fishing a challenge. If bait fishing in the Spring I have found usually bloodworms or clam, if you can keep them down without the bait being swallowed by dogs. I have also caught small "schoolies" in the bays behind Avalon and Sea Isle during Spring, but always shorts.
My observations out of BI are similar to yours in some ways but in other ways, slightly different. If we find schools of stripers in the ocean in the spring, they are almost always bigger fish. Sure, we'll find smaller fish here and there especially in the inlets and back bays, but generally, a school found in the ocean in the spring consists of larger fish (> 36"). This is markedly different than the fall run, and I've wondered if this has something to do with the geographic layout of the coastline in and around LBI which causes the smaller fish to stay offshore for some reason when they are heading north. This may make no sense whatsoever, but it has occurred to me.
During the fall, snag and drop is going to produce the larger fish, but we've caught plenty of smaller fish in late October and early November too. In fact, there are some years where we don't consistently see many larger fish (again > 36"); however, the past 2-3 we've seen a great snag and drop bite on larger fish during early November. We then typically see schools of fish coming through sorted by size much as you described.
I definitely agree with you and there are more smaller fish in early November to be had, I often think the same thing though with the smaller fish maybe migrating further offshore in the spring. Either that, or up the bays because there are fish to be had in the bays during the spring, just not the masses there are in the fall. The lack of smaller bait leaving the bays is something i did not think of and that makes a lot of sense. They're not gonna be schooled up under birds if there is no bait to ball up.
1) In the fall, the first wave of fish is usually the biggest. That goes for BI to LEI at least. Every year before the main body of fish gets in the area, we get the big monsters. Fish pushing 40 lbs
2) Same goes for the spring except they all seem to be big.
My fishing time has been lessening for the last few years so I'm not really in touch as I would like to be. I also have a different perspective than those of you who fish on boats. I only fish the beach and the back on foot, so that's what I know. Seems like the one thing about the fall run is that it has been diminishing steadily in Cape May County for several years at least. I know there were some fish on the beach a little north this year, but not here. The reasons for this have been debated and discussed at great length here. The bait, the offshore direct route, the baren beaches down here due to the beach fills, decimated stocks?:huh: Who knows really? Let's just say that the fall run has been better.
In the spring, I think there is more likely hood of catching larger fish on the beach here because the fish are entering and exiting the river systems and are oriented along the coast. Not all I'm sure but a good amount I would think, those of breeding ages anyway. We get a shot when they come out of the bay and round the Cape looking for something to eat as they continue north. I'll do some research and try to verify this theory of mine in a few months and we'll see.
The one thing that I think is the only constant is that no two years are ever alike.
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