How would you rate this years run?

[LunchMan]

How would you rate this years striper run?I don't know if its me or what,but I didn't seem to do as well this year as years past.I caught fish just not as many as last year.The spring was good,but the fall run didn't seem as well as years past.I don't recall hearing as many double digit catches in the bay.The rips were either too dirty or too windy to fish often(I know they are on fire now)but I'm talking about the season as a whole.The one thing that did save me lots of times this year was clam bellies in the back.

How would you rate this striper season?

[ 12-18-2005, 09:27 AM: Message edited by: LunchMan ]

[Little Ricky]

Good point Pat.I must say the Spring was good for me the fall I had to work and it was not as good for me as it has been, a hit or miss.This is the South end of the Delaware Bay I am referring to :cool: By the way some sick looking fish in the fall as well :eek:

[ 12-18-2005, 09:39 AM: Message edited by: Little Ricky ]

[HOT GREASE]

The Spring was bad for me. The Fall was pretty good. Mid Del Bay fished on Just Another Fish Tail with Capt.Tom at the helm ! NEVER A DULL MOMENT with Capt. Tom !! smile.gif :D ;) :cool: tongue.gif

[Brian E. Mullaney]

Pat - I feel the same - when I got to fish in the spring (due to no license) I did well.

I did ok this fall, but not like last fall. The weekend I fished both days with Harv and saw you at the Lee was the best action of the fall for me boatwise.

I fished mostly from the suds this fall - my 3 biggest bass this fall where all caught on one plug within 30 mins of eachother at IBSP - Oct 17th am.

I'm by no means diasappointed, but I still feel like I have a job that went unfinished - talking to Gilly last night (he's in Hatteras now) and hearing how the boys did is killin me. Report i the surf forum.

Cya at the fest!

Brian

[TMAN]

This season as a whole was the worst ever
for us... Never seem to catch in the spring
still tryin to figure that out...

The fall... u mention double digits... didn't
reach them for all 5 trips... The ole
ONE AND DONE was more like it... throw a skunk
in there also...

COME ON 06!!!

[mako6950]

Weather was a killer for the weekend warriors. Many weekends just plain sucked, especially in the Fall.

When you could get out, nothing really set teh world on fire.

Best day in south jersey was mid-november w/ Jason & rodfather, had a decent steady pick with stripers & blues.

Best day overall was in the spring up in the Raritan area aboard the Dueces Wild. Tore up a bunch of fish in the 25# range all day.

Had one inshore shark trip which produced 2 nice keeper browns and several releases.

I look at the time on the water with friends and family and having a good time, if we bring fish home, it is an added bonus.

[ 12-18-2005, 11:27 AM: Message edited by: mako6950 ]

[Brian E. Mullaney]

"I look at the time on the water with frieds and family and having a good time, if we bring fish home, it is an added bonus."

TOMMY - COULDNT AGREE MORE - BEST PART OF THE FALL WAS SEEING OTHERS CATCH - JODI PUTTIN ON A CLINIC WITH HARV - SEEING DANTE SONS DYLAN SLAMMED BIG BLUES. THE KEVIN SNYDER TOURNEY - THAT WAS THE REAL REWARD THIS FALL.

SPENDING ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT FISHIN WITH BAYSTALKER, CSSTRIPER, TSSTRIPER, MCH, AND OTHERS. GOOD TIMES FOR SURE.

[dante413]

Originally posted by Brian E. Mullaney:
"I look at the time on the water with frieds and family and having a good time, if we bring fish home, it is an added bonus."

TOMMY - COULDNT AGREE MORE - BEST PART OF THE FALL WAS SEEING OTHERS CATCH - JODI PUTTIN ON A CLINIC WITH HARV - SEEING DANTE SONS DYLAN SLAMMED BIG BLUES. THE KEVIN SNYDER TOURNEY - THAT WAS THE REAL REWARD THIS FALL.

SPENDING ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT FISHIN WITH BAYSTALKER, CSSTRIPER, TSSTRIPER, MCH, AND OTHERS. GOOD TIMES FOR SURE. Excellent points guys! The experience is more than catching fish.

The Fall run in the surf was somewhat disappointing because of the failure of the peanut bunker to show up and we needed some storms to break up that sand bar at IBSP. There are holes now, but it's too late...

[MAKO19]

The fall run was 2 thumbs up in my book! We finally figured out the chunking thing up the bay and boy was it good to us. I was able to fish every weekend in November and caught fish everytime I went up the bay. All fish 34+ with not a slot fish in sight and a few days where we lost count of how many we caught.

I hope the spring run is just as good!

[TWIN D'S]

The fishing was definitely better a few years ago(in the bay) , despite not posting any skunks this fall. What I knew "then" pales in comparison to what I know "now" but my catches remain about the same when they theoretically should have increased.

[Pop Up]

The worst since the so called "Recovery". I just love how the majority of bass seem to pass by south jersey every year on the outside. This year the whole striper coast got passed by on the outside.

One word sums it up for me, "Pitiful".

[Brian E. Mullaney]

Spring Spring!!! - they have to come in to spawn & eat smile.gif

[aimless]

Pop Up, They seem to do that more every year. We only had bird action once this fall close to the beach. I guess the bait is staying farther out the last couple years but I don't know why.

[Reel-ality]

I didn't get out for spring stripers but I did catch lots of stripers in the fall. I didn't catch the real heavy weights as I did the previous year, but I might have not fished the correct areas that they were traveling on that particular day. I did hear and read of guys getting the real big ones . I thought this years striper run was fantastic.

[indeep]

GREAT SPRING WITH FISH TO 50LBS. DECENT FALL WITH QUANITY BUT NOT AS BIG AS LAST YEAR.

[Keeper Seeker]

Originally posted by aimless:
Pop Up, They seem to do that more every year. We only had bird action once this fall close to the beach. I guess the bait is staying farther out the last couple years but I don't know why. I think it was the weather and water conditions this past fall. They don't come in if there's no bait. The big blows early in the fall were the culprit IMO. Our local waters were "LOADED" with bait early. Then came a Nor easter or two.Then the hurricane blow which with the moon, flooded the back for over a week and combined turned the water to crap for weeks. When the tide finally went out the bait (all of it) went out with it and was gone from this area for good. If there's no bait in the back or comming out of the inlets there's no reason for the bass to be in along the beach. In the fall especially, they're gonna be where the bait is, and this year that was anywhere but here on CMC beaches.

For me this year, with the kind of fishing that I do,( on foot,backwater and beach) horrible. :( First year in many that my freezer is literally empty. :eek:

To answer the original question, unless they are still comming down :rolleyes: , I would have to say... What run?

[ 12-18-2005, 05:25 PM: Message edited by: Keeper Seeker ]

[RodFather]

Pat great topic! For me the spring was great, the fall was not as good as the past couple years but mostly because my time on the water was cut in half. COME ON SPRING!

[riprnner]

I rate this years run at about a 4.Between the glowing water and the weather needless to say that there was no schools of big fish at all.I dont see fun in catching 100 little tiny fish anymore.There is no skill to that and anyone can do it.I hope this was just a bad year and not a sign of things to come. All of my big fish came from the bay this year.

[LunchMan]

How about some of you Charter Boats.What do you guys think?You guys put in the hours out there.

Keeper Makes a great point I think a lot of them swam right past us.

[striper2278]

Originally posted by Pop Up:
The worst since the so called "Recovery". I just love how the majority of bass seem to pass by south jersey every year on the outside. This year the whole striper coast got passed by on the outside.

One word sums it up for me, "Pitiful". I agree!

[striper2278]

Originally posted by LunchMan:
How about some of you Charter Boats.What do you guys think?You guys put in the hours out there.

Keeper Makes a great point I think a lot of them swam right past us. Pat,

Was a not so good year for us! Unlike the last 5 yrs...we had to work for'em alot!

[A Frayed Knot]

I had a very good fall. We caught every time out w/ 0 skunks. Although we did not catch any cows we caught a lot of 34 to 37 inch fish that seemed to be cut out like cookie cutter fish. The spring was not bad but I prefer the fall run.

[THECHUMSTAIN]

Originally posted by LunchMan:
How would you rate this years run? Well Pat I would say up until the recent change in our spot it wasn't that good. We had some good bites and some nice catches but the bait was bad, Thats my story and I'm stickin with it. :D :D

[seaswirl]

well, i have to say, as i am still a beginner at this, this was my best season yet!!! after all, i beat my record with a fat 43" that i caught on Striper Bobs boat, but i caught many 35 -38 " fish. i thought i had better days this fall than the past, since i am a weekender mostly, i was able to just wear a t-shirt right up till dec. on a few trips!! i have plenty of meat in the freezer.and many nice pictures of fish, sunrise and sunsets!! but like i said im still learning!!

[carnivore]

Along with the other fisheries (possibly excluding croakers and bluefish) striper fishing was progressivly worse...

[Bob ECT]

I think it's been getting worse every year. Still plenty of fish around but the overall size of the schools moving down the coast seems to be getting smaller. Schools in 98, 99 and 2000 were huge.

One encouraging sign was lots of 15-18 inch fish around. Haven't seen them as much the last few years.

[CaptG]

Ever think the bulk of the migration stayed out in the EEZ? More than likely!

[edhead]

I agree for the second year in a row it has been pitiful off the beaches. Plugging and flyrod bass were non-existent after the mullet run. There was absolutly nothing living around the jetties of OC. If you did happen to catch a "blitze" it either happened for 15 minutes at one inlet in the morning and then happened at the other inlet later in the day. The fish didn't hang around at all for any length of time. I mean tide not days.

The bite in the boats came late and even trips to the rips proved to be less than expected. Although we did good at the end of December, it wasn't gang busters.

Like the hit song of the 70's "To much To little To Late" I can only hope for the spring. It is no doubt that every single year is different than the next and there is no barometer to tell what kind of year it will be.

[bamboozeled]

Originally posted by CaptG:
Ever think the bulk of the migration stayed out in the EEZ? More than likely! Thats what I think is happening

[GOOD TIMES]

The quanity of fish about the same as in the past.------The size of the fish has gotten smaller.---Too many slot fish---
A few years in the past, caught very few slot fish; --All fish in the mid to upper thirtys,---Inches that is :D
All and all Striper fishing is exciting and good.
Would like to see all 40"+ fish released, they are the cows that will keep our fishery good in the future.----Snap a picture and let them live to spawn......

[Sea Hunt]

I had an excellant spring on stripers, didn't even start flounder fishing till the end of june, was having too much fun with the striper fishing, but I paid for it this fall with the worst fall season Iv'e had in 5 years or so. Seven trips in the bay and two fish to show for it, thats with fresh bunker and some good spots. I seen alot of other people out there around me just looking at each other bored to death, so I know I wasn;t the only one getting skunked. Just a footnote the rips in the fall are getting nearly impossible to fish anymore due to the number of boats! Even during the week on a nice day it is very difficult to find a quiet rip to fish and every year it gets worse. every day that I went there, there were boats from the beginning of prissy wick shoal out as far as the eye could see, and if your lucky enough to get one on, there are ten boats swarmed around you in 5 minutes!

[NJAngler Bill]

I'd rate the 2005 striper season as "average" with the fall run being a bit below par. I believe the weather had everything to do with it.

A few months ago, Capt. Harv made a statement about the weather and its effect on stripers. I'm not sure if this was on the barn or in the magazine, but it stuck with me all through the fall run. "When the weather is bad and the inshore water conditions are unfavorable, the majority of the bass will take an offshore migration track." Capt. Harv, you hit the nail on the head, as usual.

[pier47grady]

Spring was bad for size but good numbers some days. Missed fall with bad motor but back for spring 06. Can not wait. Any day is better fishing than typeing about fishing. We must love fishing or we would be on porn sites!That reminds me be back later! :D :D :D

[MyMistress]

The Mullica River was off in the fall from the excessive rains and tides. The LE Inlet however was on fire for the first three weeks in November if you knew where and when to anchor up with clam. Definelty my best year and fall in terms of numbers and average size.

[Capt Harv]

Pat......Good talking to you and seeing you out there as always my friend. The spring was pretty good for us. Alot of small fish early, but bigger fish during mid and late May. This fall we caught good numbers of fish in the rips but not the size fish we caught a few years ago. Turbulent weather patterns disrupted good inshore bait movement, which kept a greater percentage of the Hatteras bound fish out in the EEZ. Our Delaware Bay spawners made their usual appearance feasting in the bay and seemed to be caught in good numbers this year.

[CaptG]

Originally posted by Sea Hunt:
Just a footnote the rips in the fall are getting nearly impossible to fish anymore due to the number of boats! Even during the week on a nice day it is very difficult to find a quiet rip to fish and every year it gets worse. every day that I went there, there were boats from the beginning of prissy wick shoal out as far as the eye could see, and if your lucky enough to get one on, there are ten boats swarmed around you in 5 minutes! Nah, ya don't say huh :D

[eelball]

About average. Just over 500 bass for the season, but close to half of that was March.

[striperaholic]

I would say my spring / summer run was above average. Early fall (last week of august) was unbelievable. I boated 4 over 40" and averaged 20-30 every night that week at 36"+ avg. size. I got 925 for the year 60% were keepers if I kept them. Fall was the worse it never happened I usually boat at least 15-20 every night. I couldn't even get a bite.

[finally]

Spring wasn't that great, but we didn't get out much. The fall was pretty good, there were a lot of days that we got our limits and had to throw fish back. We only had 1 skunk and that was our last day, and the bait we had was not fresh. The one thing I did notice that there were not a lot of big fish brought into the marina. The biggest one was only 42 lbs, there are usually a few over 50 brought in every year. Also the winner of our striper tourney was only around 25 lbs, the smallest I have ever seen.

[dusky]

Seasonal Grading (comparative) in my opinion on Sandy Hook area.

Spring = A+

Summer = C (summer will always be a C) smile.gif

Fall = D

Now if we were comparing from 1980 to 2005 smile.gif

A++ average !!

[insomniac]

This year was really odd concering the migration runs in the late fall.

My spring was definetly fantastic

My summer night fishing was beyond what I could hoped for. I definetly learned alot this yaer about big resident stripers. But they didn't stick around past november. Again My august and july were fantastic. The backwaters were infested by slots and cows alike during the night hours. It made me feel very good about our present stocks. To slide into an area and see a blitz in 10 inches of water in 80 degree weather at three in the moring was something that gives you the shakes no matter how many nights you see it. Slotsand 15 to 20 pound fish is unbeatable. I felt like I was snook fishing.But when the bunker left they were just staging at night and not on the prowl . I still had great nights. But not like summer. Great cinder worm hatch in late oct. and but I think we had many chesapeake bay stock that left in mid nov. I can't complain. December was good until the sleet. Last year we did't get the white curse until dec. 23rd. I am not done yet I'll be out again tonight since we are coming off that moon but dreaming of summer.

I can agree with everybody that the fall run was small small fish. Lots of throw backs amazing how many 20 to 23 inch fish are out there. We would go through 30 spot drifting the inlet for 2 hours and maybe catch 4 slot fish if that. Rips same story. Our major migration due to the early lack of bait coasted down the EEZ in a straight line. While Barnegat and up north saw very good run Of massive Schools.Geography puts cape may county at a disadvantage when the weather gets nasty and the fish dodge our part of the coast. I will tell you one thing next year we will have alot of fish 28 and bigger and all those tweeners we let go are gonna be bigger. It will be interesting to see who survives to winter slaughter down south to make another yearly run up here. Hopefully the majority will choose to winter somewhere safe.

[ 12-20-2005, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: insomniac ]

[Captn Joe]

I never did fish in the Spring.

I had a decent year Chunking, actually had the most fun doing this,

For the Rips, I did poorly after fishing 3 Sundays in row, it was slim pickins on those days.
Finished up with a bang though, with many throw backs on last trip.

Chumstain, :cool:
glad to have you back aboard! I see you said an "Our Father, and three Hail Mary's", LOL

Capt Harv,
Its seems you were right on the money - again!.

Captn Joe

[ 12-20-2005, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: Captn Joe ]

[23parker]

Sping-excellent,early summer-excellent,summer- didn't try for 'em.Fall-when I could get out-phenominal,no night fishing though due to that glowing @##$$$ &%^%&^$.

[jjsax]

first full year striper fishing from boat

Spring great- all back bay (barnegat), almost all chunking with clams- mostly slots, tweeners and a few over 34. had four consecutive weekends we put double digits on the boat. caught my biggest of year (35 in.) on pink finesse with 8lb test on light action shimano spinning set up. dat was fun. also got my brother and some buddies on some decent striped ones in the suds on two trips up my block. poor brother was itchin for his first striped one from the beach but just couldn't wait to go to the bathroom and the minute he left the beach I nailed a nice slot and his rod, let it swim again so he wouldn't believe me...

Summer-targeted flounder all summer.

Fall- almost non existent due to medical issue that arose on first fall outing- real pain in the a** if u know what i mean. but we wrecked the blues that day and they wrecked our hardware. was worth it. Luckily recovered enough to end season first week of dec. with over 70 boated sat and over 30 sun. morning. happy to say that all were caught on artificals- trolling and jigging, so i am thinking we learned alot and had a pretty good first full season me- n capn deanald. just never got into any cows, but those december slots and tweeners were darn feisty- great fights.

all in all, great year, but only look to improve from boat and beach. I fish suds north of IBSP but lookin forward to headin down there next year to meet some barners.

Happy holidays.

jj

[Bob ECT]

Originally posted by 23parker:
no night fishing though due to that glowing @##$$$ &%^%&^$. That doesn't harm fishing at all

[riprnner]

That glowing ###$%%$% sure hurt the fishing in the AC area.No doubt about it

[BUCKTAIL WILLIE]

2005 was not my best year,SPRING started out strong with first bass of 33" on April 2,.Pretty good bite through May but the further into Spring the smaller the fish got.
Once water temp started to climb into 70's fish were moving and I had 2 that I tagged in May recaught in Maine in July.
Summer slow except for a few at night ,late Start in the Fall and unlike past few years larger fish did not school up beginning mid-OCT as in the past.
Slow build up of fish all fall into Thanksgiving but not real strong.
Had to pull my boat early due to a Steering cable problem but heard the fish were schooling up in normal places along ICW well into December.
Got 3 decent bass from sodbank (30-32 and 36") second week of Dec.
I ended up tagging 448 bass ,keeping 9 and it was 3rd best year
Except for early Spring, fish were considerbly smaller on average than the past 3 years
I'm predicting we are seeing the beginning of a downturn due to taking too many large bass the past few years.
Sure hope I'm wrong,Good news is there seems to be plenty of fish in the 2001,2002,2003 class
I'll give the year a C+
Assuming the reports I got of schooling up in Dec in the ICW I'm expecting a another good bite Mid-March or so as I believe these fish are wintering over .They will enter NJ rivers to Spawn from areas along ICW . All fish caught in Spring need to be returned
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ;)

Heading to Flordia right after Christmas for 2 months to find some Snook,Redfish and Trout

[bluestriper]

JUST GOT INTO STRIPED BASS FISHING ABOUT 3 YEARS AGO, BUT IN THE SHORT TIME I HAVE NOTICED FISH GETTING THINNER FOR SOME REASON. DID GET 41 INCH 37LB BASS OUT OF PT. PLEASENT THIS JUNE, ALL IN ALL A DECENT YEAR I WOULD SAY.

[bluestriper]

I ALSO AGREE JUST BEING ON THE WATER WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS,I HAVE NOT BEEN BASS FISHING THAT LONG, BACK IN JUNE WENT OUT OF PT. PLEASENT WITH MY BRO, AND LANDED MY FIRST TROPHY BASS, 5 MIN LATER THE BRO LANDS A 45LBER, THE FEELING I GOT BRINGING HER IN AND SEEING THE LOOK ON MY BRO'S FACE WAS AWSOME. WHAT A FEELING AND WHAT A FISH.

[Darrin G. DGREENEMACHINE]

We averaged 4 fish per trip at about 25 lb. I'd say it was a pretty good season. Oh, did I forget to mention I fished once in the spring (2) and twice in the fall (skunk) (10), for a total of 12/3 = average of 4 ;) tongue.gif

[West Ave Mike]

2005 was a decent year for me, I found consistent south jersey ICW action for Stripers when I targeted them with eels. Not a lot of bass, but consistent action (a fish or two, for every 3 or 4 hours of trying). Size was up to 36". Highlight of the year was a trip with Al Ristori on June 1st. 3 of us and Al caught 22 bass from 36" up to 30 lb (all released), chunking off Sandy Hook. That fishery is way better than the fall run.

[TRYN2WN]

had a great time this fall but did not have very "Good" days. The fish seemed to be larger then in the past but not as many. I was wondering if the increased pressure on the fish in the bay has caused them to take diffirent travel routes or maybe not feed as much while in the Bay. This donen't seem likely but not sure what else could be going on. The weather did play a big part in the fall keeping many boats at their dock.