THE STATE OF THE STRIPER PAST???

1076 Views 26 Replies 26 Participants Last post by sutton, Mar 17, 2005

BIGGESTJACK

Discussion Starter · Mar 14, 2005

I JUST READ MY "BOB EVER" SALTWATER SPORTSMAN.
RIP CUNNINGHAM HAS A GOOD ARTICLE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE STRIPER IN THE PAST AND WHAT MAY HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE.
WHAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND IS WE WERE BLAMED ALONG WITH THE COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN WHICH MIGHT BE TRUE IN PLACES. IN THE 50'S AND 60'S IN SOUTH JERSEY,FROM THE DELAWARE BAY TO ATLANTIC CITY WHO CAUGHT THESE FISH HERE AND WHERE WERE THE spots THAT WERE OVERFISHED.I WAS AROUND SJ IN THAT ERA AND NEVER SAW OR CAUGHT A STRIPER.I KNEW A LOT OF SPORT AND HEADBOAT CAPTAINS AND NEVER HEARD OF THEM FISHING FOR THEM.MY FATHER TOLD ME A FEW GUYS ON THE JETTIES FISH FOR THEM AND CATCH A FEW BIG ONES.WE TROLLED THE BAND AND INSHORE LUMPS FOR YEARS FROM SPRING TILL MID-OCT. AND THE BEACHFRONT WHENEVER THE BLUES SHOWED UP THERE.IF YOU THINK THERE ARE BUNKER NOW ITS NOTHING COMPARED TO THEN.
THEN AS RIP C SAID BY THE LATE 70'S AND EARLY 80'S THEY WERE GONE. WHAT I'M ASKING OR TRYING TO UNDERSTAND IS WHERE WERE THESE FISH IN OUR AREA.
I HAVE TALKED MANY TIME TO OTHER OLDTIMERS LIKE CHUNKING WHO LIKE MYSELF FISHED THE AREA FOR YEARS AND DIDN'T CATCH HIS FIRST STRIPER TILL AROUND 1990 ABOUT A YEAR BEFORE ME WHEN THEY EXPLODED. WHAT AM I MISSINGHERE?? WHEN DID YOU GUYS OVER 35 START CATCHING THEM.

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BLUEFINN

· #19 · Mar 15, 2005

Originally posted by NJAngler Bill:
Lou Rodia has told me stories of striper fishing "back in the day" in Cape May - in the back bays and from Cold Spring jetty - that would knock your socks off. I'm sure it wasn't as good as what we've got now, but it was pretty darn good for those few anglers who really targeted them.

However, I think that great run of big bass in the 60's and 70's happened primarily from Barnegat Inlet north to New England. I believe this was Chesapeake Stock. I still think many of the bass caught in and around the Delaware Bay estuary these days are local fish, and I don't believe the Delaware River produced many striped bass in the 60's and 70's.

Bottom line is that the success of the Delaware River as a spawning area for stripers is the primary reason why the striper fishing is so good year-round in South Jersey. That's the difference between then and now. My .02.

I also beleive your correct on this Bill! I grew up in Essington And that area of the Delaware River was known as the Dead Zone Oxygen depleation and chemical polution had reached a point that every spring and summer there were massive fish kills.

During the mid 60's my father moved our charter boat a 38' Colonial BlueFinn III to 15 st marina Barnegat Light and we enjoyed the Good Old days,Filling galvanized trash cans with big strippers every trip,conservation was not an issue then and it was thought that the seas were an endless bounty of fish for the takeing. I also fished the sod banks behind Axels Duck farm on the causeway going into LBI my first introduction to the Striper from shore.

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