SPING STRIPERTHON 2016 wrap up…and some thoughts on migration

1. Edward Sausa 47 inches VAN STALL VR 200 REEL
2. Ryan Sherwood 46 inches COSTA DEL MAR GLASSES
3. Jeremy Holloway 45 inches SET OF SUPER STRIKE LURES
4. Robert Heffert 43 inches  SET OF GUPPY LURES
5. Chris Neves 43 inches SET OF TRAILHEAD TIRE DEFLATORS
6. Frank Conclaves 43 inches SJ GEAR PACKAGE

First, I’d like to congratulate all the winners and those who entered the fish into Striperthon 2016 but did not placed. I have to admit that this is the best “picture “ we received over the weekend with a note that said

“My entry for the tournament. Yeah I know I forgot the measuring tape. Dammit”

Almost all of the  winning fish came from either RI or MA. One fish was submitted from LI and one from NJ. Not surprise there if you follow the migration this year. The NJ bite was pretty damned good all spring and it went off in Jamaica Bay …but then it seems like the east of Jamaica Bay got either skipped by a body of fish or very few residents took their place. I blame Trump for this, might as well, he is getting blamed for everything else.

CT river and RI fisheries are quite good this year. I am assuming most of their fish comes from Hudson stock? Not sure on this but taking a guess. Massachusetts is hit and miss but much better than lets say Montauk. If you read Montauk reports you want to crawl into bed and pull the coverers over your head.BUT the boats are doing well as of the last moon and we expected that. So the only question is when are they going to charge the surf?

There is no doubt in my mind that most of this is a result of bait patterns. I tend to believe that stripers could not care less if we get cold winter with 3000 inches of snow or its a Indian summer all winter long and warm. I think they do care about one thing, and one thing only, bait. Now , some will say, wait, I have bunker up to ling yang in back bay but no fish, what’s up with that?

I think in my uneducated guess that  has to do with less fish being around, meaning the stocks are down and they cant be everywhere like their used to be. Someone told me that we had “easy” fishing for a long time. I would not disagree with that, especially in comparison to what is going on today.

For me, the BIGGEST difference between then and now is something I wrote about numerous times before. In lets call them “good old days” although its only few years ago, you did not have to move. For example, we all went to Montauk for blitzes but those that stayed local caught plenty of fish with lots of room to fish. You could have targeted large with bait or eels which tend to  eliminate smaller fish from even bothering with your bait. You had choices, now not so much. Now lets not scream that the Sky is Falling, not at all. But like I said before, those willing to “go to the fish” will be rewarded. Those who stay and wait for fish to populate their old haunts will be disappointed.

Sometimes, guys who are new to sport and don’t have preconceived ideas or habits will do much better than the rest of us old foggy, cranky bastards that want to catch fish “our way”. I’ve driven to Cape Cod Canal on Monday morning, I was hoping for some top water bite I can get on camera. After seeing that it was not happening as i hopped I took a quick 1 hour nap and drove back home for 5 hours (yes , i stopped at Foxwoods to win enough to pay for gas before hightailing out of there,,lol)

But I did get to see a lot of guys who I would never expect to see there. They are catching few, a result of their willingness to travel. Are they killing it? Not really but I tell you what, they would suck wind if they stayed home. How do I know? I fish the same waters they do and I have friends who have not seen a bass in June on repeated trips and that is really unheard of. So those who travel are getting some. There was quite large NJ contingent at Canal fishing their butts off.

Remember, FB is your friend. Not for your drama queen diatribes but because guys will literally show you in pictures UP TO MINUTE info of where the fish are. That’s why I accept friends requests sometimes even if its just a  hot half naked chick in Oakley sunglasses holding fish

Hey, I like sunglasses

Special thanks and props to our sponsors, Van Staal Reels, Super Strike Lures, Costa Del Mar shades, Guppy Lures and Trailhead Tire Deflators

Lets do it again in the fall