The days are getting longer, the weather is warming up, and flowers are starting to blossum. It's finally spring, that magical time of year when the Pennsylvania Fish and Game Comission dumps buckets full of trout into every lake river and stream allowing fisherman to catch these heralded freshwater gamefish.
While soaking a glob of powerbait along a crowded, litter-strewn bank may seem a tad less refined than drifting a dry fly in a quiet mountain brook, Opening Trout Day in Pennsylvania has nonetheless worked its way into being a yearly tradition of mine. It may also be the only time all year that I wet a line in freshwater, and I look forward to it each year.
Most of the year, my fishing is frantic. I obsess over tide, wind, and moon phases trying to find the right combination for each of my dozens of fishing spots. Finding fish is 90% of being a successful fisherman. Therefore most of my efforts and lost sleep have to do with this aspect of angling. On opening trout day, however, the state makes sure the fish are there, and the fisherman can concentrate on having fun (athough I guess fishing is always supposed to be fun).
The past few seasons my opening trout day partners have been my buddy Jerry and my dad. Having long moved on to much more challenging fishing scenarios, catching the trout is a bit anti-climatic, so in order to spice up the catching, we've taken to making contests.
First trout, first limit, most trout, and largest trout make up the four categories of our Trout Day Tournament.
Last year, my father took the first trout mere seconds after the opening whistle at 8:00, and less than 10 minutes later I had caught and released my limit of five trout. By 8:15 the three of us had all caught limits, and around 8:30 Jerry landed the best trout of the day, a 17" brown that fell for a tube jig. Although my Dad left at 8:30, he still managed 8 trout overall. Jerry and I fished up until lunch and slugged it out for most trout. By the time we called it quits, my black roostertail had given me a decisive edge, and I won the day 45 'bows and browns to Jerry's 35.
Opening Trout Day wasn't always that easy. Years ago, the third saturday in April would be as highly anticipated as Christmas morning in the Fee house. I would toss and turn the entire night, envisioning a big palomino or giant brown sucking down my waxworm. When I was 9 years old, a misstep sent me sliding down the bank and into a pool full of trout just 10 minutes into trout season. I arrived home shivering, wet, and fishless. Another year, a torrential down pour the night before made Darby Creek look like the Columbia River, and in all likelihood, the trout were swept down stream, far beyond the area I was fishing. Once again, I went home with an empty stringer.
Good or bad, trout fishing has given me a lot of memories. This week as I restock my black spinners, and grab a new jar of yellow powerbait, I still can't help but picture dropping my bait right in front of the big palimino and watching it eat it, streaking upstream as soon as he feels the sting of the hook. It's a welcome reprieve from a year's worth of intense striper fishing, a chance to slow down, have some laughs, and catch a few fish.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Seventy Degrees in February is costing you Tuna in June.
I actually wore a t-shirt to my class at Villanova today. And don't think that this warm weather won't affect your fishing in June. It will. Last year a few cold snaps led to a sand eel bloom off NJ that sparked a fantastic inshore BFT bite. Lots of fish and big ones covered up spreads from the 28 mile wreck to the Cigar to the Hambone. The year before, a mild winter meant no sand eels which meant the tuna shot straight up to New England.
My first tuna trip of '07 was a mid June morning trolling at the Cigar. The entire time, the depthfinder was lit up with bait, and after five minutes of dragging lures, a school BFT was on the deck spitting out 6-8 inch sand eels. We had constant action on spreader bars until about 10:30 am when the bite died. Other trips followed suit with plenty of school to mid-sized BFT crashing the spread well into July. Compared to '06's two day bite, this run was heaven.
So was the story for most fisherman. Guys pulling Ilanders and ballys way back got into some bigger fish as well. Planers were another hot ticket. Daytime chunking took a good amount of fish also.
None of this will matter, however, if we don't get the a strong sand eel hatch to hold the fish, and in order for that to happen, the mercury (in the thermometers, not the tuna) better start dropping, and fast.
My first tuna trip of '07 was a mid June morning trolling at the Cigar. The entire time, the depthfinder was lit up with bait, and after five minutes of dragging lures, a school BFT was on the deck spitting out 6-8 inch sand eels. We had constant action on spreader bars until about 10:30 am when the bite died. Other trips followed suit with plenty of school to mid-sized BFT crashing the spread well into July. Compared to '06's two day bite, this run was heaven.
So was the story for most fisherman. Guys pulling Ilanders and ballys way back got into some bigger fish as well. Planers were another hot ticket. Daytime chunking took a good amount of fish also.
None of this will matter, however, if we don't get the a strong sand eel hatch to hold the fish, and in order for that to happen, the mercury (in the thermometers, not the tuna) better start dropping, and fast.
73# Bass, good sign or bad?
It had been a lackluster day trolling for stripers off the Virginia Beach Coast, an entire morning’s worth of fishing having turned up only three mid-size bass. A relatively poor day considering the majority of the biomass is said to winter off VA and NC. Around noon, Captain Pat Foster aboard the Country Girl spotted a flock of gannets hitting the water, a positive sign for the presence of feeding stripers. As he bumped the engines to five knots, the rod dragging a Mann’s Stretch 30 buckled as a fish inhaled the lure. Fred Barnes of Chesapeake, VA, grabbed the rod and after a short fight boated a giant striped bass.
Knowing they had a huge fish, the fisherman aboard the Country Girl opted to cut the day short to weigh the massive bass. Back at the docks, the striper pinned the needle to 73 pounds, 3 ounces, 5 pounds heavier than the current Virginia State Record. Pending approval, this will be the fourth time the state record has been broken since 2004, as well as one of a dozen fish over 60 pounds taken in Virginia waters this winter—a pattern reminiscent of when the current all-tackle world record was taken in 1982.
Al McRenoylds, an Atlantic City lifeguard took to the rocks of the resort town during a late-September Nor’easter. A pod of large striped bass had pinned a school of finger mullet to the Vermont Avenue Jetty, and McRenoylds and a friend were enjoying some fast fishing when She hit. She was a 78 pound 8 ounce bass, the biggest ever taken on rod and reel. The fish easily toppled Bob Rochetta’s 76 pound record caught in Montauk just a year before, one of two 70 plus stripers taken in ’81.
But before we begin to celebrate the revival of the good ol’ days, let’s remember the state of striped bass fishing the last time these giants made their appearance. Striped Bass stocks were so low by 1979 that congress initiated the Emergency Striped Bass Act to determine the reason for the fisheries collapse. It seemed that extreme overfishing due to the recreational and commercial popularity of the species had left the fish more susceptible to pollution. Although fishermen were catching more giant bass than ever before, the small and mid-sized bass were nowhere to be found. Those giant bass were survivors from one of the last successful year classes of striped bass from almost 2 decades prior.
“They simply fell off the face of the Earth,” said Ed Bronstein Tackle Shop Manager and long time fisherman. “The years after Al [McRenoylds] got the record, you were lucky to catch a dozen bass in an entire season. I knew fisherman who went years at a time without even seeing a striper.”
Commercial Surfcaster and noted fishing writer Frank Daignault noted the change in his book, Eastern Tides; “[In ‘81] a hardcore could average maybe one bass a week. Keep in mind, those being considered in this discussion were fishing every night.”
Such was the story throughout the entire Northeast. Most fishermen simply moved on to other species, some gave up fishing all together. By 1983 the annual coastwide commercial landings of the species dropped to 3.5 million pounds, a mere 23% of what it had been just one decade prior.
In 1985, the Maryland and Virginia banned all striper fishing in the Chesapeake Bay, the coast’s largest striped bass nursery. Soon after, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission mandated compliance with the Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act for all other coastal states.
1993 was a benchmark year for the species. The Chesapeake recorded its highest ever Young-of-the-year index (YOY), a survey of just-born striped bass that serves as a gauge for spawning success. The timing of this record is no small coincidence, having happened exactly 8 years after the ban on Chesapeake striper fishing. As it happens, 8 years is how long it takes for a female striped bass to reach sexual maturity. The regulations had worked! By 1995 the population was declared to be fully restored, and many states began to relax their limits to allow for a greater take of striped bass.
Thirteen years later, striped bass are back in trouble. Statistically, the mid-size fish, that should represent the bulk of the spawning population, are absent from trawling surveys and the 2006 YOY was the lowest since the moratorium. But beyond the numbers, the fish have been noticeably absent at the outermost points of their range, charter captains are finding it increasingly difficult to get customers into fish, and more fisherman, commercial and recreational alike, are plying the waters after the line-sided predators than ever before.
But Fred Barnes can’t be concerned with that right now. When asked if he planned on mounting the giant bass, Barnes responded, “Heck, it’s too big, I ain’t got no place to hang it.” Apparently, he changed his mind, and after being used to model the mount at the taxidermist, the great fish was thrown in the dumpster like common garbage.
Knowing they had a huge fish, the fisherman aboard the Country Girl opted to cut the day short to weigh the massive bass. Back at the docks, the striper pinned the needle to 73 pounds, 3 ounces, 5 pounds heavier than the current Virginia State Record. Pending approval, this will be the fourth time the state record has been broken since 2004, as well as one of a dozen fish over 60 pounds taken in Virginia waters this winter—a pattern reminiscent of when the current all-tackle world record was taken in 1982.
Al McRenoylds, an Atlantic City lifeguard took to the rocks of the resort town during a late-September Nor’easter. A pod of large striped bass had pinned a school of finger mullet to the Vermont Avenue Jetty, and McRenoylds and a friend were enjoying some fast fishing when She hit. She was a 78 pound 8 ounce bass, the biggest ever taken on rod and reel. The fish easily toppled Bob Rochetta’s 76 pound record caught in Montauk just a year before, one of two 70 plus stripers taken in ’81.
But before we begin to celebrate the revival of the good ol’ days, let’s remember the state of striped bass fishing the last time these giants made their appearance. Striped Bass stocks were so low by 1979 that congress initiated the Emergency Striped Bass Act to determine the reason for the fisheries collapse. It seemed that extreme overfishing due to the recreational and commercial popularity of the species had left the fish more susceptible to pollution. Although fishermen were catching more giant bass than ever before, the small and mid-sized bass were nowhere to be found. Those giant bass were survivors from one of the last successful year classes of striped bass from almost 2 decades prior.
“They simply fell off the face of the Earth,” said Ed Bronstein Tackle Shop Manager and long time fisherman. “The years after Al [McRenoylds] got the record, you were lucky to catch a dozen bass in an entire season. I knew fisherman who went years at a time without even seeing a striper.”
Commercial Surfcaster and noted fishing writer Frank Daignault noted the change in his book, Eastern Tides; “[In ‘81] a hardcore could average maybe one bass a week. Keep in mind, those being considered in this discussion were fishing every night.”
Such was the story throughout the entire Northeast. Most fishermen simply moved on to other species, some gave up fishing all together. By 1983 the annual coastwide commercial landings of the species dropped to 3.5 million pounds, a mere 23% of what it had been just one decade prior.
In 1985, the Maryland and Virginia banned all striper fishing in the Chesapeake Bay, the coast’s largest striped bass nursery. Soon after, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission mandated compliance with the Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act for all other coastal states.
1993 was a benchmark year for the species. The Chesapeake recorded its highest ever Young-of-the-year index (YOY), a survey of just-born striped bass that serves as a gauge for spawning success. The timing of this record is no small coincidence, having happened exactly 8 years after the ban on Chesapeake striper fishing. As it happens, 8 years is how long it takes for a female striped bass to reach sexual maturity. The regulations had worked! By 1995 the population was declared to be fully restored, and many states began to relax their limits to allow for a greater take of striped bass.
Thirteen years later, striped bass are back in trouble. Statistically, the mid-size fish, that should represent the bulk of the spawning population, are absent from trawling surveys and the 2006 YOY was the lowest since the moratorium. But beyond the numbers, the fish have been noticeably absent at the outermost points of their range, charter captains are finding it increasingly difficult to get customers into fish, and more fisherman, commercial and recreational alike, are plying the waters after the line-sided predators than ever before.
But Fred Barnes can’t be concerned with that right now. When asked if he planned on mounting the giant bass, Barnes responded, “Heck, it’s too big, I ain’t got no place to hang it.” Apparently, he changed his mind, and after being used to model the mount at the taxidermist, the great fish was thrown in the dumpster like common garbage.
First Entry, Introduction
Just like every other winter, everyone I know is already tired of me rambling endlessly about fishing. It's gotten so bad that I'm dragging classmates to my truck to show them the latest lure I picked up or the pictures stowed in my glove compartment. As I rambled on about how Pencil Poppers are the best lure when stripers are blasting bunker to my friend Mel, she suggested I start a blog and spare the poor people I've been boring to death with my stories.
So here it is. I'll post tips, reports, observations, and whatever anybody reading this would like to see. Feel free to shoot me an email with feedback and suggestions for what you'd like to read about. I've been published in NJ Angler and The Fisherman, and spend my summers working at Fin-atic's, a bait and tackle shop in Ocean City, NJ. As for my fishing credentials, I recently caught my 1000th lifetime bass from the surf. I've released stripers up to 53" off the beach, and fish every chance I get, anywhere I can, for anything with fins.
So enjoy, and thanks for reading.
So here it is. I'll post tips, reports, observations, and whatever anybody reading this would like to see. Feel free to shoot me an email with feedback and suggestions for what you'd like to read about. I've been published in NJ Angler and The Fisherman, and spend my summers working at Fin-atic's, a bait and tackle shop in Ocean City, NJ. As for my fishing credentials, I recently caught my 1000th lifetime bass from the surf. I've released stripers up to 53" off the beach, and fish every chance I get, anywhere I can, for anything with fins.
So enjoy, and thanks for reading.
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