StripersOnline.com - Surf Fishing Striped Bass Archives

Spring? Summer? What day is it anyway?
June 6, 2002:

What an interesting spring we've had. I spent most of it in my kayak chasing weakfish and stripers with the fly rod...that's just about as enjoyable as it gets! The kayak is one of the best fly fishing tools I've ever owned - if you like to fly fish, you oughta check one out...it's something you'll never regret and in this day of crowded fishing spots, it lets you put some space between you and the other folks. Space is a very valuable commodity anymore, I'll take it however I can get it Anyway, this spring I had the pleasure of putting a bunch of different people on their first yak fishes...and some folks first fly rod fishes and first yak fishes. Others I just put on the fishes, they had to walk ;-)

BrianZ caught his personal best weakfish this spring...from land even...but I coulda hit him with a fly from where I had my kayak anchored. It's always a joy to see a friend like Brian land his personal best anything...and this was a beautiful weakfish at 10# 4oz I believe...maybe it was 10# 8oz...no matter, it looks 15# when Brian holds it As a slight aside, Brian also caught his personal best striper this spring at just over 30# - seems he's having quite a season...and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy

Weakfish - 11 pounds taken by BrianZ on a Storm Wildeye

BrianZ with a very nice NJ weakfish...I know, I know...it looks humongous...but no, it's not 20lbs ;-)

I really haven't even started fishing in the NJ surf yet this season...it just hasn't happened. I fished it during the Spring Fling - which was a hoot in itself and an entirely 'nother story! Been out but a couple times locally...none more than a couple hours. I've caught a couple fish...but I'm more interested in OPF (other people's fish) - been to Rhode Island already this year...basically recon. Don't worry, you aren't missing anything - all the stripers have abandoned Rhode Island, save your gas and toll money, there's nothing there to see Next week Dubs and I are headed to the Cape Cod Canal for a couple nights just to see if the fish have all stopped going there, too...hehehee.

One thing I'd like to mention - everybody's favorite self proclaimed Photoshop "geek" is going to be helping me out with some web pages. This is going to be a very big help to me...there's so much that needs attention that I haven't been able to get to. Right now he's ironing out the wrinkles in his web publishing skills...and then I'm gonna set him loose on sections of the site at a time One major undertaking - he's gonna help finally get up the many, many photo pages for the folks who have sent me photos over the past 18 months or so - and there's gonna be a lot of new photo pages, I'll tell yah that! With Luke's help we're gonna create a Spring Fling 2002 page, a Clean Up Fling page, and a bunch of other pages from past events. I know it a long shot, a recurring dream I have is to one day be all caught up with all the pages and all the events!?! I know, I know...a man can dream, can't he? ;-)

As we make our way through early June, the Ditch Fling becomes the current thing to look seriously forward to! It's no secret that I am, after 3 years, still infatuated with the Big Ditch, a.k.a. Cape Cod Canal. It's a sort of home away from home for me...standing on those rocks, hearing the current go by, it's just so right that words simply cannot express it. It's just spectacular - a fish funnel of sorts ;-) And the fishing is only 1/2 of it - the people up there who I've grown so attached to - the likes of Slipknot, JPowers, Saltheart, Angler#1, Ron Arra, ChrisL, Harrible....even bassmaster ;-) And the list, it grows every year...and it only scratches the surface. I feel like I have a lot of family in Mass...and it's a real good feeling, I cherish each trip up there. Yikes! That reminds me, I've got about a gazillion jigs to get tied up before next week! I can't wait...it's like Christmas when I was little...only there's much more driving involved ;-)

On a more serious note....

UPDATED: Originally it was just a heresay that the CCA, RFA, and MD Sportfishing Association have all aligned themselves behind the proposition that we reduce the recreational harvest of striped bass by lowering F - F is a number based on the % of a certain year class that is killed each year. It's not linear, that is F=.25 does not mean the 1/4 of all the stripers in the ocean would be killed each year. It's something like that but not exactly. Anyway, now it's official. I have read the minutes from that meeting in February - the CCA stated that they would like to see F lowered in order to allow the striped bass to finish filling out and recovering. The RFA stated that they, too, wanted to see F lowered in order to finish the recovery of the striped bass. The MD Sportfishing Association likewise agreed and stated that they were inline with the CCA and RFA. This is a bold move for some of these groups as their membership can be made up of a substantial number of party boat, charter boat, and tackle shops - in most cases none of them want to give up dead fish today in order to protect the future. Yes, some party/charter/tackle shops certainly would like to see fewer stripers killed when that's what it's going to take to, in the words of the RFA, "while the age structures finish filling out." I was not only surprised but also impressed at such a bold move in the name of conservation - kudos!

Now is the time to show our thanks and support to these groups for taking this conservative stance in striped bass management. Call up the RFA (1-888-savefish) and let them know you are very pleased with their position to lower F in order to complete the recovery! Support them if you already haven't. The RFA is one of our most powerful forces involved in fisheries management - to have them state in public that they would like to see F lowered is a monumental step towards a healthier and more diversified striper stock - it's the reason why I joined for 3 years as soon as I heard!

The CCA has had a very clear and public position in regards to Amendment 6 for over a year now - the CCA wants to see F reduced - period - in order to allow the striped bass to fill in the missing ages and sizes. If you would like to see fewer bass killed each year and a guaranteed conservation oriented approach to fisheries managment, join the CCA click here - they should be rewarded for taking a public position early on and sticking to it. If Amendment 6 isn't passed to address the issue of better age/size distribution, it's very likely that we'll continue to see fewer and fewer big bass...and when we do get another chance to fix it, it'll just take that much longer to fix! Now is the time, this is our chance!

Well that's all for now folks, it's been nice talkin' to ya, hope to see ya around the site or on the water!

Sincerely,
Tim Surgent