Poor Striper spawn

[afishinado]

Article about the latest Chesapeake Bay spawning survey. Not good this year or for the past few years.

Poor Spawn is Bad News for Striper Stock - On The Water

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has shared bad news for the striped bass stock.

www.onthewater.com

 

[Dave_W]

Thanks.

There were above average year classes in 2015, 2017, and 2018 and stripers are slow growing fish.

 

[Mike]

Also, the article notes documented reproduction of Blue Catfish in the Upper Chesapeake for the first time. One was captured in Lake Clark, formed by Safe Harbor Dam, Lancaster/York Co's, a couple of yrs ago in a catfish tournament, but with reproduction now occurring in the upper Chesapeake...Susquehanna R anglers here they come!

 

[afishinado]

Mike wrote:
Also, the article notes documented reproduction of Blue Catfish in the Upper Chesapeake for the first time. One was captured in Lake Clark, formed by Safe Harbor Dam, Lancaster/York Co's, a couple of yrs ago in a catfish tournament, but with reproduction now occurring in the upper Chesapeake...Susquehanna R anglers here they come!

Yes, the Susky is turning into a Class A+ catfish river. Move over (or out) smallies, walleye and muskies. Now the channels and bullheads are joined by flatheads and blue cats with some growing to 20>30>40>50+ pounds! And don't forget about the fishing for the recently introduced Asian snakeheads to join their Asian cousins the huge carp. Better stock up now on your stink baits and chicken livers!.....yowwee!

 

[sarce]

Really hate to see the consecutive down years of stripers.

The blue cats are out of control in the Potomac and are getting bad in the Patuxent also. Prepare for photos of 50-80 pound blue cats at Conowingo in a few years. The Potomac produces those regularly in the spring. Imagine how much striper forage those cats eat.

 

[Duff]

Large blue cats were feasting on shad at the dam this spring.

 

[Fredrick]

Friend of mine in Virginia said the blue cats are now feeding just like flatheads there they are being caught allot on lures and live bait instead of cut/stink baits .

 

[BrookieChaser]

Did anyone catch the movie "Hard Lines" that Simms put together?

It's a typical product placement "bearded bros in puffy jackets" type fly fishing film but I think the conservation message is solid.

I now understand better the striper activity I witnessed in the '90's.

 

[Mike]

MD’s YOY index in 2021 was not good for the Chesapeake, but VA’s was about average. The ASMFC bases its annual evaluation of YOY striped bass on the Chesapeake, Delaware, and Hudson indices, and they don’t necessarily all act in unison in a given year.

 

[poopdeck]

My striped bass index showed a record year for me. I fish the same area of the river that I’ve been fishing for decades. I don’t venture far from home and I really like “my spot.” I boated more bass this year than any other year. I was also catching them both earlier and later in the season then other years. That’s the good news. The bad news is most of the fish were under 30” if I were to complain,which I’m not, I would have loved to catch a few more larger fish.

2020 was a good year for me as well so my index has them on the rise. This weekend I will put my boat up for winter and patiently wait for 2022. Let’s hope my trend continues.

 

[Fredrick]

Did anyone catch the movie "Hard Lines" that Simms put together?

It's a typical product placement "bearded bros in puffy jackets" type fly fishing film but I think the conservation message is solid.

I now understand better the striper activity I witnessed in the '90's.

Yeah , I think they did a good job . I definitely see a moratorium coming in our near future.

 

[afishinado]

BrookieChaser said:
Did anyone catch the movie "Hard Lines" that Simms put together?

It's a typical product placement "bearded bros in puffy jackets" type fly fishing film but I think the conservation message is solid.

I now understand better the striper activity I witnessed in the '90's.

Here is the video "Hard Lined" that BrookieChaser mentioned above.

Great video!!

 

[Mike]

Prior to a moratorium there are more incremental regulatory steps that can be taken if the population slides further and does not respond favorably to the steps already taken.

 

[Mike]

https://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/Fisheries/BiologistReports/Documents/Bio2021/6x05-21-DelawareEstuary.pdf

Note in the recently released PFBC report on the 2021 striped bass spawning stock survey that 1) the present Pa harvestable slot during April and May on the Delaware Estuary is highly protective of females (see graph) and 2) that there are two back to back strong year classes in the smaller size groups (younger fish) that have been fully recruited to the population (2017, 2018 yr classes) but have not been recruited to the harvestable fishery (paragraph immediately above striped bass scale aging picture and graph showing length distribution within the 2021 Delaware Estuary striper population).

You will undoubtedly notice the large striper in the photo at the beginning of the report. You will also notice how close to shore the boat is situated. It is not unusual to find such fish that close to shore (easy casting distance) during the spring, but it is not park yourself in one location fishing. If fly or lure fishing you need to keep moving to intercept a single fish or a group of fish. Where you find one you will often, but not always, find more along the same shoreline as long as the habitat doesn’t change. The reason why I say “not always” is that there can be singular fish.

 

[Fredrick]

Your a little more optimistic than me Mike , since I have started targeting stripers overall every conservation attempt that was made has been to little to late . A wise man would say they are only looking after economic interests while doing there best to quiet public outcry. They are running out time they have stringed this out for to long and will soon have to implement regulations that will actually improve the fishery and hurt economic interests .

 

[Fredrick]

Vote for amendment 7

American Saltwater Guides Association

Promoting Sustainable Business through Marine Conservation

saltwaterguidesassociation.com

 

[poopdeck]

Well I’ve closed the book on my 2022 striped bass fishing in the river. Still some schoolies out there but not enough for me to go after them. Time to switch to SMB, flounder and WW stream fishing. My index will list this as a fantastic year but a different then last year year. Last year we caught lots of fish under 30”. This year we boated less fish but caught way more 35” inch plus fish and the most 40” plus fish ever. As a bonus my buddy boated the absolute fattest 43” striper I have seen in a long time. I’ve included the picture and will say that is an honest depiction of the fish. It had a bigger waist than my buddy. We also lost a few bruisers that broke plugs and straightened split rings. Our average per trip was down to about 4 or 5 a trip but they were 4 or 5 really nice ones. High day for me was 8 compared to a high day of 31 last year. I must also point out that I got out way less than most years so that may have skewed the results.

 

[Fish Sticks]

If flatheads and blues eating american/hickory shad and SMB than imagine juvenile stripers on the menu as well. Wonder how far down Dr. Megan Schall’s stomach polymerase chain reaction stomach content sampling went in the susky and if they caught a Blue if they sampled it or only processed flatheads. Imagine the latter as funding is probably specific.

 

[poopdeck]

Huh?

 

[Fish Sticks]

Dr. Megan Schall got a big grant to do a study of what these invasive flatheads eat by testing the DNA of their stomach contents from fish caught in the Susquehanna. My question was if she sampled low enough in the area of the susky to see if any Flatheads could be eating anadromous fish(stripers shad ext.)