Fellow Anglers,
Had the Peter Diamond charter out Monday for an afternoon "Magic Hours" Striped Bass fishing trip which was anything but "magic". Wow.......what a tough day. This is not the fall Striped Bass fishing that I was expecting here in Sandy Hook.
Had all the necessary baits aboard to take on just about any situation, but the Sandy Hook area was totally devoid of Stripers today. Tried clamming Romer, eeling Ambrose Channel, clamming and eeling the Swash area, eeling the Sandy Hook Channel too. All for naught. Boy, what a bust today.
First off, this is turning into a repeat of the last two years........the fall migrating Stripers are bypassing Sandy Hook and showing up down south off Island Beach State Park, Barnegat Inlet area. Why, who knows, but there is a trend developing here that can't be overlooked. Why? I'm sure if you ask 20 or so charter and/or party boat owners, you'll get 20 or so different opinions, but I'll offer mine.
Water quality in the New York Bight area. Over the past couple of years, we've been hit by major flooding storms just around the Labor Day weekend. All that runoff from the streets and the overflowing waste treatment plants has to of had an effect on the water quality in our area. Hurricane Irene had a devastating effect on the Raritan Bay water quality. I know because that's where I fish most often and what I saw after Irene can't be described here. Enough said. The Striped Bass aren't stupid. They'll stay offshore on their migration route from the North and bypass our water system and follow the Mud Hole contour until they find cleaner water and migrating baitfish further to our south....Barnegat for instance. Speaking of baitfish, that's another thing that bailed out of our area when Irene came to us, the millions of baitfish that moved out and started to head south "during" and after Irene.
So that's a theory that I'll offer, right or wrong, but we have to admit there's a very bad trend developing here, especially for people in my line of work as well as the recreational fisherman. I'm keeping my hopes alive though for next years spring Striper run.
Tight Lines,
Capt. John
