State of the Fishery 2016

[spinncognito]

Originally Posted by Rockfish9

I'll give the gulf of Maine perspective... which is different than the south shore...and where the "problems" stem from...

But the tune is simualr...Ground fishing on the inshore grounds is as good as I ever recall... and I've been doing it over 40 years...they tell me the fishing on the ledge is "stupid" but I don't go that far..

2 weeks ago the fish showed up on the inshore grounds where the mud and sand meet.. I was targeting haddock but was PLAGUED by non stop doubles of codfish... anything between 12" and 20lbs...haddock were few and far between at that time and most of those were short...one week latter ( 6/4) the grounds "lit up".. the bottom was paved with haddock short to keeper ratio is about 6:1... codfish were still in the mix but not as many as most appear to have spawned out and have returned to the rocks.... I was catching whiting ( silver hake) in size and numbers I had not seen since I was a boy.... mud hake ( tuna candy around these parts) were of decent size and plentiful... bass were chasing schools of tinker mackerel all around the surface... a lone Minky whale visited me a few times during the day... most of those hake were spitting up shrimp.. and lastly.. I hooked and had boats side a large halibut... being alone, after a long fight , I was unable to land the fish and the dropper loop broke before I could come up with a viable safe plan to land it.. but not until I had it boat side 3 times.. it's been 20 years since I've seen a halibut in there... I know the draggers get them in there from time to time when it's open to them.. .. it's an encouraging site...... all this 5 miles off shore...my eel pots in the river are producing and we've got plenty of bass in the river and along the beach front up to 25 lbs... I haven't seen this many micro schoolies in at least a decade.. or longer... the season is off to a great start.

Another North Shore perspective (from a surf guy). So far we have been getting plenty of bass but 90% have been micro bass. I am talking fish as small as 6-8 inches long. No way these came from the Chesapeake, so where else are they being created(Thoughts Joe?) There was one 50 inch bass taken on a live mac from the local river this past week but that is really the only big fish I have heard about.

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by spinncognito

Another North Shore perspective (from a surf guy). So far we have been getting plenty of bass but 90% have been micro bass. I am talking fish as small as 6-8 inches long. No way these came from the Chesapeake, so where else are they being created(Thoughts Joe?) There was one 50 inch bass taken on a live mac from the local river this past week but that is really the only big fish I have heard about.

While the parker and Merrimack rivers both hosted spawning stocks many years ago( way before my time) I believe that the sheer number of that year class forced those young fish to migrate looking for food... they joined their brethren on their migration north and now they are here.

Another interesting side note is the size of eels I am seeing in my pots... I'm seeing an unusual amount of 6" and smaller mixed in with the larger bait and meat eels... I rail dumped one pot last night because it would have been too much trouble to sort them... it's a promising sign.

also last 2 nights we have pogies in the Merrimack...something we have not seen in numbers in decades.

[nightfighter]

Originally Posted by Rockfish9

While the parker and Merrimack rivers both hosted spawning stocks many years ago( way before my time) I believe that the sheer number of that year class forced those young fish to migrate looking for food... they joined their brethren on their migration north and now they are here.

Another interesting side note is the size of eels I am seeing in my pots... I'm seeing an unusual amount of 6" and smaller mixed in with the larger bait and meat eels... I rail dumped one pot last night because it would have been too much trouble to sort them... it's a promising sign.

also last 2 nights we have pogies in the Merrimack...something we have not seen in numbers in decades.

I need to find that post you did years ago on how to catch your own eels.... Then figure out what an eel pot looks like and where to find....