fishing better these days than in the 1990's?

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by piemma

Much better in RI now than in the 90's much worse on the Cape. We use to "tong em" on the Back in the early and mid 90. Best years from my logs were 91 thru 97. Then it went down hill.

Mission Bell, 2 tenths Hole, Laura's, Peaked Hill Bar, High Head, Second Rip, The Telephone Pole. My God the bass were unbelievable.
We had nights when we walked away from 25 to 30# fish because are arms were too tired to fish anymore. NO Lie!!

Very true. It was good from 91 through 99 for me. In 98 and 99, it was more from the boat than surf though. Aside from the fall runs in 2001 and 2003, the outer cape has been trending down. At some point it will reverse, I believe. There are actually plenty of fish out there, just not all in the surf. There doesn't seem to be any resident summer fish on the outer cape like what we had in rhody last year. It used to be the other way around, like Paul said. As far as fishing quality overall, there seems to be a lot more fish now, especially 15-30 pound fish. At some points from the late 80's through the 90's the fish were all 36" and less, or 35 pounds and up on the outer cape. The size distribution now seems more balanced from schoolies up to the 30# range.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Very true. It was good from 91 through 99 for me. In 98 and 99, it was more from the boat than surf though. Aside from the fall runs in 2001 and 2003, the outer cape has been trending down. At some point it will reverse, I believe. There are actually plenty of fish out there, just not all in the surf. There doesn't seem to be any resident summer fish on the outer cape like what we had in rhody last year. It used to be the other way around, like Paul said. As far as fishing quality overall, there seems to be a lot more fish now, especially 15-30 pound fish. At some points from the late 80's through the 90's the fish were all 36" and less, or 35 pounds and up on the outer cape. The size distribution now seems more balanced from schoolies up to the 30# range.

Great points made. I also believe that it will turn around. The whole Striper thing is a cycle. here one year gone the next and they show up someplace else. Bryan and I had a spot 2 years ago in RI where we could get 100 fish from schoolies to 20# every night during the summer. Last year we had 1 so so night at the same spot, same tides same plugs. The fish just were not there and I mean the year before we had fish all night. We walked away from fish and they were still there for weeks. Last year it was dead in the same spot. the reason? Maybe the bait didn't school up. Maybe the structure changed, sand filled in the rocks. Who knows for sure. That's what makes this sport so interesting...the unknown.