Thumbs Down
Well, word has it that schoolie bass are being found along the Rhode Island coast. Hopefully they keep moving westward into Connecticut. I can tell you they weren’t around at the mouth of the Connecticut River on Wednesday. Three of us tried without a single bump. Damn. And it was cold too.
Disappointing fall fishing for me and my friends. Fished from shore and boats. One friend with a powerful boat took us to Montauk from New London. Found some breaking fish- Stripers and Bonito no Albacore. From shore, usual places were not productive.
My sense is there a fewer stripers. I have no clue why Albacore fishing was so poor.
Recent reports state American song bird populations are down 30% due to environmental degradation. Wonder if the ocean environment is degrading. But then federal support of marine sciences has disappeared, so there is no one monitoring conditions.
Ted,
Yes, very disappointing Fall. And you’re right about the tuna bizz. True on the Vineyard as well. Damn. Since False albacore are the most numerous tuna in the Atlantic and there is no directed commercial fishery,
I’ll assume the albacore simply found more fertile feeding ground elsewhere. Their abundance in our waters has always varied over the years. No question. Now onto the bass situation.
It’s a sad commentary that after decades and decades of fisheries management we still can’t figure things out. In the past only draconian measures have worked
and as soon as we eased up on those regulations we got back in serious trouble. When are we going to learn?