By DJ Muller

As an overall opinion of striped bass fishing I would say that it is pretty darn good right now up and down our striper coast! Yes I hear jibber and jabber all along the coast that the fish are on the decline but I must honestly admit that I feel things are pretty good right now in regards to catching stripers. There are a lot of fish along the coast and of good size to boot. This past year I traveled the striper coast extensively, fishing the surf hard from May through December. I fished enough places and talked to enough people to qualify me for comment, an opinion based on observation that is all and not as an authority. I fished from Cape Cod to Virginia; Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island, Cuttyhunk and Montauk as well as many places in between. I caught fish in good number and size at every location. I fished 4 states hard, NJ, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York; in each state I had at least a 30 pound fish, plus a load of teenage-sized fish. I did not fish conventional times either; I fished hard right through the summer and blew right through fall without hitting the brakes at all. My assessment: Things look good.

Now while it is simple to say what I just said, do I think things will continue to stay good? This is where the trouble begins. I don’t. In my travels I have observed closely the striped bass state of affairs and related developments. Who is catching what, where and how big? The answer always seems to be big bass taken, taken, and taken some more. Fun for everyone, yee-haa! But wait! How much pressure can these fish withstand? With ungodly amounts of 30 pound-class stripers being taken from NJ, and then NY, and then Rhode Island and Massachusetts all spring, summer, and fall, every user group along the way pounding these fish when they pass by (and I haven’t even mention Virginia and Hatteras yet where these fish winter), the situation leaves me wondering how many of these 30 pound-class fish are going to be left to spawn and to procreate future fish. I don’t want to get into the fecundity of the 30 pound striper, but do a little research and see about a 30 pound striper’s egg-laying capabilities. Hint: 4,500,000 eggs.

The Privilege

This past spring when the big bunker and big bass hit the coast I had the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time. Schools of large menhaden sporadically and constantly swam past my jetty position, hot on their tales were giant stripers. I threw big pencil poppers and big metal lip swimmers to the schools and I watched as huge bass attacked my offerings, a spectacle of gigantic proportions. That afternoon I had big bass after big bass, from 25 pounds to 38 ½  pounds. A glorious hit indeed.

Although I was participating in a big coast-wide tournament my tally for the day was zero, I released all of my fish that day because I wanted some left for tomorrow. Sadly enough, I weighed in a 31 pounder for the tournament. It was laying on the jetty as I was leaving, I asked all those on hand for the owner of this fish there was none. It was one of 5 orphans laying there in the rocks. It made me sick.

The Past

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” –George Santayana.

I fished in the day when there were very few striped bass. There was a moratorium put on stripers because the powers that be felt that they were on the verge of disappearing from existence. During those lean years a 30 pound striper was a step below a miracle and a 30 pound fish was highly heralded, might I say, unheard of. In the day I promised myself if I ever got a good 30 I would have my proud fish mounted. That is how hard it was to catch one. My number one surf rod was a 7-foot St. Croix Ben Doerr surf rod. I was proud of myself that one year because I took three good fish, all 16 pounders, I couldn’t keep them mind you because they were undersized, anything much. I actu34 inches or under had to go back. Today I catch 30’s with relative ease and it is a 60 that I dream of (I may be a little crazy). Wow how the times have changed!

The new season is here for striped bass fishermen, surfcasters, what could be in the stars for the new season, what should we expect and where will it lead us?

We are on the move my friend, the herring are making their move, the menhaden are in transit and bass are in the usual places and right on schedule. It won’t be long until we start the chase that runs long and hard, usually starting in March and will in all likelihood have no problem running through to Christmas. It kind of depends on where you fish I guess, it is all relative. What is the common variable is what you do with the time you are given, making the best and the most of your “bass time.”

I am ready for another tireless run. Unfortunately I feel that our days as bassmen in the pursuit of big sweet linesides are numbered and I think we should do it for as hard and as long as you can because I am starting to believe that the day will come when we take our kids or grand kids or nephews or nieces and sit them on our laps with a scrapbook and show them the way it was. We will show them the pictures from yesteryear and we will tell stories of great fish and bunker blitzes…the way it used to be.

In case you didn’t know we are cruising on the top of a good wave in terms of bass fishing. The stock of big fish is good! The big bass are here and the fishing doesn’t get much better, enjoy!!

2010

2010 will be an interesting year in my book, perhaps even better than last year but the dawn of the season leaves me with some serious questions. The first question is huge: Will the bunker be back? The last two years I have not seen the peanuts like we had the past few years, granted I did not do a lot of daytime fishing last fall but I heard of and saw, few peanuts for the second straight year…not a good thing. The bunker grow very quickly and no babies means no adults, simple logic. For the last few years now the New Jersey coast has had some awesome visitors each late-spring into early-summer, the adult menhaden. With the menhaden has also come bass of the biggest kind. A surfcaster, on any give June day has a shot at a 50 pound bass or better. Right place, right time of course.

I have a strong feeling that we Jersey-ites may lose our great bunker run and I believe once it is gone it will be gone forever, it won’t come back.

My second big question and I do mean big: Will the world record fall this year? I would not be surprised to see it go. I believe that it surely could and if it doesn’t go down this year, it will go down before the world ends in 2012. Although it would be very tough, I would love to see a surfcaster take it. I base this decision on two observations. One is we are riding a huge graduating class of bass, the 1991 class. This was a massive spawn class and that is why we are seeing all these big fish. All these fish are moving up into monster category. They are around and available to the multitudes of fishermen. That leads me to my second reason, the amount of fishing pressure coast-wide is jaw dropping, amazing right now, with the swarms of internet mouths announcing every hot hit, add to that the high tech fish finders that all boats now employ, devices that all but tell you when and where to drop your line down for a big bass, sooner or later some one is going to get seriously lucky! (I hope it is a long time sharpie that finally gets his break as opposed to a “first fish” 80 pounder). I think the iron is hot for the record to fall.

Last question: Will 2010 be good to the surfcaster? Why? The answer to this question is a resounding, YES! I believe that if you are a surfcaster, now is your time to move. If you have been waiting for the light to turn green (you have probably already missed a couple cycles), apply foot to gas pedal now and push down to floor! I for one realize that I am not getting any younger and my body has begun to defile me, I need to go hard for the next couple years in pursuit of my passion before it fades or is replaced with something other like shuffle board down at the park. I also realize that this is my best chance for my personal best, and I really want to break 60, I will settle for a 55+.

How do you do this, get a shot at the monster that you have dreamed of and I don’t mean the one hiding under your bed? I will sum it up as simply and as clearly as I can: Work your butt off. Put yourself in position to succeed. Put yourself in front of big fish and hold on tight.

Good luck in 2010. See you on the beach.