Striped bass index

[Big Mike]

Maryland DNR has released their striped bass survey and no real surprises, it was a bad year. Here’s an excerpt:
October 17, 2019 - The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced the results of the young-of-year striped bass survey, which tracks reproduction of the species in Chesapeake Bay. The 2019 juvenile striped bass index is 3.4, below the 66-year average of 11.6.

The young-of-year striped bass survey measures the annual spawning success of the state fish, commonly known as rockfish. The index represents the average number of recently hatched striped bass captured in samples taken during the survey.

During this year’s survey, biologists collected more than 51,000 fish of 54 different species, including 445 young-of-year striped bass. While the abundance of some important forage species like silversides, spot, and menhaden increased in Maryland waters, the survey showed that white perch and yellow perch experienced below-average reproduction.

The full press release is worth reading.

[J. Rentch]

Doesn’t sound good

[Mark]

I think this news should come as no surprise to those of us who found stripers to be scarcer this year than in the recent past.

The full press release also mentioned that white and yellow perch counts were down.

No specific causes were as yet determined by DNR officials. Interestingly, the article cited an increase of forage fish which coincided with my observations on the water this year -- lots of bait with nothing actively chasing it.

[bluefishnc]

Bummer. I was hoping for better as I've previously read that the Stripers do best when the spawning in flooded conditions because the extra nutrients give the young more micro forage to eat as they initially develop and then the flooded areas provide more cover to hide in while they develop. I was hoping the really wet spring had given them a better shot this year. With that said it did look like the Spring trophy season was almost a total bust so if no cows around to breed I guess it shouldn't be a surprise. On the positive my personal experience is that I was catching a decent amount of fish from this years spawn 2 weeks ago (now 8 to 10 inches) while searching for pockets of bigger fish At that size those suckers will take on a 5 inch topwater or 4 to 5 inch soft plastic.

Hopefully the numbers got skewed this year if they did the survey when the water was still flooded but that's probably wishful thinking.

[john from md]

I wonder how much the excess rain and runoff the last couple of years has played into this. I figure they will cancel the trophy season next year at least. I know many people enjoy trophy season but I think it is probably time for it to go.

[BarefootPetr]

I wonder how much the excess rain and runoff the last couple of years has played into this. I figure they will cancel the trophy season next year at least. I know many people enjoy trophy season but I think it is probably time for it to go.

I don't think DNR will cancel trophy season, because it sells too many licenses for them, not to mention it is when charters make their best money. However, I agree that it should be cancelled. I would like to see a brief moratorium and later slot limits, because people as a collective will not voluntarily practice catch and release when it comes to striped bass. I have advocated for channel catfish as a substitute. I even have an article in the Oct issue of FishTalk about how the fishing is so easy and rewarding, but I doubt it will stop the photostream of people about to fillet their limit of keeper-sized stripers.

[Mark]

Just yesterday I finished reading a book entitled, On the Run, An Angler's Journey Down the Striper Coast by David DiBenedetto.

It details the fall migration of stripers from Maine to North Carolina and the gauntlet that stripers face of thousands of coastal state anglers encouraged by tournaments, prize money and notoriety. These folks consider a 24 inch fish that would please us to be a "schoolie". Their quest is 30, 40 and 50 pound fish -- the cows necessary to preserve the species.

The book is not new. It was published in 2005, roughly 20 years after the moratorium. Part of the story is a celebration of the rebound of the species. However, even in 2005, some anglers in the book witnessing the carnage cited a warning. That warning has come to pass.

I highly recommend the book to folks who want to learn about the remarkable annual migration of stripers and the many ways that coastal anglers catch them. It's available in the Anne Arundel County Public Library. It's also still in print and can be purchased on Amazon.