Am I Wrong? Was 2013 The Worst?

[fish4fun]

I have been fishing out of Atlantic Highlands on party boats for almost 30 years from early spring to about Thanksgiving for different species and I can't remember it ever being as bad as this year. Winds, storms, tides, water temperature, too much bait, not enough bait, you name it, it seems it was always something to make it a "you should have been here yesterday" day. Don't get me wrong, we had some good days where it was "fish on" all day......but they were few and far in between. Let me make this very clear, none of this was the result of the captains....all of the AH captains get an A+ from me for their effort. So what's the answer? There is none for 2013. This year was a calamity (not comedy) of errors.

[Super]

This year was a calamity (not comedy) of errors.

I don't know about errors, but this year sucks.

Around ten years ago, there was a striper blitz somewhere almost every day in November. I havn't seen one all year. And have not seen any peanut bunker either.

On the bright side, this week has been good on a lot of boats. Maybe it's just a late season.

[PAMonger]

It was the worst for me because it was the least I have gotten out in years.

But, I was a part of an epic day 2 weeks ago when only 3 charter boats got out for stripes and all had their limit by 9 and back home for lunch.

[slammer]

I had a great spring clamming stripers, but not very good with fluke.

[PAFireGuy]

Sucked Bad...
Had some good nights on the Fisherman in the spring. Other than that, just a pick of fish for the rest of the year.

[Jay]

Couldn't agree with you more......

[MrAC1980]

Seems like every year its either good up north, bad down south (Barnegat area), or vise vera. We had a great fluke year down here this past year. You had to run the distance and go to the Garden State Reef, but if you made the run, it was worth your while. All other species has been shitty though. Bass has been hit or miss, same with the seabass and blackfish.
Only thing that was off the charts this year was the blowfishing in the bay, started early and lasted all summer. Even got them on the inshore wrecks with 5/0 hooks! :eek:

[JBird]

I agree and disagree. We had super bass fishing in the spring. We had a 2 week stretch where we limited almost every trip. Fluking was poor most of the season and after June the bay was a virtual desert. Sandy, heavy rain and who knows what else made it a tough year in our experience. Porgy fishing was absolutely incredible and anyone no matter their experience could fill a bucket every trip. Unfortunately participation was low. I guess porgy don't have the glamorous reputation that fluke and bass have and it's too bad. The people that did come out enjoyed spectacular non stop catching. We also got loads of spot and blowfish this year.
Judging sea bass is tough because it was closed so often and during times that they were inshore and willing to bite. It broke my heart releasing jumbo sea bass that were landed while fluking.
This fall has been good with the Stripers but we are catching tons of shorts now but I guess that means we have a bright future in a few years.
Surely there have been better years in the past but outside of the fluke fishing I would say it was a good year.

[Capt.Yasar]

It was the worst for me because it was the least I have gotten out in years.

Ditto; And since I'm in Sewaren, have to go all the way to Sandy Hook to find good fishing.

[Gerry Zagorski]

A difficult year all around. Starting off the year boats and marinas in need of repair, a not so great Striper run in the spring, except for very early. Fluking was so so, Canyon fishing sucked until very late in the season and the weather seemed to always be an issue too.

All this plus our sluggish ecomony made a typically difficult industry to make money in even more difficult. Many fishing realted businesses that were on the edge to begin with simply closed up shop. The ones that managed to weather the storm did so by having to throw a lot of additional time and money into their business to keep it afloat.

I for one will be glad to see 2013 over and look forward to a better and more normal 2014.

[NoLimit]

Great spring for stripers - I forgot how good eating they are.

Lousy fluke season - how come none inside the hook? Everything was outside?

Great fall striper run although only trolling which is not my favorite.

Porgies were outstanding and they are good eating - racks make great chowder stock.

[broken bobber]

Absolutly Horrible ...fishing Was Ok But Not The Same...... :(

[SharkHart]

Bad year for stripers, everyone is fishing the same small areas, with lots of dead water for miles.

This fall surf was very bad and trolling was way up due to schools not being thick enough.

Caught more "big" fish this year then fish 6 to 12 pounds which is not a good sign.

Guys selling product or service and guys trying to make a name for themself on the internet won't give a straight answer on all this, but stocks are diving fast

[JBird]

Maybe a lack of participation for bass early on because of the storm damage gave the impression that the run was poor but I beg to differ. We had excellent fishing in spring 2013.

[Capt Sal]

Great spring bass run Raritan Bay bad fluke run.Good nov bass and still going on ocean side!

[Duffman]

I don't think I have ever had a bad year fishing.

Its the catching part I seem to have a problem with.

[frugalfisherman]

July 8th 10 pound 7 ounce fluke won me free fishing for a year on the J2. Ain't complaining about this year.

[CapeHawk]

I'll add my two cents. Fished twenty four trips year to date; nineteen trips with board sponsors. Stripers, Fluke, Sea Bass and Blues.In general terms it was more or less the same as the last few years. About a third of the trips were very good, about a third were ok and the last third were poor.

Good luck to everyone fishing tomorrow. I'll be at it again on Friday. Happy Thanksgiving.

Tight lines
Kevin

[AndyS]

Maybe this is why.........

http://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65824

[reason162]

Is the consensus on the bad Bay fluking due to Sandy? If so, I really hope next year returns to normal. Back bay fluking is great fun.

[miked5713]

Personally I had a great spring and fall Striper year. Caught a bunch of fish 20+. I couldn't agree more about fluke, it sucked. Storm last year plus cold water temps this year had to factor in for the crappie fluke season. Hopefully it will go back to normal next season.

[Dollar Bill]

Don't get out every week but the spring striper run was good in Raritan Bay. Seems like the ocean/bunker run was not there. Fluke wasn't bad and the fall striper run is good. A lot of shorts now but thats a good sign and keeps you warm before blackfishing :D

[RnK]

It was the worst for me because it was the least I have gotten out in years.

But, I was a part of an epic day ....

Soooo frustrating, we were blown out (cancelled charters) 13x this year, 4x one NS out of Cape May, sea bass, stripers, fluke twice.

Normal cancelled 2-3x a year.

But had terrific/epic trips this year (4)...

Fished about 1/2 a normal year (35-40x)

Prolly done for 2013, looking forward though to 2014, but we're always optimistic. Fishing is about memories and anticipation.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays to all!

[tombanjo]

Not sure if I agree with the original post. Striper fishing has been pretty damn good now and continues to build. A nice body of bigger fish held fort for a solid two weeks from Manasquan down past the light tower. Now there's a tremendous body of fish from the hook on down to Shark River. Sucks that everybody is tied up the last two days.

Blue fishing was feast or famine this year. I mean, can you get more extreme? Big but hard to catch fish in the spring then PB's forced to fluke or ling just to get their customers something to take home. Then the pee wees, the endless pee wees. All of a sudden it goes from 1/2lb to 20+lbs for a solid 30 days in an historic run that will have fishermen telling fish stories 20 years from now about that 24lb blue they caught back in the day and hey, it will actually be true this time.

An interesting year for sure. Too many skunks but plenty of epic days. And it's not over yet.......

[arat]

Don't know what you guys are talking about. Spring bass fishing was insane. While I didn't fluke very often buddies of mine that went bucktailing a lot did extremely well. Great porgy action. Spot and croaker everywhere sea bass was pretty decent and this fall jig bite in also going great with great numbers of bass. There was even a two week window where giant bluesseemed to be all over. togging has been pretty steady. If you ask me iI'd say this year was better than last. Not to mention that inshore shark fishing we had. Makos and threshars all over

[Michael82929]

Spring Ocean bite -sucked - worse in years
Spring Bay Bite - awesome - best we had in years

Summer bass bite - better than average

Fall Bay Bite - Good if you know where to go
Fall Ocean Bite - living up to expectation

[paulyfish]

2013 Spring river stripers were pretty good aboard Reel Therapy, and the water temps stayed low longer than usual which held the bass inside longer...but as soon as water temps rose Sandy hook bay, Raritan bay, Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers had the worst water quality I have ever seen. It was a dead zone from July thru now. No doubt in my mind it was Sandy storm related. Even had dead sea nettle jellyfish floating by at times.
Zero bay anchovies showed and the False Albacore were a no show inshore as well. Bunkers in the bay and out front with no predators most of the time. Flukin was a big yawn. Cow nosed rays made for summer crazyness.
Was hoping for a decent peanut bunker run this fall but it was scant at best, only to be replaced by scads of sand eels which we are still catching bass under right now out front.
All in all, I would rate 2013 overall as a C+, which isn't bad considering all the crap we went thru with the storm. Serious lack of boats and fishermen.
Next year will be better for sure.
Paul

[Scotty]

normal striped bass spring. summer was non existent! Fall - weather didn't help, and now my normal ride is packed up for winter

fluke - same as normal

tog - starting off slow

tuna - not as good as past years

My $0.02