Re: Weakfish Whereabouts
 

Re: Weakfish Whereabouts
 

It is clearly evident that we don't have the weak fish we had during other years esp in the past and of course there is reason for concern. But where do the 15 miles of 10-16 in weak fish that we now regularly see all fall ocean side come from if there are no bigger fish. Do they just fall out of the sky? Weakfish amonsgt other fish has been known as a cycle fish. No doubt there stock is prob lower than the past but with the way the government counts fish who really know. Do they just not come to where they used to? Does a cycle last longer than we can understand. Do they not come in the spring /early summer bc the amount of stripers or blues... bc of bait... bc of changes in the bay.

Where did all the blowfish come from the past two years?They were somewhere else or in a natural rebuilding cyule but everyone said it bc people caught em all. Stocks don't just rebound in a year. u look back to the past historicaly we also went many years without bluefish for what ever reason.

Point being it's a lot easier for people to say a stock is in decline or no good ( which may very well b with weakfish) if something changes. If u don't catch something where it was good in the past there is none left and this is just not true with alot of species.

Two perfect example of how people make false assumptions are ling n flounder.

Ling used to b a winter time fishery which u could enjoy during the coldest months... so nowadays don't catch nearly as many during the winter... like they vanished... so it would b easy to say there are no more ling bc BUT WAIT... now u go out from may to October and it all the ling u want in the deep. So the fishery has changed... no shortage of ling. If we didn't see this or catch them it would b easy to say it overfished or blame commercial guys for a declining stock that is still very healthy.

Winter flounder is another perfect example... they used to b as far south as cape may ( now south of barney they don't see many) and very plentiful in our northern bays n estuaries. So an older gentleman sits on a bucket in south jersey where he caught them for years and now says there is none left bc he doesn't see them where they once where. A research boat tows in the rivers n comes up with the same low #s stock must b no good right?

Well where does the 20 mile line of winter flounder ( yes the same blackbacks) on the edge of the mud hole for 3/4 of the year come from? Many will tell they see more there now then they ever did. Of course we can't enjoy it or take more than two bc the stock is no good and on the decline... Are these fish counted toward the biomass of the stock?

Sorry for the rant just trying to show there is clearly ALOT more to the stocks n population of species. And how it's alot easier to assume than see that small changes make a big difference in effecting a fishery. I'm by all means not saying certain stocks aren't bad or havent been overfished just trying to show people there is more to look at.

Re: Weakfish Whereabouts
 

A little over a decade ago Raritan Bay produced the world record weakfish. Caught from shore by a customer of Capt and guide Rich Swistack. The next day on our charter in Princess Bay we had three weakies over 16lbs. all on live bunker. We had tremendous runs in late summer of 14-23" weakfish all over the bay. They came all the up the Arthur Kill river to Sewaren. Peanut bunker was what they wanted although sand worms were deadly also. Great charter fish because they were plentiful and rather easy to catch. Took a lot of pressure off the fluke also. In my opinion as I saw the bunker population decline so did the weakfish.There was no back bay run in Raritan bay in quite a few years and hardly any in front of the Verrazano Bridge.
When we had school after school of peanut bunker spread out all over the bay the fishing was superb for both weakfish and fluke. With the cut back of the commercial harvest of bunker now implemented maybe we will see the weakfish make a comeback. PS. My grandfather told me they were a cycle fish as far back as the twenties and thirties.

Re: Weakfish Whereabouts
 

A great partyboat fishery in Raritan Bay too. I had many trips of having my 14 fish limit and being in C and R mode on a half day trip. Decent lil fighters too if you used 12-15lb casting gear, especially if you got a hold of a tiderunner among all the 17"-22" fish.

Re: Weakfish Whereabouts
 

That's a connection but not a guaranty. In the Raritan Bay in 2012 there were bunker schools EVERYwhere and still no weakfish of size or numbers in Raritan Bay or any connecting river.

Everything has a connection. But how direct was it is is another issue.

Sandy re-aranged alot of inshore bottom and got blamed for everything 2013 and even some stuff in 2014. But how direct is that to a cold Spring? Or a wet rainy Spring to summer fishing? It isnt all that simple or this would be easy to predict.

We had a noticeable absence, if not historic absence of sea robbins up north in 2014. I'm sure that fits in some food chain too. Speculate? Or Guess? I don't know. And I would not invest in prediction made based on it either.

Bottom line- fisheries are not all that predictable and simple to predict year to year.

Re: Weakfish Whereabouts
 

I don't think these guys make much of a dent in the population...