GOLDEN EAGLE - FINAL MORNING STRIPER TRIP - FRIDAY, 12/29 - 7:30 AM DEPARTURE!

[captainrich]

OUR FINAL MORNING STRIPER TRIP OF THE SEASON IS FRIDAY, 12/29. IF YOU WANT TO CATCH THESE FISH, FRIDAY IS THE DAY. DEPARTURE IS 7:30AM. SO COME ON DOWN AND LET'S GET OUT THERE ONE LAST TIME!

See you Friday.

We had a respectable catch on today's Offshore Giant Sea Bass Trip with some nice 6 to 7lb. SEA BASS along with PORGIES and several WEAKFISH!

The GOLDEN EAGLE sails every day for STRIPERS & BLUES at 7:30 am from Belmar Marina in Belmar, NJ.

For more information visit us at
www.goldeneaglefishing.com or call 732-681-6144.

See you onboard.

[Broad Bill]

Those are without doubt the biggest weak fish I've seen in decades. Reminds me of the inshore spring / early summer runs we had every year. Still amazes me they're being caught in those depths that far offshore this time of year for years. Absolutely incredible.

[bulletbob]

Boy I would like to know where those big Tiderunners are spending the summer these days.. Its absolutely crazy, but in the modern age the best Weakfishing of the year seems to be in December,- 70 or so miles offshore on deep water wrecks... I don't get it...

The only thing that makes sense to me based on my experience, is that the Weaks are still in fairly close proximity to Porgies.. Been that way for a long time, especially in LI and RI... I can remember years and years ago, catching weaks and porgies alongside one another, on the same bait, they were together all the time..... Maybe these days those big Weaks are still in the bays or inshore ocean during summer, but are much more nocturnal than they used to be... Might be good idea this coming year for some guys to go out and drift along the edges of the big channels in raritan/ sandy hook bays with big sandworms and a jelly worm on a 3x3 rig at night... Might be more of them out there than anyone realizes, but they might be more reclusive because of the daytime traffic out there... just a thought.. Only problem is, if my theory is correct, no one would ever report it!... bob

[cletus109]

had to comment when i saw the weakfish, like others hadn't seen one like that since late 70's very early 80's when i used to fish delaware bay around the lightship and brandywine shoal, caught them till my arms ached.....all on spinning tackle and bucktails. when we went at night and turned on the boat lights many times the would pop up , there dorsal fin out of the water corralling bait fish right in front of us.....my largest was 16lbs and change, that was terrific fishing.

back then in the time when we were fishing weakfish it was just stupid, however no real striper action but now it is terrific , as so goes the cycle

hope everyone has a safe and great holiday

[Broad Bill]

Originally Posted by cletus109

had to comment when i saw the weakfish, like others hadn't seen one like that since late 70's very early 80's when i used to fish delaware bay around the lightship and brandywine shoal, caught them till my arms ached.....all on spinning tackle and bucktails. when we went at night and turned on the boat lights many times the would pop up , there dorsal fin out of the water corralling bait fish right in front of us.....my largest was 16lbs and change, that was terrific fishing.

back then in the time when we were fishing weakfish it was just stupid, however no real striper action but now it is terrific , as so goes the cycle

hope everyone has a safe and great holiday

Cycle in this case is the result of the fishery being destroyed by complete fisheries mismanagement in the form of no protection for the big tide runner females, purse seiners netting acres of juvenile fish during their traditional inshore southerly fall migrations and too liberal recreational and commercial harvest limits. The amount of fish we saw in the fall migrating south never seemed to reappear the following year.

Most people on this site have no idea just how fantastic this fishery was and still can be with proper management. Personally I'm glad these big girls are migrating 70 miles offshore avoiding the same gauntlet of netters which destroyed one of the greatest fisheries ever in our local waters. One of the most beautiful fish you'll ever see in salt water, I hope they continue staging a comeback. God knows there's millions of spikes we see every fall, those classes have to be protected as do the big female breeders. Catching a 10 lb. weakfish was the equivalent of landing a 10 lb. brown trout. I never thought weakfish were great table fare but catching them was an absolute blast and boom to the local economy. I remember the late afternoon / evening trips in Sandy Hook drifting sand and or jelly worms along channel edges. It was another unbelievable fishery which like too many others went belly up.

Captain, thanks for sharing those pics! They bring back great memories and shows what is still possible with sensible regulations and proper management of the resource.

[NJ219bands]

I caught, tagged and released a weakfish in Manasquan Inlet on May 19, 2022, but nobody reported catching it yet.

[cletus109]

broad bill, you are so correct on a few points.

1. most may never see the huge weakfish runs we enjoyed. i am thank ful i got to see it as did you.

2. management, back then not sure there was any, many a time i saw trash cans full of wasted weakfish. party boats in capemay would be railed during the spring early summer runs.

3. the wasted fish during that time was also duplicated by black drum. certainly fun to catch and we only kept the small ones....others who did not know or care would harvest big drum only to leave them in the large trash cans or drums.

i have to go back into some old pics and see if i can find some of me in my younger days holding up some trophy weakfish.....good holidays to you

[Duffman]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Boy I would like to know where those big Tiderunners are spending the summer these days.. Its absolutely crazy, but in the modern age the best Weakfishing of the year seems to be in December,- 70 or so miles offshore on deep water wrecks... I don't get it...

The only thing that makes sense to me based on my experience, is that the Weaks are still in fairly close proximity to Porgies.. Been that way for a long time, especially in LI and RI... I can remember years and years ago, catching weaks and porgies alongside one another, on the same bait, they were together all the time..... Maybe these days those big Weaks are still in the bays or inshore ocean during summer, but are much more nocturnal than they used to be... Might be good idea this coming year for some guys to go out and drift along the edges of the big channels in raritan/ sandy hook bays with big sandworms and a jelly worm on a 3x3 rig at night... Might be more of them out there than anyone realizes, but they might be more reclusive because of the daytime traffic out there... just a thought.. Only problem is, if my theory is correct, no one would ever report it!... bob

That fishery, regardless of what’s put out online, never went away. It just evolved.

Without a doubt the numbers of fish have declined but the quality and the weakfish as a whole are still there. The old school purple Manns jelly worms and sandworm combo is alive and well. It’s just that it’s not being plastered all over Facebook by the guys that do it.