SGR Weakies

[tautog]

The best big weakfish years were among the worse striper years. When I was a kid, it was much easier to catch a 10lb weakfish in Raritan Bay than a 10lb striper other than a few weeks in the fall. Also dogfish really pound on the spikes as they leave the Bay along with the blues and stripers. Definitely seeing a resurgence in Peconic Bay and the Long Island Sound. Hopefully it will shift southward. Even if we could just get that 3 or 4 weeks of good fall fishing for 16"-22" fish, I'd be very happy.

[june181901]

When I was stationed at Dover AFB in the mid 70s we'd go out of Bowers Beach and get tide runners. Always used squid strips and they were fun to catch. Can't recall ever getting skunked.

[Jigman13]

I little birdie told me they're getting nice ones now at sun up and sundown behind the hook around man made structure.

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

Weakfish are wonderful gamefish, and I would love to have them back.. They were always a great favorite of mine... Saying they are not that great to eat is NOT negative .. its an opinion.. Look up the word "subjective"... Some like them, some don't.. I ate them, they weren't bad, not great either.. Thats not being negative, or angry, or contrary, its just a personal opinion....

When are you going to post a "POSITIVE'' report??? You must be board to sh- in upstate NY LOL

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal

When are you going to post a "POSITIVE'' report??? You must be board to sh- in upstate NY LOL

No, we have plenty to do up here.. Just don't think Weakfish are all that wonderful a fish to eat is all.. same with porgies, and several others including several fresh water fish that I will eat when I catch them but aren't all that crazy about[lakers]..

If thats what you construe as being negative well then thats fine, I'll accept your definition. I think its wrong of course, but I'll accept it for the sake of argument.
That seems what you like to do the most on this board anyway-argue..... bob

[NJ219bands]

I tagged 493 weakfish in NJ. All 7 of my tag returns were in the same year that I tagged the fish. Looks like weakfish don’t live very long.

Originally Posted by PortlyRedhead

Thanks guys as always for your spirited conversation.

I encourage you to read this recent article from On The Water magazine that argues that predation by bottlenose dolphin is what keeps spike weakfish from reappearing the next year.

https://www.onthewater.com/what-happened-to-weakfish

Thanks for posting, interesting read. Not sure I totally buy the predation theory for a few reasons, some already noted in this thread. Years ago when the weakfish biomass was at all time highs, so were bluefish and striper stocks. They found a balance and co-existed. Were there bottle nose dolphin around then too, absolutely albeit maybe not in the numbers today.

When an inshore stock declines, so often bass and bluefish are blamed. Do bass and blues eat just about everything, yes. But their primary forage are bunker, sand eels, bait fish in the higher water column and crustaceans in the lower water column. Are weakfish eaten by both, I'm sure but not convinced they're why so many spikes seemingly disappear. Lot of people blamed the collapse of eels to the same when it ended up the actual cause was the commercial market in Maine netting and selling the baby's to Asian markets that hit a high of $2,800 a lb ten years ago. Same with winter flounder, bass ate them all. Look at the data, commercias found them offshore and it was open season on spawners year round. Did bass eat them, absolutely. Did that fishery die because of bass or bluefish predation, absolutely not. Commercial operations killed that fishery.

Lot of people blame the shrimping fishery and numbers killed in that process. Commercial today can take 100 lbs of by-catch. With the number of fish in the schools were talking about that pass us in September, how many spikes are killed in the process of harvesting 100 lbs. of "by-catch". Number has to be enormous. Last year I had my boat before losing it in the Seaport Inlet Marina fire, we came across a stretch of dead spike weakfish floating on the surface which had to be two miles long south of Mantoloking. Acres and acres of dead 12"-15" fish, a complete waste of a fishery everyone would love to see recover Don't think they were killed by bottlenose dolphin. It was the same waste of a resource many here witnessed years ago of acres of dead whiting in the Mud Hole from small mesh draggers which killed that fishery back in the 80's.

For 3-5 years, fisheries management should do away with the by-catch allowance since having it means some commercials will actually target these schools causing insane amounts of discard mortality. All to harvest 100 measly pounds with low end market value. Think about how many small purse seiners or other commercial operations threaten these schools during their southerly inshore migration and while staging in their southerly wintering grounds.

Again does predation contribute, absolutely as it does every fishery. Does it explain the seeming disappearance of spikes every year, don't think so. If bottlenose dolphin are the suggested cause, what did they eat when there were no spike weakfish. And if they are the problem, why aren't they eating all the juvenile bass, blues, bunker etc that have similar north south migration routes.

A very interesting point in the article, if dolphins are supposedly the fish eating the spikes with imbedded transmitters, why aren't the monitoring stations still capturing the signals even if the transmitter is excreted. On the other hand, if the fish ends up in the market, don't think ocean based monitoring stations have that kind of reach. Makes you wonder.

[Tombro]

In 2005 we bought a new boat and slipped it in Lanoka Harbor. This was new water to me, as I had been out of Keyport years ago. Up that way I got weaks up to 13#, on live bunker.
In Barnegat bay I learned to anchor in places like Tices shoal and Meyers Hole and chum with grass shrimp. We had spectacular light tackle fishing every summer late July/August. Once Labor Day arrived, the weaks schooled up and were chasing bait in the open bay waters. We caught them on bubblegum FinS fish. Around this same time they were leaving the bay and just outside the inlet you could read them on sonar, and catch them two at a time on a hi lo rig with scented squid strips. Large croaker were a welcome bycatch. Our final shot at weaks was when the spikes passed by in late October. Two or three at a time!

Then about 2010 or so it declined one year…then was pretty much gone. The whole fishery. Not sure what sector, man or beast, was pressuring them. I sold that boat in 2016, but am now back to SW fishing out of a new boat out of SRI.

And got two 14” weaks at Elberon rocks a week ago; there’s hope.

The oceans food chain and natural balance that exists for years, which includes predation, doesn't change on its own in one years time. Environmental factors as well usually have effects felt over a gradual period of time unless we're talking about something like the Valdez oil spill. Recreational fishing activities won't ever change a fishery in a year. Commercial fishing can, has and will especially with inshore stocks accessible year round.

Weakfish spawn in numbers, reach sexual maturity within their first year and have a significant growth rate which means they're a durable stock. How many people on this site have seen dolphin surround schools of weakfish or found copious amounts or even one in the stomachs of bass or blues and, if they're supposedly further offshore as the article suggests, tuna for that matter. Like others, I've caught an occasional 4-6 lb weakfish over the years sea bass fishing in 150 feet of water but never saw or caught a spike offshore. So the question is what's happening to all these juvenile fish. Whatever is happening is most likely happening inshore and personally I don't buy it's natural predation from dolphins.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by dakota560

The oceans food chain and natural balance that exists for years, which includes predation, doesn't change on its own in one years time. Environmental factors as well usually have effects felt over a gradual period of time unless we're talking about something like the Valdez oil spill. Recreational fishing activities won't ever change a fishery in a year. Commercial fishing can, has and will especially with inshore stocks accessible year round.

Weakfish spawn in numbers, reach sexual maturity within their first year and have a significant growth rate which means they're a durable stock. How many people on this site have seen dolphin surround schools of weakfish or found copious amounts or even one in the stomachs of bass or blues and, if they're supposedly further offshore as the article suggests, tuna for that matter. Like others, I've caught an occasional 4-6 lb weakfish over the years sea bass fishing in 150 feet of water but never saw or caught a spike offshore. So the question is what's happening to all these juvenile fish. Whatever is happening is most likely happening inshore and personally I don't buy it's natural predation from dolphins.

well stated.. Seems like every time a fishery drops off a cliff in a short time frame, nets are the probable cause if one looks at the situation rationally.. I mean species after species with a long history of abundance gone over a few short years, and everyone is left scratching their head over how it happened.. Typically from what i have seen it coincided with an increase in popularity as a food item.
Once people will pay for them, species seem to get scarce real fast..
Its been going on for years... Dolphins???.. Not so sure they are the main reason.... bob