For many years my wife and I went surf fishing at once at least 4 times a year. Once in the spring and fall. And 2 times around Thanksgiving and December. We got fairly good at striper fishing and rarely got shut out.
About 10 years ago we had to stop due to other priorities.
We were planning on starting back this year.
But no reports of stripers in the surf.
Had something changed?
Thank

LikeQuoteFlag

Haven't been any real surf Striper fishing in the past 10 years, more like 15 or 20 for decent runs. Occasional small fish here and there. Real good surf fishing was probably 20 years ago.
Winter Boat fishing for the big ones has been non existent for at least 7 or 8 years.

Like +2QuoteFlag

Curious as to why. What are the theories?

Like +1QuoteFlag

You can only fish for stripers inside the 3 mile line. It is illegal to fish for them in Federal waters. One theory is that the migration still happens but the bulk of the fish are following bait/food sources which are outside the 3 mile line.

Like +2QuoteFlag

One contributing factor is the decrease in Menhadden, aka Bunker, FatBack, Pogies. The commercial menhadden fishery in this area is based right inside Chesapeake Bay. The commercial boats only go as far as needed to fill up. So our area is wiped clean. They will fish up and down the coast if necessary. Striper fishing in NY and Massachusetts remains great, both boat and surf, (different seasons than ours)

Like +1QuoteFlag

One additional thought for Boat fisherman. Because of the 3 mile limitation and poor fishing in many years the Outer Banks has little or no people fishing for Ocean Stripers. Fines are large for 3 mile violations along with stiffer penalties for charterboats. Not very many people want to fight weather, a treacherous OI, fuel cost and potential fines to get nothing.

Like +2QuoteFlag

Now that you mention it even when I was fishing years ago everyone was complaining about the commercial menhaden boat from Zapata fishing right off the coast. The would catch 100s of thousands of pounds of fish in a day. They processed them right on the boat into fish oil and meal. You gotta figure they also had a significant by catch of stripers.
I bet that was a large part of ruining that fishery.
I think NC had more lax regulations than states to the north

LikeQuoteFlag

I knew back in the mid 80s the striper fishery was in trouble. There were basically no regulations in the 70s and early 80s. The fishery was essentially shut down for 4 or five years, depending on the state. That brought back the fishery but states enforced reasonable regulations.
After doing some research I see the regulations were tightened up for 2020.
I'm so disappointed the fishery is dead in NC.

LikeQuoteFlag

I knew back in the mid 80s the striper fishery was in trouble. There were basically no regulations in the 70s and early 80s. The fishery was essentially shut down for 4 or five years, depending on the state. That brought back the fishery but states enforced reasonable regulations.
After doing some research I see the regulations were tightened up for 2020.
I'm so disappointed the fishery is dead in NC.

LikeQuoteFlag

I don't think it is dead, they are just following the food and migrating farther offshore like Jig said. They're out there in Fed waters no doubt.
Omega is taking a LOT of menhaden out of the Chesapeake Bay, and that does affect the food source for sure. How much they take is regulated by politics, not biologists.
It's cyclical, good and bad. Oft times man has good intentions with regulations, but the results often don't reflect the goal of the regulations. I cannot think of a species that has been regulated as much as Striped Bass.
So I guess its wait, and see.

LikeQuoteFlag

I haven't been striper fishing in several years, but the last time I went the Delaware River had made a great comeback. Some said it was the fishing regs working, others said it was the cleaner water. Probably somewhere in between. Shad runs have been better as well, which most likely has something to do with the striper fishing.

Like +1QuoteFlag

I haven't been striper fishing in several years, but the last time I went the Delaware River had made a great comeback. Some said it was the fishing regs working, others said it was the cleaner water. Probably somewhere in between. Shad runs have been better as well, which most likely has something to do with the striper fishing.

Dead on correct about the comeback of the river. But the last 3 years, the striper bite has dropped off dramatically. Could it be cause the Delaware Bay is basically dead. Maybe. They use to really fatten up in the bay before heading up the river. They come up the Delaware River to spawn in the fresh water. And year after year, the same schools of fish return to the river to spawn. But the schools of fish have either shrunken, or have found other tributaries to spawn. Or a combination of both. What I can tell ya is that the number of people fishing the river for stripers has increased 1000%. That's a lot of pressure on the big females who are only there to spawn. And add to the fact that you have people who don't know how to handle these fish, and force some of these fish to lay their eggs prematurely. With no males to fertilize their eggs, you have dramatically reduced classes of fish. I love fishing the river for stripers, but am for a closure to leave these females alone for 5 yrs to rebuild the stocks. And for a coast wide limits just like the red drum. You can keep a slot size, but release the big females. JMO

LikeQuoteFlag

As for the stripers in Jersey, South of LBI surf fishing for stripers use to be a good fishery. Why, cause there use to be clam and mussel beds right off the coast that would attract the fish to the beach. As well as black drum as big as 90lbs. Now after years upon years of dredging, they have completely destroyed these beds as well as the lumps and South Jersey is turning into a barren beach for fishing. You use to be able to comb the beaches after a nor'easter and fill 5 gallon buckets full of surf clams. Yes, you still get northern kings, blues, and some toothy sharks, but not even close to what the fishery use to be. The stripers that do come to shore usually just ignore the beach front and head through the inlets to the backbays .No food in the surf, no reason for a striper to come into the surf zone. Again, JMO

LikeQuoteFlag

The stripers feed on the menhaden. The menhaden have been obliterated by Omega Protein and their boats for over a decade.
Also the comms did no favors when they went striper fishing then when they met their 2000 lb( originally 50 lbs) limit just dumped the other stripers out of the nets to die but at the time it was completely legal.
Last link is a youtube video of the stripers that they tossed.

Click to follow link...

Click to follow link...

Click to follow link...

Like +2QuoteFlag

The YOY numbers are nothing like the 70's and 80's that brought the moratorium...I think a bulk are out past 3 mile line.

Click to follow link...

2011 was a most epic year in NJ....the sand eels were so thick, the waves turned black. This was a pic from the Smithsonian taken November 2011....I would fish from midnight till dawn, then by dawn it was not worth it. Obviously.

LikeQuoteFlag

I caught about 15-20 Shorts in a 2 week period on November up here in Delaware.

Across the Bay in New Jersey they will catching legal Stripers like crazy. They never made it over to the Delaware side.

I have talked to some old timers, and they all point to Super Storm Sandy as the time things changed. Before Sandy, they would catch them, since Sandy nothing.

LikeQuoteFlag

I caught about 15-20 Shorts in a 2 week period on November up here in Delaware.

Across the Bay in New Jersey they will catching legal Stripers like crazy. They never made it over to the Delaware side.

I have talked to some old timers, and they all point to Super Storm Sandy as the time things changed. Before Sandy, they would catch them, since Sandy nothing.

It has not been the same after Sandy, we thought it may take a year or two for the beaches soft underwater structure to settle and become productive...never really came back strong.

Like +1QuoteFlag