Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Lots of Pogies; Very Few Stripers

I was fishing some dead calm water last night in the upper Bay.  Menhaden dipping on the surface looked like big raindrops on the water.  They were all over the place. You'd think that would attract some big fish.  Nope.  I got one small schoolie that was loaded with myco skin fungus, and that was about it.  I saw several other fishermen trying, but they got nothing.
So, lots of big bait, but very few fish.  Winter fishing should be hopping by now, but it isn't.  Realize that this has been a poor year of fishing in the upper Bay for stripers.  Their numbers were way down in this area for much of 2011, so it only makes sense that winter numbers will be way down.  I've been out at least 8 or 9 times so far.  The bad news is that I have landed a total of 4 stripers.  The good news is that 2 of them were keepers. If I didn't live so close, I would say the effort was hardly worth it.  I saw on a recent striper Forum that someone was commenting that it was time to head north (upper Bay) for some hot winter striper fishing.  I have to wonder what planet this guy is living on.