2020 Western Sound Bass run ...

[Matts]

Tuesday night was beautiful. Tried a few deep chunk spots. Marked the crap out of fish and bait, but nothing ate. Popped out for a few hours last night for one at 35.99" on a live bunker, plus one bluefish, plus another beautiful night.
Happy to see a few blues around this year. I think the bass need a little competition to keep them aggressive.

 

[UNCFISH]

i've been doing pretty well after a slow start to the season. Consistently getting a couple a night. last night i got two big ones, a 46 and a 41.

A couple trends I've noticed this year that are different than years past:

>I've caught more on the incoming tide than outgoing tide. Including all fish over 40 inches (I have 5 of those this year).
>84% of my chunked bass have come on body chunks. 16% on heads. 0% on live lined bunker. I've never seen such a heavy weighting away from heads and this is the longest into the season I've gone without catching one on a live bunker.
>average depth has been 35.7 feet. lowest average depth of the last three years.

 

[george]

i've been doing pretty well after a slow start to the season. Consistently getting a couple a night. last night i got two big ones, a 46 and a 41.

A couple trends I've noticed this year that are different than years past:

>I've caught more on the incoming tide than outgoing tide. Including all fish over 40 inches (I have 5 of those this year).
>84% of my chunked bass have come on body chunks. 16% on heads. 0% on live lined bunker. I've never seen such a heavy weighting away from heads and this is the longest into the season I've gone without catching one on a live bunker.
>average depth has been 35.7 feet. lowest average depth of the last three years.

That's the kind of data I like to see. To all of you reading this, there's much more info here to help you catch more fish.

 

[TonyT]

i've been doing pretty well after a slow start to the season. Consistently getting a couple a night. last night i got two big ones, a 46 and a 41.

A couple trends I've noticed this year that are different than years past:

>I've caught more on the incoming tide than outgoing tide. Including all fish over 40 inches (I have 5 of those this year).
>84% of my chunked bass have come on body chunks. 16% on heads. 0% on live lined bunker. I've never seen such a heavy weighting away from heads and this is the longest into the season I've gone without catching one on a live bunker.
>average depth has been 35.7 feet. lowest average depth of the last three years.

Thanks for the info - Funny - we have just the oppose with depth -- marking and catch fish in 60ft + this year -- past years 40ft and less . Also on 2 separate nights we landed 2 keepers (32/33 inches) with egg still in the belly -- 20 years of fishing Stamford area never seen that.

 

[UNCFISH]

Thanks for the info - Funny - we have just the oppose with depth -- marking and catch fish in 60ft + this year -- past years 40ft and less . Also on 2 separate nights we landed 2 keepers (32/33 inches) with egg still in the belly -- 20 years of fishing Stamford area never seen that.

Good to know on the depth, thanks for sharing.

The first fish I kept in 2018 and 2019 had eggs. So I try not to keep any until later now. Only killed one so far this year. Waited until May 26th and it still had eggs in it, which annoyed me. Gonna wait til June next year to kill my one.

 

[TonyT]

Good to know on the depth, thanks for sharing.

The first fish I kept in 2018 and 2019 had eggs. So I try not to keep any until later now. Only killed one so far this year. Waited until May 26th and it still had eggs in it, which annoyed me. Gonna wait til June next year to kill my one.

Good to know on the depth, thanks for sharing.

The first fish I kept in 2018 and 2019 had eggs. So I try not to keep any until later now. Only killed one so far this year. Waited until May 26th and it still had eggs in it, which annoyed me. Gonna wait til June next year to kill my one.

We caught the last one with eggs a week ago -- if I have it right , if they don't lay the eggs in the spring in fresh water , their body absorbs them.

On a different topic - have you every seen 32a so jam packed ?

 

[Matts]

Thanks for the info - Funny - we have just the oppose with depth -- marking and catch fish in 60ft + this year -- past years 40ft and less . Also on 2 separate nights we landed 2 keepers (32/33 inches) with egg still in the belly -- 20 years of fishing Stamford area never seen that.

If you caught them mid-sound off Stanford, I doubt those bass were going to spawn this year. Maybe a little lipstick, some perfume and lay off the bunker chunks would have helped, but not this year.

 

[george]

Thanks for the info - Funny - we have just the oppose with depth -- marking and catch fish in 60ft + this year -- past years 40ft and less . Also on 2 separate nights we landed 2 keepers (32/33 inches) with egg still in the belly -- 20 years of fishing Stamford area never seen that.

Many fish for up the river only to never spawn.

 

[Matts]

worked very hard Saturday night for 1 short and 1 34" .

I've never worked so hard for such sparse results before this year.

marked lots of fish in 30-34' that would not bite.

 

[UNCFISH]

I stay away from 32A like the plague (or like coronavirus?).

Can't say i know much about striped bass biology, but don't they go up the river to fertilize, but then they release their eggs wherever they feel like it?

 

[UNCFISH]

worked very hard Saturday night for 1 short and 1 34" .

I've never worked so hard for such sparse results before this year.

marked lots of fish in 30-34' that would not bite.

My suggestion if you're marking fish that won't bite, move to the closest shallower area. sometimes they stage in the deeper water, relax and digest, and then move up into the shallow area close by to actually feed. so you found the fish, but you found their staging area. not their feeding area. just a theory - again, i'm not a biologist. but this has worked for me before.

 

[Matts]

My suggestion if you're marking fish that won't bite, move to the closest shallower area. sometimes they stage in the deeper water, relax and digest, and then move up into the shallow area close by to actually feed. so you found the fish, but you found their staging area. not their feeding area. just a theory - again, i'm not a biologist. but this has worked for me before.

thanks. I'll give it a try.

 

[Matts]

I stay away from 32A like the plague (or like coronavirus?).

Can't say i know much about striped bass biology, but don't they go up the river to fertilize, but then they release their eggs wherever they feel like it?

I think the females deposit their eggs in a river, where they won't get silted over and then one or more males releases his/their sperm to fertilize the released eggs. My understanding is that one or more males will nudge a female until she releases her eggs. I don't know what triggers the sperm release. So if a bass has left the river, I do not believe she will spawn that year. That said, I've read all sorts of conflicting versions of the process, so who knows for sure.

 

[JoeBfishing]

All those boats at 32a are porgy n sea bass, some drift around for fluke and sea bass. Don’t really think they’re chunking or live lining? I could be wrong, but I stay to the west of that fleet. Unless I’m doing the above...

 

[UNCFISH]

I don't know what triggers the sperm release.

this part i do know

 

[UNCFISH]

All those boats at 32a are porgy n sea bass, some drift around for fluke and sea bass. Don’t really think they’re chunking or live lining? I could be wrong, but I stay to the west of that fleet. Unless I’m doing the above...

They definitely chunk there at night too.

 

[TonyT]

They definitely chunk there at night too.

we have caught bass there at night on a regular basis -- the fleet usually is gone by dark -- but not this year !

 

[Mikeyz]

we have caught bass there at night on a regular basis -- the fleet usually is gone by dark -- but not this year !

Out yesterday ; marked TON of bait around Hempstead; set up in 16-28 feet in several spots. Wind against tide had us swinging too much.
Going to try later in tide stage/ later in evening to see if wind lays down.
Still have not had many days where wind cooperates with tide even when trying to stay tight to shoreline.
How does everyone else deal with Wind v Tide? Just drift and not anchor?

 

[JoeBfishing]

Double anchor... especially up tight. But even deep I’ve done it if seas aren’t too high that they break over stern... Deep I try to keep a short leash out the stern... Tight I’ll back up as close to shore as possible. Works especially good with heavy boat traffic too...

 

[UNCFISH]

i generally go to a place where the wind and tide will work together. there are a lot of places where the current moves different ways because of the structure, and harbors, and points. it's pretty hard to make this work when it's an outgoing tide and an east wind. or a west wind and an incoming. but with northerly or southerly angles to the wind, you can almost always find a place that works together if you're willing to run.