Stripeah Season Summary

[Roccus7]

Thinking I'm pretty much done for the season so I did my final stats today, as I'm planning on hauling out later this coming week. Needless to say, if I happen to spot a blitz in progress, I'll be on it like a fly on chit...

2023 was an "interesting" year. I continued to do my normal fishing in the estuaries, using a Creek Chub Striper Strike 2500 95% of the time, and didn't do any bait fishing, nor trolling, so the data can be directly compared to previous years. I caught 328 stripers this year, down from 355 in 2022, on 105 Stripeah Sorties. Mean (25.66") almost identical to Median, (24.50"), up a couple of inches from 2022, and that is most distressing. The past 5 years' poor spawns are patently obvious in the histogram , especially considering I only caught 5 bass less than 20" this year!!

Got my Maine Personal Best at 37" this year, that was one of 41 fish 28" or better, with 34 falling into the 28-31" slot. Out of those 34 "Keepahs", I kept 10, and was trying really hard as of late for one more to try a new recipe I got using pomegranate molasses. There's always next year.

Hope you all had a satisfying season too - R7

 

[Roccus7]

Thinking I'm pretty much done for the season so I did my final stats today, as I'm planning on hauling out later this coming week. Needless to say, if I happen to spot a blitz in progress, I'll be on it like a fly on chit...

2023 was an "interesting" year. I continued to do my normal fishing in the estuaries, using a Creek Chub Striper Strike 2500 95% of the time, and didn't do any bait fishing, nor trolling, so the data can be directly compared to previous years. I caught 328 stripers this year, down from 355 in 2022, on 105 Stripah Sorties. Mean (25.66") almost identical to Median, (24.50"), up a couple of inches from 2022, and that is most distressing. The past 5 years' poor spawns are obvious patently in the histogram , especially considering I only caught 5 bass less than 20" this year!!

Got my Maine Personal Best at 37" this year, that was one of 41 fish 28" or better, with 34 falling into the 28-31" slot. Out of those 34 "Keepahs", I kept 10, and was trying really hard as of late for one more to try a new recipe I got using pomegranate molasses. There's always next year.

Hope you all had a satisfying season too - R7

View attachment 69059

Interesting how well my catch data aligns with the Chesapeake YOY results, with the bulk of my fish coming from the reasonably good 2017&18 class years, and the Keepahs and Overs from 2014&15. I know that many were upset about the slot reduction this year, but it looks to be a reasonably well founded decision. I know shocking, but the data here are compelling...

 

[longcast]

Congrats on a season of catching. Glad you were able to get out and fish often. Boat goes to sleep, but awaits the next season when the stripah returns! Bravo!

 

[captmike28]

Well done, Roccus, on another successful season. Awesome statistics, as always.
Even though the total number was down just a slight amount compared to last year, it appears you still have an excellent touch when it comes to fooling the "Striped Beauty"!!

I have a new "student" chartering me tomorrow morning and we will be giving the Bass in Plum Gut one last try before it is on to Tog for the rest of the season. Hope to be able to post one last photo myself!!