Stripers 2019: Anyone Else Concerned??

[Roccus7]

Can't believe I'm actually typing this, BUT "I've got a bad feeling about this", "THIS" being the size of the fish this early season. They are larger this year than in previous years without a doubt. Normally I'd be looking at something around a 6 or 8 to 1 ratio of sub-20" fish to 20+" fish. So far it's running around 1:1 without ANY micro-rats, fish less than 15" long.

With an eye toward the future, this seems a bit disconcerting to me. Has anyone else noticed this size trend?

 

[Capt13]

Noticed that the size of the fish went down as the weeks went by. You might still get a shot of the smaller fish.

 

[Roccus7]

Noticed that the size of the fish went down as the weeks went by. You might still get a shot of the smaller fish.

One never knows, but that has never been the pattern around here as it's always been the opposite. Of course the water has never been this cold this time of year either.

However, if one looks at the MD YOY surveys it seems to make sense, showing we're catching the decent 2014 and excellent 2015 year classes, and seeing little, if any, from the abysmal 2016 year class.

 

[LBstriperhunter]

The lack of Stripers on the Surf is very upsetting. Human greed is the culprit with climate change, dragnetters, and lossing more Marsh land to developement.

 

[george]

I wish I had the slightest bit of confidence in those numbers. The 2008 and 2016 just don't add up. You'll get your small ones. The history of that chart suggests we had better recruitment in 1981 and 1990! In spite of the fact that we had some of the indexes ever recorded after that.

 

[Roccus7]

I wish I had the slightest bit of confidence in those numbers. The 2008 and 2016 just don't add up. You'll get your small ones. The history of that chart suggests we had better recruitment in 1981 and 1990! In spite of the fact that we had some of the indexes ever recorded after that.

The variabilities involved with spawning may easily negate a great year class' spawn. Wrong salinity because of huge rains could result in a very, very poor YOY class, no matter how many fish were spawning. And perfect spawning conditions could result in a YOY boom, even when a low YOY class is spawning.

 

[george]

I'm sorry my good friend but I see this as nothing more than voodoo science. I get it that it's what we use, but that doesn't mean I have to believe it.

 

[Roccus7]

I'm sorry my good friend but I see this as nothing more than voodoo science. I get it that it's what we use, but that doesn't mean I have to believe it.

Regrettably, it doesn't matter what the two of us agree or disagree on. It's the "best available science" and will be what the regulators use.

I hate that term...