Long Island’s Best Fall Run in 60 Years
The nearshore ocean was loaded with large 5- to 8-inch sand eels in late summer 2013. Most surfcasters knew it, as we saw see gulls picking them out of the wash on rough days and we caught fluke with bellies full of them. In September, as I pulled in fluke—some larger than 20 inches—from Jones Beach and Robert Moses, I wondered, where are the stripers and blues?
Fall Runs Past
In fall 2008, several massive schools of stripers shuffled along Long Island beaches feeding on sand eels. The typical fish was 18 to 22 inches long—likely fish from the 2003 and 2004 year classes. The hot action began on the South Shore in October, when the first mega-school moved through the ocean trough, followed by a smaller but still huge school of short fish that extended the fishing into December.
In 2010, a single mega-school of 24- to 30-inch stripers moved through, creating an excellent and long-lasting fall run for Long Island surfcasters. During much of that run, there were very few fish to the north and south of Long Island.
In 2011 and 2012, good fishing never materialized along the South Shore, but New Jersey had fish from late fall well into the winter.
The fall runs of 2008, 2010 and 2013 were very different compared to historic runs of stripers. Although old salts know this, newcomers to the sport may not appreciate the differences between traditional runs and recent ones. Historically, when stripers were at peak abundance, waves of migrating fish created flurries of fast action followed by lulls, with the fishing ending in December when a last school of small schoolies ran the beach.
Of course, the species of baitfish available affects the specifics of the autumnal action. Abundant large sand eels fueled recent runs, while peanut bunker dominated the 1990s, and bay anchovies and peanuts dominated the 1980s. If we go farther back in time to the 1950s and 60s, mullet was perhaps the most important fall bait.
Historically, mullet migrated in late August or early September, pushed by a nor’easter or strong cold front. The mullet schools were large, and resident fish followed them out of the bays and into the beach troughs. Mullet blitzes were widespread and frequent. Sometime in October, the mullet migration ended and a lull set in, followed later by more blitzes when young-of-the-year weakfish, bluefish, blowfish, and kingfish migrated. The stripers we caught later were Chesapeake fish that had summered off Massachusetts.
Although the fall of 2013 featured larger mullet schools than I’ve seen in a few decades, the run was over in five days, not five weeks. In addition, with fewer resident stripers nowadays, the action was mediocre. Why are there so few resident fish today? For one, the striper stocks are down, and second, there is intense pressure on the ones that spend the summer on Long Island. Decades ago, there was little pressure on these fish as private fishermen and boats for hire targeted flounder, fluke, porgies, kingfish, black sea bass and bluefish. In short, anglers had more choices.
A Slow Start in 2013
Anglers are optimists by nature, so we looked forward to a better run than the previous years as the 2013 striper season approached. Optimism faded quickly, however, when solid spring fishing failed to materialize. In fact, surf fishing was spotty for most of the year in Montauk and on both the North and South shores. Only the diehards were able to persuade a few quality fish from Montauk’s south-side rocks and the South Shore inlets. Most surf fishermen simply stopped fishing between late spring and early autumn. Although I culled a few nice fish from passing mullet schools, for the most part, I had the beaches to myself.
October’s Glimmer of Hope
After the September run in Montauk flopped, the deflated hopes of surf anglers improved when a big school of stripers arrived along eastern beaches including Shinnecock and Smith Point Park, following a four-day nor’easter in October. Good fishing highlighted the storm’s first two days, but erosion flattened the beaches and put the “lip” far off the wash line. I worked Smith Point with an 11-foot rod and 3- and 4-ounce bucktails, but my lure’s time near the lip was brief and thus fishing was a pick.
At this point, western beaches were still barren, so as I continued to travel east to Shinnecock in late October, a friend clued me in to some great structure. I was amazed to find swatches of black water that I first thought were weeds. However, when the weeds swam right and then left, I realized I was looking at sand eels. Soon, sand eels sprayed as stripers rolled, swiped, and sucked them in. I hurried to my truck and dressed.
When I returned to the beach there were about a dozen anglers casting to the visible stripers, but no one caught a fish for two and a half hours. I followed the breaking fish up and down the beach, but caught nothing. Eventually, the dense bait schools broke up and I figured that was it for the day. Still, I kept fishing. Strangely, once the bait broke up the anglers began to catch fish. My friend and I managed a dozen fish apiece, including a few in the mid- to upper teens. At this point I had genuine hope for November, but never dreamed that the first 18 days of November would be the best run of stripers I’d ever known—short, sweet, but very hot!
November to Remember
For me, it started on November 1 with a strong storm—not a nor’easter, but south and southwest winds that gusted over 60 miles per hour, with little rain. Around 1:00 p.m., the winds backed off to 20 to 30 miles per hour and I headed to a South Shore beach with good structure. The beach was empty as I walked west toward a productive point. However, walking into a 30 mph west wind sucked the breath from my lungs and had me leaning at a 45-degree angle into the wind. I’m not a young man and that effort fatigued me, so I stopped about one-third of the way. I made a cast in the middle of nowhere just to pass a little time while I caught my breath, and was surprised by a solid hit. Soon, I beached an 18-pound striper. All charged up, I kept casting, but additional casts produced nothing, so I resumed my trundling to the west.
As I looked at the 10- and 12-foot waves that rose and collided over the structure. I licked my chops, yet I still had no idea of what was about to take place. In the hours before darkness, I caught 26 stripers, and 16 of them were between 10 and 28 pounds. I must admit, fighting the waves, battling the fish, and releasing fish in crashing surf took its toll on this old salt. I looked to the east where my truck was parked and wondered whether I had enough energy to get back to it. The empty beach intimidated me—if I faltered, there was no help nearby. Oh well, I thought, at least I had one of the best surf days of my life! Typical! This is a surf rat’s attitude even when the rodent is 71 years old. We’re all hopeless, you know. Sometimes I think I’ll die in the surf.
The next day was a little calmer, the sky blue, but the fishing persisted and I enjoyed another great day with stripers to 32 pounds. I wondered how long this would last. The answer to that question turned out to be 18 days before the mega-school moved on. There were great days, good days, and picky days depending on the weather and wave activity, but we caught fish from the same mega school for 18 days. The percentage of fish larger than 10 pounds was startling. I’ve never seen the likes of it. In 16 days of fishing, I caught 178 stripers and 132 were larger than 10 pounds. The number of fish weighing in the high teens was also amazing, and fish in the 20s weren’t in short supply either. Just as in 2008 and 2010, the mega-school consisted mostly of what was left of the 2003 and 2004 Chesapeake year classes. We should remember that in each succeeding year there are fewer and fewer fish remaining from these year classes. This reality darkens our future.
I fished with 2-ounce bucktails most of the time, but needed a big tin and tube on a few days when the fish were well off the beach. Still, I caught more than 90 percent of my fish on a bucktail with pork rind. Clearly, the average size of the fish caught on bucktails was larger than those caught on tins and tubes.
I had never experienced a run like this one in 60 years of surf fishing, and I doubt I’ll ever see it again. That amazing run of stripers was a lucky result of a confluence of factors: a big storm, trillions of large sand eels, calm weather following the storm, and good timing by the huge school of stripers.
We must take better care of our coastal striped bass population. Historically, it’s part of Americana, and for anglers who dream of striper blitzes or catching that elusive 50-pound trophy, it’s engrained in the fabric of our sport and our traditions. Hell, it’s infused into our souls.
From the November 2014 Issue of On The Water
Source: https://onthewater.com/long-islands-best-fall-run-in-60-years
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