The Weekly Salvage
(8.3.22) Fishy News from Around the Northeast and Beyond
The maritime law of salvage has its origins in Roman law, which dictated that one who preserved or improved upon the misplaced property of another was owed compensation, even if the service was not requested. Let’s get out the ole inter-webs seiner and get to work…
Podcast of the Week: State of Sportfishing Podcast: Epi. 66 “Fishing Prep & Travel”
Fishing Reports: OnTheWater / Fisherman Mag / SaltyCape / Redtop
Local Knowledge: The Cape’s semi-tropical atmosphere has rotated the region’s ‘mini-seasons’ at a feverish pace this Summer, pushing both bait and gamefish into deeper locales. While the pros are still finding fun-size BFT feeds thanks to the abundance of sand eels, weekend warriors will be best served soaking down-baits in colder-water eddies (if you can find them) and distancing themselves from the parking lot that has become most “named” spots Out East. Speaking of parking lots, the Plymouth Striper bite continues to impress in its longevity as well as the general civility shown by the crowd. Normally when that many WEEI listeners are in close proximity, BPD gets a call to clear the mezzanine of the Garden. Good fishing can be better than therapy I suppose. Anyhow, the rumor-mill over Vineyard Albies and Bonito has been swirling hard the last few days…I’m not feeling the FOMO just yet, but I’ll probably soon be willing to trade tuna steaks for hard-tail numbers.
Shimano Sees Fishing Tackle Sales Expand 4.5% in 1H 2022 (FishWire) - “Strong interest in fishing that attracted attention globally showed signs of cooling down.” —> Everyone’s favorite cycling and fishing tackle conglomerate sounded a bit glum in their recent Q2 earnings report, corporate guidance starting to ‘reel in’ expectations as the global ‘cost-of-living’ crisis deepens. While sales are commonly reported in ‘nominal’ terms, with consumer prices still pressing north of 9% in the United States, that means ‘real’ (inflation-adjusted) sales are probably now contracting at a ~3-5% clip. While a more granular regional breakdown of sales isn’t provided, I can only speculate that the Northeast remains a stella(r) market for Shimano’s near-and-offshore offerings. By the looks of the Regal Sword parking lot Sunday, chock-full even with a price of admission near ~$600 ($4.39 reg gas x 15% marine surcharge X 80 miles round-trip @ 1.5gals/mi = $605.82), there’s still plenty of rod-holders to stuff a new Stella or Saragossa 18k. While tuna-fishing etiquette (and fish prices) certainly have seen better days, I can pretty confidently say that like canned beans, government contracts, and class-A narcotics, Bluefin Tuna fishing is uniquely recession-proof.
Sight Casting For Near & Offshore Pelagics (TheFisherman) —> Having spent enough time around ‘run & gun’ tuna charter guides to realize it’s not always flat-calm runs, fun-loving clients and foamers at the end of every rainbow, its pretty clear that finding the fish doesn’t guarantee success. One of the biggest gripes is clients that simply can’t get a lure more than a toddlers’ toss away from the boat. While some guides bring along missile-slinging mates to increase the odds of a hook-up, some captains are opting for quick ‘how-to’ sessions on the water. While there is no substitute for practice, here are the key points (assuming a 7-8ft spinning rod): 1) leave a healthy 3-3.5ft of leader off the rod tip to the lure 2) a slow and smooth load-up on the back-swing 3) an acceleration forward, weight-shifting from back leg to forward, then a wrist-snap (and simultaneous index finger release) ending with the rod pointed at the target. 4) Manually close the bail (to reduce line-twist) and take up slack in the line after the lure has hit the target area.
With the “how” of casting to pelagics established, the “when and where” comes into play: BFT are notorious for diving deep as boats approach so stealth is key. Actively feeding fish is your ideal target, but birds diving and fish “milling” under the surface is always a high-probability scenario. The longest casts are without a doubt the best ones, but placement is also critical. Watch the fish (but don’t wait too long), are they moving a particular direction? Try and place the cast just several feet ahead of where they are rotating. If you’re fishing a lure susceptible to getting picked off by a shear-water, add a bit more distance between the froth and your lure to allow for an extra second or two of sinkage to avoid feathers on the front-deck.
Three Clues To Mahi Mahi (CoastalAngler) - “Dolphin have the mentality of a toddler. When you reel one to the boat, leave the fish in the water, put your rod in the rod holder, and cast out behind the hooked fish. The school should have followed your mahi to the boat, and with their mahi-see, mahi-do mentality, they’ll all want to partake in snack time. Continue hooking mahi and leave them in the water until you run out of available rods to cast.”
Conservation Groups Call For Ban On Chesapeake Bay Commercial Menhaden Netting (SportFishMag) - OK, without wading too far into political and job-bashing waters, here are the facts that I think are important to consider in this case…
Menhaden/pogies are a vitally important forage species to a massively complex marine food-web, sustaining the likes of Tuna, Tarpon, Striped Bass, Drum, and several types of Whale, etc.
Commercial “Reduction Fishing” (reducing fish to their oil/minerals) for Menhaden has been outlawed in near-shore waters in every East Coast and Gulf state, except for Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay region.
A single Canadian-owned company, Omega Protein (bought for $490mln in 2017, ~250 employees), removes > 100mln pounds of pogies every year from the Chesapeake Bay.
The Chesapeake Bay Striped Bass Young-of-Year Survey data (here) shows that 6 of the last 10 years have seen abnormally weak reproductive cycles.
The Chesapeake Bay has been proven to be the primary spawning ground for 70-90% of the Atlantic Striped Bass stock.
Striped Bass is the most popular gamefish on the East Coast which data suggests is worth more than half a billion dollars in recreational expenditure annually in MASSACHUSETTS ALONE and supports >10,000 jobs in the state (link to data).
Bait-Monkey: Peanut Bunker Baits for Striped Bass & Schoolie Tuna (OnTheWater)
Until Next Week, Stay Tight-Tight-Tight!!!