The Weekly Salvage
The Weekly Salvage
(10.9.24) Fishy News from Around the Northeast and Beyond
The maritime rule of salvage has its origin in Roman law, which dictates that one who preserves or improves upon the misplaced property of another is owed compensation, even if the service was not requested. Let’s get out the internet trawler and get to work…
🎙️| Surfcast Podcast - Sandeels & Fall Fishing with Nick Honachefsky
🎥 | GBR GTs in a Foot of Water [Brooksy] —> A dreamy GT setting on the Aussie flats.
🎥 | Randy Blauket: The Great Fishing Knot Lie —> Now I usuallyyyy tune out the freshwater folks when it comes to salty knot strategies, but this take is pretty logical. Always worth considering how much wear and tear your tuna knots are taking between the time they are tied and when you’re actually putting them to the test.
Fishing Reports | OnTheWater - FishermanMag - HullTruth - MAFishReport
Looking for a tackle recommendation? Try GearSay, the first generative AI search tool specifically tailored to helping you find specific gear for a specific purpose. Type in a question, a set of parameters, or just copy & paste a block of text from a fishing report to get instant results. The more detailed you are about your target species, location, season, and pattern, the better your feedback.
Fishing Philosophy - The Three Masons
One Fall morning, three stone-masons working outside a church were approached by a young traveler who was interested in the work. The boy posed a question to each, hoping to understand their work. He asked: “Sir, what are you doing?”
The first mason responded flatly, "I am cutting stone." He saw his work as a means to an end.
The second mason responded with a bit of pride, "I am shaping stone to build a wall." He understood the bigger picture, and was contributing to something that would stand after his time.
The third mason was excited by the travelers interest, beckoning the boy closer to inspect his chisel and trowel as he gestured towards an archway, "I am building a cathedral!" His voice carried a glimpse of the future, where the church would stand for many centuries after he was gone.
Each of the three stonecutters was performing the same task, but their outlook on that task was unique to their perspective.
Be the third mason. Take pride in doing the work, fine-tuning the details that might otherwise seem like monotony. Whether the clock is ticking by the rhythm of the tides or not, find joy in the journey, or you’ll rarely find it all.
Last Chance Tuna in OBX (AnglersJournal) - “It was a little before 5 a.m., and the docks at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center were alive with frenetic energy. Bright lights shining down from the sportfishing fleet illuminated the dark morning as anglers showed up and mates scurried about. It was still pitch black when Harris’s mate, Cary Foster, untied the dock lines. Several boats lined up for the run to the inlet. The channel is a challenge during the day, but running it in the dark flat-out sucks. We were fortunate; the ocean was calm, with only a slight break cresting on the bar. Oregon Inlet is no joke. Like a sleeping drunk, it can wake up angry at any time. The inlet is wide and shallow, and a ton of current pushes through the narrow channel. Any big swell from the east combined with a strong ebb tide will cause waves to break hollow on the bar.”
Teasers for Fall Run Stripers (OnTheWater) - “In the fall, many stripers, even larger ones, set their sights on these super-abundant but micro-sized baitfish. These include juvenile fish that have been forced out of their estuarine nurseries by falling temperatures, sand eels invading the surf after summering offshore and balling up for their swim south, and silversides grouping up and heading offshore to their wintering grounds. Striped bass can be surprisingly picky when scarfing down these 1- to 4-inch baitfish, and the lures that most effectively imitate them can be impossible to cast on spinning gear. Thankfully, the striper fishermen of yore figured that out by adding a small fly ahead of a heavier lure they matched to the hatch and still reached the fish.”
Bull Reds on Top & Down Deep (SportFishMag) - “Concentrations of menhaden near drop-offs and ledges of a shoal are a good sign to look for on your bottom machine, especially at the mouth of the Chesapeake. Later in the year, fish can be marked on bottom machines under and around schools of small bluefish or spinner sharks. “Red drum have a very unique signature, much like amberjack,” says Capt. Brian Horsley, of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. “They will show on your bottom machine as layers, and sometimes they’ll mark diagonally. Deep reds are difficult to target; most anglers actually find them while fishing for something else.”
Eleventh Hour Bronzebacks (FishWire) - “When in crayfish mode, fish will scour the bottom especially where medium to large rocks and boulders are found. In streams with limited rocky substrate, smallies will often stay up in the water column searching vertical hard structures such as seawalls, rip rap, and natural cliffs that extend into the water – pretty much anything hard that will hold crayfish. A crack in a sagging seawall, for example, is very likely to hold crayfish and will regularly draw the attention of foraging smallmouth bass. Unlike smallmouth cruising a flat for food, these fish may be hyper focused as they search “the wall”, and it is common for them to orient perpendicular to the current by finding small protrusions that afford some relief from current.”
2024 Atlantic Herring Stock Assessment: Bad News for This Critical Forage Species (SWGA) - “A staple of the Northeast forage base and a favorite prey of bluefin tuna and striped bass, Atlantic herring remains at near historic low biomass levels, according to the new 2024 Management Track Assessment. Subject to intense fishing pressure since the early 2000s, declared overfished in 2020, under a rebuilding plan since 2022, and experiencing persistently terrible recruitment since 2010, ASGA highly anticipated this assessment to determine if Atlantic herring may finally turn a corner. Well, the assessment results are “devastating,” as a Maine fishery manager described it. The New England Council will consider catch limits this week and discussions will certainly center around what else can be done to promote successful rebuilding…at least we hope.”
Thanks for reading The Weekly Salvage, until next week!
Have feedback or want to learn more?
Reach out to us on IG @Blowin_We_Goin