The Weekly Salvage
(2.8.24) 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 inter-webs dragger and get to work…
Podcasts of the Week: Surfcast Podcast - Local Holdover Stripers —> Our hosts go over the basics and not-so-basics of locating and presenting to holdover schoolies. Deep-water access, low- or no-light windows, and warming weather trends seem to commonalities, while favored lures run the gamut from finesse jigs and plastic swimmers to ‘unexpectedly large’ minnow-style plugs. They also emphasize the necessity to conserve and protect small tidal river populations.
Video of the Week: Winter Powerplant Rat Bassin in North Dakota - NDYakangler —> When it comes to fishing stories, I’m a huge sucker for unique patterns and the dirty intricacies behind rarified ‘bites’. Whether its flippin’ pollen mats for Smallies after a Conifer bloom in the Northeast, trying to match the near-impossible cinder worm hatch in Striper estuaries, or getting a kite-bait to thrash in the right posture in ‘nervous water’…the discovery of the little details just get me fired up. This video is a bit of that good juice.
White Shark From the Beach - Prestige Coastal Worldwide —> Now I think this is what Bob Bratananananewski would consider a marathon soak for real cows.
Reports: OnTheWater / Fisherman Mag / SaltyCape / HullTruth / StripersOnline
***Reminder to renew your fishing licenses here. HMS vessel permits here.***
Tuna Q&A with Jay Goodwin
From the furry jowls of Punxsutawney Phil to the spectacle of the State of the Union, February is a month steeped in prognostication. While both involve notoriously unreliable mammals participating in performative arts, it’s a uniquely human inclination to predict outcomes beyond our control. And while I’m usually one to preach the mantra of preparation beating prediction 98% of the time, the anomalies of the 2023 season certainly have my gears whirring a bit faster this Winter. Albies in the Bay, Tarpon on the beach, and rec Tuna nowhere nearby for most of SEPT were just some of the glitches in the 2023 matrix. With forecasting “experts” at NOAA predicting a fourth consecutive La Niña condition to develop by mid-2024, which brings more volatile winds and hurricane activity to the Atlantic, we could be in for another dance with Lady Strange.
Said another way, forecasts often tell us more about the forecasters than about the future. It just so happens that this week’s honorable prognosticator has little use for a crystal ball, because his log-book is likely thicker than the 69th Edition of Chapmans Seamanship Manual. Jay Goodwin has been running the Chatham Bar out of Ryders for 28yrs and counting, has mentored some of the Cape’s finest tuna captains, and decided to give me his Inreach # share some of his hard-earned wisdom with the masses this week. When not contributing to the Japanese culinary experience via giant Bluefin exports, he is found successfully contributing to the Japanese trade deficit via auto imports. While sharing a metaphorical cup of warm saké, these are the lessons he had to share. Thank you Jay.
Q - What was your most memorable Tuna pattern from 2023?
A - I almost exclusively target big fish these days and usually fish bait. Most seasons follow the same pattern for what works best as the season progresses. Off Chatham I mostly fish Mackerel, but I will change baits to match the hatch and to use what’s available. June into July it was an even mix of high and down rod bites, but by mid-July it had transitioned to almost exclusively down rod bites. I think every fish I caught in July was on a whiting because they were plentiful where we were fishing. August was a blur with canyon fishing, bringing my Son to college and then getting covid. Bait was difficult in the Fall, so bluefish and pogies were in the well too. The best fishing of the season, as usual, was November with over 20 bites and all big fish in shallow water. Almost every bite came on bump trolled Mackerel up high from Chatham’s north cut to Peaked hill. The deepest water I fished all month was 100’.
Q - How has the Cape fishery changed since you first got started? What factors do you think contributed to the more challenging (at times) fishing last season?
A - I caught my first Giant in the chair when I was eleven years old in 1985 and I’ve been at it ever since. That fish was caught off Nomans and back then there were several years in a row with epic bait and lots of fish to the south. It’s been happening again the last couple years, and when combining that with much less bait off Chatham, the fishing was slower at times. There are always cycles and we are in one now where the bait is tough off Chatham, and thick elsewhere.
Q - Who or what ignited your passion for fishing? And what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
When I was young, my Father fished hard. Our boat was off the dock 5 days a week and we travelled tournament fishing. My Brother and I caught our first White Marlin at 9 years old and were already living in our 13 Whaler by then. We grew up mostly on Nantucket and had a great group of friends. We fished the docks and the harbor, day and night. It was nonstop. Best advice: “You can’t catch them at the dock. If you want to be successful you need to put in the work and then the time.”
Q - What is your go-to leader size and preferred hook for giant fishing? Under what conditions will you consider downsizing?
A - Fishing Chatham I almost exclusively fish 180 Blue Label and Charley Brown 9/0 circles. My standby hook is a Gamakastsu Live Bait HD in 9/0 or 10/0. And for small Bluefish, an 11/0 Charley Brown through the back. On big Bluefish I use a 12/0 7691 or similar deep right through the back. The only baits I bridle are whiting and other brown baits.
Lightning Round!
Favorite species that isn’t a Bluefin? Blue Marlin! Nothing else in the ocean eats and fights with as much ferocity.
Preferred hook for live-lining bluefish? Mustad 12/0 7691 or 11/0 CB
Method of caffeination? One coffee and done when tuna fishing. 5-hour energy on canyon trips. I credit them with getting me back to the dock on several occasions.
Favorite song for riding through the Cut? Through the cut is usually music down full attention. Anyone who regularly runs the bar will eventually get into trouble. Every year I think it causes me more anxiety. I’ve had a boat in Ryders Cove 28 years and twice required Coast Guard assistance. That being said, when ‘Black Betty’ comes on I start watching the down rod! It’s a thing.
Taking A Bow - Salute to the Greatest Initials in Professional Fishing (AnglersJournal) - “In 33 years of chasing bass, VanDam has a long track record of success catching America’s most popular gamefish. He’s captured seven Bassmaster Angler of the Year titles, an FLW Angler of the Year and a Major League Fishing Angler of the Year. His accolades include four Bassmaster Classic championships and 29 major tournament wins split between B.A.S.S., FLW and Major League Fishing. VanDam has weighed-in an estimated 15,000 pounds of bass and earned more than $7 million in tournament winnings — and now he’s cashing out. “I’m still healthy. I’m still pretty much physically able to do all of the things I enjoy in the outdoors. There are things I want to do and places I want to go that I might not be able to in 15 years.” —> In terms of personal fishing influences, few loom as large for me as the initials K.V.D. They were plastered on the TV in the hey-day of ESPN 2’s ‘Bass Saturday’ programming, before Youtube and Iphones and when my go-to lure was still the Arboghast ‘Midnight’ Hula Popper. I remember waking up at the crack of dawn, spiral-notebook and Go-Gurt in hand, to sneak into the living room for an hour of ‘Basscenter’ before putting those lessons to work on the neighborhood ponds. What KVD taught me was that you didn’t need to have honey-holes or secret lures, you just needed to keep moving and build a pattern around what worked. Intensely competitive, always positive, and instinctually-gifted, if his boat was wet, he was within striking distance.
The Legend of Bum Farto (FieldEthos) - “Born Joseph Farto—yep, that’s his real last name—in Key West on July 3, 1919, Bum earned his nickname from the employees at the fire station across the street from his house where he would try to ‘bum” things from the firefighters. He loved it there and hung around there long enough that he eventually got a job operating fire hoses. Bum did well and rose up the ranks to become fire chief in 1964. He relished his job as fire chief and presented himself as a man of importance (or as a pimp, depending on your take). He wore flaming red leisure suits and rose-tinted glasses, and draped himself in gold chains, bracelets, watches, and rings. His chief’s badge was custom-made of gold and encrusted with gems galore. He drove a lime green Ford Galaxy with a large golden eagle hood ornament and the words El Jefe on the license plates. How did he pay for these extravagances on a city employee’s salary? No one knows. Until he went missing…” —> Only tangentially angling-related given the locale, but a heck of a read nonetheless.
Offshore Jigging Tactics (SaltwaterSportsman) - “What’s the best way to jig if you’re marking a school of fish at specific depths but they’re not all that active? Growing numbers of Northeast anglers are using the technique of snap jigging to catch striped bass and other species. “It’s a hybrid of slow-pitch jigging and ‘twitch’ jigging,” says Ross Gallagher at Hogy Lures. “To be clear, twitch jigging is just a technique of twitching the rod tip so that the jig bounces up or down in a confined area.” Snap jigging utilizes an aggressive snap of the rod, but the jig doesn’t cover great distances vertically. But pay close attention during the fall because that’s when the bite is most likely to occur. About 70 percent of bites occur then, Gallagher says, so watch for a subtle “tick” or even for the line to go slack completely.”
Striper Stock Management: The Details in 3 Simple Charts (Fisherman) - “This chart explains the problem with the striped bass rebuilding schedule, with The Fisherman adding a couple of key points in the green “arrows” which point to (A) the ultimate rebuilding target, and (B) the last good ‘young of the year’ spawning data. The arrow to the Rebuilding Target shows the record number of striped bass from the early 2000’s that is now the target level for a fully rebuilt striped bass spawning stock biomass (SSB). The deadline to meet that SSB target is 2029; the striped bass fishery is considered to be rebuilding until that ultimate SSB goal is met.”
Top Tackle & Terminal from 2023 (#1-5)
Siren Sorry Charlie 170 —> The OG Siren was the snack-sized catalyst for some of my most memorable bites in the early-’23 Fog Fiesta. Designed for slow, methodical retrieves around neutral schools, both the electric bunker and sandeel colors got it done when coming across milling fish. The high-impact urethane coating was plenty durable to withstand 5-6 battles with 55-75” fish in the span of a week when paired with a 3/0 BKK Raptor (belly) and 5/0 Diablo single on the tail (…a #8 Spro Power split-ring was actually the first to fail).
Rapala Super Shad Rap —> An overlooked offering in the Finnish fishing firm’s stable of swimming steeds (say that 3x fast). This 5.5” 1.6oz hybrid swimming plug features a peanut bunker type profile, with enough heft to draw action in Striper surf and boat-casting scenarios. Its highly customizable too, according to some OG forum trolls, with the ability to ‘load’ the bait and alter its depth-range by shaving down the front-bill.
Hogy Slider —> The Toyota Hilux of Northeast Tuna plugs. It’s not much to look at, but goddamn has it accounted for an impressive tally of tuna dirtnaps over the last decade. It casts great on beefy setups, has a solid shimmy on a multitude of retrieves, with the 4oz option preferred for its slightly shallower sub-surface wobble. Choose your confidence color, but just know that on most days ending in -Y, I’m throwing white.
Hogy Sandeel Jig —> The king of kerplunkin’ and murderer of mud-darts, this soft-plastic jig shines in a number of scenarios. Leave it in the rod-holder just a foot or two off bottom (when dogfish aren’t in play), or chuck it into a raft of shearwaters and feather the spool on the way down. Both the 6 & 8oz options excel in those 150fow+ scenarios when marking bottom-oriented schools.
G-Ratt Sneaky Pete Glide Bait —> Massive silhouette, check. A wide-ranging action with open-water drawing power, check. Visual strikes and the ability to speed up or stop the presentation on a dime, check check. This 8” 2.5oz glide is a killer in slow-tide situations and around pogy schools.
Thanks for reading The Weekly Salvage, until next week!
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