It’s looking good for Hudson River striper stock

The Hudson River striped bass stock has been producing outstanding fishing results for several years, and the future looks bright as last year’s young-of-the-year class was above the long term average and continued that trend. Of course, those bass won’t affect our fishing in the short term. Yet it does prove that management has proven effective and that the sacrifices in harvest of large linesiders have been well worthwhile.

The protection of bass in the spawning stock has assured there will be lots of eggs being deposited in May, and as long as the smaller males cooperate with their milt the rest is up to Mother Nature. That outcome is always dependent on many factors out of our control, but the upward trend makes me comfortable in predicting another fine season in Raritan Bay and NY/NJ Bight

The February issue of the Fisherman magazine includes my feature ” The Good Ol’ Days Are Now!”, which concludes that last year’s fishing in most areas was at least as good as I experienced decades ago when the primary striper spawning grounds in the Chesapeake were producing big year classes about every six years to produce an abundance all along the coast north of there.

A small craft warning is up from 1 p.m. through Wednesday afternoon in the Bight. The southwest wind shifts to northwest 10-15 knots plus gusts to 30 in the morning.

N.J. charter skipper Capt. Frank Mihalic with something he doesn’t catch in Raritan Bay — a snook at Marco Island, Florida