Fifties Count -- 2009

[Frank Daignault]

The count has plummeted and I haven't logged a fifty in weeks. Part of it is hurricanes but that happens every year. The numbers have never been constant so being off is not unusual.

[biggstriper]

Bunker boats have taken a lot of the adult bunker here although it's no problem getting fresh bunker.

That's the only way a lot of these guys know how to catch a fifty.

The peanuts are in the surf and back bays right now and the mullet should be around anytime now.

What does that mean?


But the World Record was caught during the mullet run...

[Frank Daignault]

"What does that mean? " Who knows? Even less is understood about bait behaviour. I think the bait just goes wherever.Presumably, fifties count reflects the number of such fish available. Back to the count.

[briann wilson]

52# taken in Dux bay last week

[briann wilson]

too little info, sorry

just under 52#, taken in dux bay, beginning of last week, boat
by Capt John Bunar, Iron Skippy Charters,,,,

fish was weighed in for saltwater derby, junior category,, 9 yr old girl
caught it

[Frank Daignault]

Thanks Brian. I just listed six today from mostly the Fisherman Papers. With the storms past, the fishing may have resumed some. We seem to be on track for about the same as recent years.

[StrawMan82]

No 50's the whole month of September? Hard to believe...

[Frank Daignault]

Originally Posted by StrawMan82

No 50's the whole month of September? Hard to believe...

Nor have there been any more since I posted that. We may be off some for the year.

[gadabout]

When I was at the Fisherman Surf Seminar on Sept 10, Fred Golofaro mentioned a confirmed 50 caught the previous week. I don't have any details though.

[Frank Daignault]

Originally Posted by gadabout

When I was at the Fisherman Surf Seminar on Sept 10, Fred Golofaro mentioned a confirmed 50 caught the previous week. I don't have any details though.

I care and appreciate your remarks but I may have already counted it. Something has to be identifiable about any catch -- name, exact weight, or boat.

[Jon006]

Originally Posted by Northbar

Fortunately and unfortunately, every bit of the story is true about this fish. It was caught on a plug and weighed in on our club digital scale at 63lbs 4oz five minutes after being landed. The next morning when the shops opened, it came in at 59.75lbs. The second part of the story is also true. Someone thought it would be nice to come to my house and steal over $2K worth fishing gear that same week. I am completely cleaned out.

For anyone doubting that I am holding the fish up, I can assure you that technique is everything when lifting heavy things. There are no sticks involved!

Frank, is your grand daughter cute?

Thanks for the congratulations.

-Rob

Congrats on the fish. Sorry to hear about your stuff getting stolen. Was the notoriety worth loosing that gear? Not to me I would have released that cow without a word to anyone! VS should give you another reel for the free product shot you gave them!

[Chris Garrity]

It looks like the Delaware Bay run has begun in earnest. This is from today's Atlantic City Press:

Ricky Wheeler, captain of the Cape May charterboat Exile, had 30-pound-plus bass Saturday and Sunday. He said striper averaged 20 pounds. The best catch recently on the Exile was a 53.2 pounder by Wheeler's grandfather Dicky, who was visiting from Odessa, Del.

I don't remember whether you count these late-season D.Bay fifties, but I figured I'd post it, and let you decide. Let me know if you do count them, because there figure to be quite a few more in the bay the next month or so.

[Steve C. Sink]

Originally Posted by Frank Daignault

You list two fish over fifty and you put up one. No name of the pictured person or name of the catcher, nor as to whether he caught both fifties. I'm reading the scale with a glass and it reads 12 pounds. This is the Internet and I strap on a Chastity Belt every day.

Morning Frank, I used to use a revolving set of scales like that when I was a weigh master right after you boys whipped us in the Civil War. My set was not as good as the one shown in the picture. Good ones like that cost a lot of money. The one in the picture is a 20lb./rev. scale, and if it is calibrated correctly, then it indicates that 20+20+11lb.and 13ozs. confirms the 51lb. 13ozs. For Adrian's big Blue Cats that I occasionally weigh for him when he brings a big one home, I use my old platform scales that are deadly accurate. Ida's sure laying the rain and wind on us this morning. Mule.

[Frank Daignault]

I don't feel we should count the Delaware Bay/southern fifties because I have been doing this count for years, since The Trophy Striper came out, and don't want to mix the methods in the survey or it will skew our observations. Basis for limiting the count geography is formulated on the old Schaefer Contest and the states where it was held. That way if we start comparing years we don't have apples and oranges results. Sure the count is flawed because I am flawed. Also a little shockwa.

[Chris Garrity]

I'm not going to argue with your methods, Frank, but doesn't Jersey count? Because the Delaware Bay is a Jersey fishery -- a lot of these fish overwinter far north of the southern Jersey coast -- Fortescue, which is a big late ball D.Bay port, is about 30 miles north of Cape May. If you're going to count Atlantic City fish, then Delaware Bay fish should count, because most of them are caught due west, more or less, of A.C.

You can count them or not, but I wanted to clarify -- I think when people hear "Delaware Bay," they think DelMarVa, which is South, but the Fall DBay fishery is the same, latitudinally, as southern Jersey's ocean-side fall run fishing.