Karen Cooksey of Pennsville caught this 40-pound Delaware Bay striper while fishing on the charter boat Millennium out of Fortescue. Photo by Ralph Knisell

For a few years now, I have had the opportunity to try and determine the possibilities of good saltwater fishing in Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. Each year, it becomes more difficult to predict, as the fish do not seem to listen to my words of wisdom and do just the opposite of what I think they should do based on years of fishing experience.

And, you may ask, how do I go about obtaining factual information for fishermen in these three states? Actually, I have to consider the statistics available concerning last year's catches. How successful were fishermen in taking the five species to be discussed: bluefish, weakfish, summer flounder, striped bass and tuna. When do these species arrive in numbers? When do they leave? And what did successful anglers do to catch them from boats or on the beach? The only way to determine this is past history. Past history has not been as consistent as it used to be.

Last year, some of our states' game fish species did as they have in the past; others fooled us completely, sending all of my optimistic thoughts down the drain. Let's see what should be in store for anglers this year, based on the latest (and greatest) information available at press time.

One thing that must be observed, regardless of the year, are the rules and regulations pertaining to fish bag and size limits, seasons and various locations that have special rules. Each year these regulations change; this year is no exception. And these regulations are becoming stricter and stricter with each passing season. We recreational fishermen, quite frankly, often are receiving the short end of the stick.

Species like flounder, weakfish and tuna have been hurt by commercial overfishing, yet recreational angler quotas continue to go down on these species. When have you heard of the recreational fishermen having such an impact on any species that they have caused it to be in trouble? On the other hand, commercial netters and longliners continue to indiscriminately impact many species of fish, including flounder, tuna, sharks and billfish.

WEAKFISH
Remember when your parents would say that you couldn't leave the dinner table until everything on your plate was eaten? Back then I would eat everything that I didn't like first, such as spinach and broccoli, and then I'd go to the good stuff. As weakfish are the most difficult species to predict and have had the worst history of late, let's get to them first and get it over with.

Last year, anglers in all three states experienced probably the worst weakfish year in many. Speaking with fishermen who are usually great weakfish fans, it became evident the weakies just didn't show up in most of the typical places. This is particularly disturbing because when talking with fisheries management officials in both New Jersey and Delaware, they said they do not have a clue as to the reason, or at least they would not divulge what it was if they did.

On the other hand, many local fishermen who have sought this species for many years have some thoughts on the matter. One is the heavy influx of fresh water into the bays. Weakfish do not tolerate anything but highly saline water.