Coxes Ledge
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I fished Coxes a few times this year, around the second week of August, and we did pretty well. The first day we stopped on a nice piece and took a dozen fish to 39 Lbs., including four that went between 15-20 Lbs. Went back a couple of days later got 7, with a 30 Lb. the largest. It seemed that the area had an abundance of dogfish after those two trips, but we still had a few fish. Not like on the PECONIC QUEEN in the 60's but still worth the trip.
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Coxes and the fish
Well Gama will coxes recover is a double sided question. I say this because there are 2 theories?s to use for the blame as to the disappearance of fish. Number 1 is the over fished theory. Number two is the water temp theory. Most people feel the fishery has been hit hard and that is the cause for the shortage of fish in the area. The regulations on this species have been monitored very carefully for many years now. Cod is the fastest producing fish compared to most fish in our waters. So why it is there is a shortage? That is the 24 thousand dollar question? Well here?s my theory on it. From commercial draggers Ec and I know from up north we hear of all the cod you want. Yes there are plenty of fish. The problem is the water temps have been so warm the fish are not moving as far south as we would like them too. The last good cod trip I had in this NY area from west of Moriches was like 6 to 7 years. Yes the only place you can make a decent catch these days is in the east end of Ny waters. Coxes ledge has its good days and you can still hit it at the right times and catch some nice steakers. Some of the deep water wrecks do hold fish also but the abundance is far from the years past! Funny last summer I did some cod trips and went to coxes and had a nice mixed bag of cod?s size wise. Then we went west in some of the top producing wrecks only to find an occasional small cod? This really had me baffled? In the past we had caught fish on these wrecks at that time of the year and now nothing. So I though to myself hey this is really bad. So that?s when we started to ask guys up north about the fishing and they claim plenty of fish to be had? So in my theory the water temps have been the leading cause of the fish not moving down in great numbers to our area. Yes there is heavy commercial pressure on the cod but with many new regulations the fishery has been doing better. Funny 3 boats up north went out when the recreational rules put a 10 fish limit on the cod for boats. So by putting these regs into place and the fast spawning of the cod in 4 years the waters may have a good number of fish. Will they come down to visit us here in NY is hard to say? Get a few cold winters and I bet you?ll have some fish visiting us. The reason the fish down here also have disappeared is the fishing. I say this because we have what is known as the local Cod on wrecks in this area. You can actually tell local fish from the coloring and looks. When the wrecks are hit hard the fish that were left here will not reproduce and there is no more heading down form up north with such warm water temps. So this is why the local cods have depleted. You do get some fish that will move down and Montauk being the area which will still get some fish built up in certain areas. So this is my theory on the cod you may or may not believe it but it?s my opinion. Let?s hear you?re if you got one. This is a topic which can be a great debate But hard to pin point.
Well Gama will coxes recover is a double sided question. I say this because there are 2 theories?s to use for the blame as to the disappearance of fish. Number 1 is the over fished theory. Number two is the water temp theory. Most people feel the fishery has been hit hard and that is the cause for the shortage of fish in the area. The regulations on this species have been monitored very carefully for many years now. Cod is the fastest producing fish compared to most fish in our waters. So why it is there is a shortage? That is the 24 thousand dollar question? Well here?s my theory on it. From commercial draggers Ec and I know from up north we hear of all the cod you want. Yes there are plenty of fish. The problem is the water temps have been so warm the fish are not moving as far south as we would like them too. The last good cod trip I had in this NY area from west of Moriches was like 6 to 7 years. Yes the only place you can make a decent catch these days is in the east end of Ny waters. Coxes ledge has its good days and you can still hit it at the right times and catch some nice steakers. Some of the deep water wrecks do hold fish also but the abundance is far from the years past! Funny last summer I did some cod trips and went to coxes and had a nice mixed bag of cod?s size wise. Then we went west in some of the top producing wrecks only to find an occasional small cod? This really had me baffled? In the past we had caught fish on these wrecks at that time of the year and now nothing. So I though to myself hey this is really bad. So that?s when we started to ask guys up north about the fishing and they claim plenty of fish to be had? So in my theory the water temps have been the leading cause of the fish not moving down in great numbers to our area. Yes there is heavy commercial pressure on the cod but with many new regulations the fishery has been doing better. Funny 3 boats up north went out when the recreational rules put a 10 fish limit on the cod for boats. So by putting these regs into place and the fast spawning of the cod in 4 years the waters may have a good number of fish. Will they come down to visit us here in NY is hard to say? Get a few cold winters and I bet you?ll have some fish visiting us. The reason the fish down here also have disappeared is the fishing. I say this because we have what is known as the local Cod on wrecks in this area. You can actually tell local fish from the coloring and looks. When the wrecks are hit hard the fish that were left here will not reproduce and there is no more heading down form up north with such warm water temps. So this is why the local cods have depleted. You do get some fish that will move down and Montauk being the area which will still get some fish built up in certain areas. So this is my theory on the cod you may or may not believe it but it?s my opinion. Let?s hear you?re if you got one. This is a topic which can be a great debate But hard to pin point.
First off, Joe those are nice fish and I remember when you could get fish like that with some consistency out there. I only fished there starting in 1978, but the fishing was still good then with pool fish typically between 25 and 45 pounds. On top of which there were good numbers of smaller fish to make sure that you had a nice bag of fillets for a day's fishing...
Togmaster, personally I think that it's a combination of your two theories, with water temps being the primary culprit. While I didn't fish up here in the cold of 1995, I heard that the cod even showed up off the NJ coast along with some whiting. So this definitely lends credence to the idea that warm weather holds the cod north of here. We must also keep in mind that, as you stated, a lot of the fish were resident fish and not migratory. One they're gone, they're gone...
Gamakatsu
Togmaster, personally I think that it's a combination of your two theories, with water temps being the primary culprit. While I didn't fish up here in the cold of 1995, I heard that the cod even showed up off the NJ coast along with some whiting. So this definitely lends credence to the idea that warm weather holds the cod north of here. We must also keep in mind that, as you stated, a lot of the fish were resident fish and not migratory. One they're gone, they're gone...
Gamakatsu
Gamakatsu, this summer their happened to be more dogfish from east of the Sub Buoy through Block Island then we have seen in a long time. We had a little windown in August to catch some cod on Coxs' ledge, and that was it. Unless you were tight on the pieces, you would hook these silver salmon non stop. Codfish in our area have become non exsistant, while black sea bass are all over the place on wrecks that i have never heard them to be on before. I spoke to one captain today, who told me that a commercial fishermen had seabass on one wreck out east that only gave you codfish in the past. How do you explain that? Coxs Ledge happens to be a unique area since it is littered with rockpiles all over the place, and the fishing is done from depths of 110-130 feet. If you want to catch codfish, you have to get onto the east side of Nantucket shoals nowadays. Both warmer bottom temps, and the lack of any amount of our south shore codfish, have contributed to their being no cod on our area wrecks.
By the way, thats a beaut' Joe2NYC!
EC NEWELL MAN*
By the way, thats a beaut' Joe2NYC!
EC NEWELL MAN*
EC, I recently read an interesting theory from an NJ party boat captain. He feels that since the cod have vacated the local wrecks and rockpiles, they have allowed vastly more habitat for the seabass. He thinks that as long as the cod remain to the north, we will continue have the remarkable seabass fishing of recent years. It makes sense as the seabass explosion has occured concurrently with cod's disappearance from our area. Personally, while I love catching seabass, I'd like to see the cod come back.
Gamakatsu
Gamakatsu
Gamakatsu, if you send me that article, or tell me where you read this, i would be very interested. I do agree, as seabass have become more common in our area, cod have become scarcer. I keep hearing and seeing seabass caught on our traditional codfish wrecks in our area. I am just waiting to see seabass caught on the deeper Nantucket wrecks. That would be something!
EC NEWELL MAN*
EC NEWELL MAN*
Jersey Cod
I haven't caught many cod in my life because I'm young and I primarily fish off South Jersey, but when we have a cold winter, I always catch a school size cod or two on the ling grounds in holes, canyons, or depressions in 150-180 feet of water in June. I think it has to do with water temperatures a lot, but they are overfished and that's not helping them move farther south either.
I haven't caught many cod in my life because I'm young and I primarily fish off South Jersey, but when we have a cold winter, I always catch a school size cod or two on the ling grounds in holes, canyons, or depressions in 150-180 feet of water in June. I think it has to do with water temperatures a lot, but they are overfished and that's not helping them move farther south either.
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