{"id":4972,"date":"2025-12-19T01:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T08:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/?p=4972"},"modified":"2025-12-18T23:28:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T06:28:37","slug":"merry-fishmas-2025-must-be-striper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/?p=4972","title":{"rendered":"Merry Fishmas 2025: Must be Striper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The striped bass fishing season in New York State waters officially ended earlier this week. In fact, it was over long before–by mid-November, to be precise. That’s well ahead of my once-traditional Thanksgiving quit date, but this has been the trend of late.  This year, a slow September ramped up to a frustratingly sporadic bite of big fish in October. Then it devolved after Halloween amidst hard winds, extreme tides and a Super Moon. Finally, almost overnight, we had a lightening round of micro bass as the Fat Lady sang and the action slid south into New Jersey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were lucky, well-timed, or willing and able to put in copious hours, your efforts on the beach might have paid off. What was missing, however, was the blitz. We never saw any. And the bluefish? Likewise, they were MIA this fall. It\u2019s hard to say which absence hurt more, but what’s certain is we never had a sustained bite. Albies were another tease altogether: rumor of a pick one day, then silence the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, I\u2019m grateful for the wherewithal to get out with my friends and family one more season. In that spirit, I present a handful of this season\u2019s highlights and, of course, the 25th Annual Merry Fishmas <\/strong>greeting card from me and Big Brother Frank, featuring his personal best, 42-inch bass from October (yes, Virginia, it was released to swim another day).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JINGLE, JINGLE, Y\u2019ALL!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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LIKE CLOCKWORK: <\/em><\/strong> The blues showed up in the back bays right after Mother’s Day. Where they went in the fall is still a mystery.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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JUNE BLOOM:<\/strong> Big Brother Frank found his first keeper at the summer solstice.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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OCTOBER, OH OCTOBER:<\/strong> it was almost as if North Carolina Jeff brought the fish with him on his annual trip to the East End.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And then, we were ALL IN…..<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Fred….<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Billy…<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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LeeBob…<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Verizon Charlie…<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Jon Rose…<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Ryder!..<\/em><\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Ranger Matt…<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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North Carolina Jeff, again!..<\/em><\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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…and again…<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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…and again!!<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Then came the Super Moon….<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Followed by November’s big blows….<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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…followed by the Micro Bass…<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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And then it was OVER.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Until next year. Tight lines!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who’s got lines that are oh so bright?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Striper’s got lines that are oh so bright<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who comes around on Ryder’s night?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Striper comes around on Ryders night<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryder’s night, lines so bright<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Must be Striper, must be Striper<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Must be Striper, Striper Claus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who likes plugs that are long and red?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Striper likes plugs from Frank and Fred<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LeeBob casts jigs when he finds the bite<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Striper spits jigs when the line\u2019s not tight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got the bite, hold them tight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plugs so red, Frank and Fred<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Must be Striper, must be Striper<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Must be Striper Striper Claus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who very soon will start to blitz?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Striper very soon will start to blitz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billy and Jon they work the tide<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verizon Charlie will be their guide<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Striper blitz, lots of hits<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find the bite, lines so tight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work the tide, fish can\u2019t hide<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plugs are red, from Frank and Fred<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Must be Striper, Must be Striper<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Must be Striper, Striper Claus!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The striped bass fishing season in New York State waters officially ended earlier this week. In fact, it was over long before–by mid-November, to be precise. That’s well ahead of my once-traditional Thanksgiving quit date, but this has been the trend of late.  This year, a slow September ramped up to a frustratingly sporadic bite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4972"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5003,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4972\/revisions\/5003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fishtales.abatemarco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}