New York Surf Fishing Contest: 2024 Annual Report - The Fisherman

New York Surf Fishing Contest: 2024 Annual Report

steve
2024 Interclub Contest winner Steve Russo is pictured with one of the stripers he caught during a night tide while fishing the surf this past season.

A recap of the 2024 annual interclub surf fishing contest.

The 2024 New York Surf Fishing Contest (NYSFC) included 10 fishing clubs with Bayside Anglers leaving the NYSFC. Beginning in 2024, the New York Coalition for Recreational Fishing assumed the operational running of the NYSFC, co-sponsoring the contest with The Fisherman Magazine. In all, we had 325 eligible anglers with verified scales. Of the total eligible anglers, this year 105 anglers earned NYSFC points.

Top Finisher Stats

All-Island Surfcasters gained top honors, earning the number one position in total points for 2024. All-Island’s 2,925 points were 407 points better than runner-up High Hill Striper Club (2,518). Farragut Striper Club finished in third place with 2,143 points.

In the Released Fish category, All-Island Surfcasters eked out the first-place finish with 11,152 points, 52 points better than second-place Paumonak Surfcasters. High Hill Striper Club finished in third place with 7,640 points. Of the 1,043 total fish (striped bass, bluefish and weakfish) entered in the contest, all were released.

Of the competing clubs, only two showed percentage improvements over 2023 – Paumonak Surfcasters (+81%) and North Brookhaven Sportfishing Club (+22%). The rest of the surf fishing clubs showed small to fairly significant reductions in their 2024 results.

Steve Russo of All-Island Surfcasters claimed the top spot in the Individual Standings (1,763) besting second-place Aaron Gallusser (High Hill Striper Club) by 463 points. Santos Accosta of Paumonak Surfcasters was third with 859 points, Brian Hayes (Striper Surf Club) was fourth with 715 points and John Mlodynia (Farragut Striper Club) rounded out the Top 5 with 672 points.

Sue Wallace (All-Island Surfcasters) reigned supreme in the Women’s Striped Bass category landing a 40-pound striper. Amanda Jensen (All-Island Surfcasters) took the top spot in the Bluefish category with a 12-pound bluefish.

The following is the breakdown of the number of Top 25 anglers that participated in the NYSFC for each club:

In total, 9 anglers achieved the Gold level, 16 anglers the Silver level, and 12 anglers at the Bronze level.

Winning Advice

So how did Steve Russo and Aaron Gallusser achieve the top spots? In speaking with both, they offered some interesting insights:

  • There is just no substitute for time on the water. Both Steve and Aaron typically spend 4 plus days/nights on the water during the season and then kick it into high gear fishing in October and November. They focused on fishing the days and nights around the new and full moons.
  • Steve noted that this year was a grind and a key to his success was his persistence and not giving up. He also went outside of his comfort zone, putting time into new locations.
  • All in all, Steve and Aaron agreed that this was a challenging year and that it was very difficult to find any consistency from one outing to another.  When patterns did emerge, they were short-lived and you needed to fish them hard.
  • Aaron and Steve both fish North and South Shore locations. Aaron noted that this year was not as productive on the North Shore as prior years. He attributes this to the lack of adult bunker and other bait which were not as plentiful as in other years.
  • Most of Aaron’s success this fall was found fishing in the daylight hours.
  • The lures of choice for Aaron were bucktails, bottle plugs, darters, Tsunami Bunker Shads, and swim baits while Steve found success with bottle plugs and diamond jigs (even at night!).
  • Steve noted that he saw a decrease in the number of bluefish available from the beach. While he got into some blues during the spring run, the blues were tough to come by in the fall.
  • Both Aaron and Steve noted that the large percentage of fish caught were slot and above slot-sized fish with a shortage of smaller fish in the mix.

The NYSFC 2024 results show a decrease from 2023 levels:

  • The average striped bass points per club decreased 6% from 2023 levels (1183.9 versus 1,113.9)
  • Average bluefish points were down 15% over 2023 levels (590.2 versus 500.9).
  • The total points of the Top Five anglers saw a 10% decrease from 2023.
  • The total points of the Top Five clubs saw a 26% decrease from 2023.
  • The total release points of the Top Three clubs saw a 43% decrease from 2023.

It should be noted that the total number of fish caught was influenced by having one fewer surf club participating in 2024.

2024 saw inconsistent fishing throughout Long Island’s surf. While we had a presence of sand eels on the South Shore in the fall, we did not see the type of consistent fishing seen in other years. This could be due to having fewer fish close to shore or a lack of significant bluefish to drive the bait and fish to our beaches. The North Shore saw a significant decrease in the amount of bait available with adult bunker fairly scarce for most of the year.

Bluefish made their customary arrival on the South Shore in May but never really showed in any great numbers in the fall. The North Shore saw a significant decline in bluefish entered into the contest with only 10 bluefish entered on the North Shore in October and November. Most troubling was the lack of schoolies throughout the year. We may need to get used to this as the six years of poor recruitment in the Chesapeake will surely impact our fishing over the next several years.

The Montauk Fall Run never materialized. From August through November, there were only 10 striped bass entered from Montauk. In total, there we 25 fish entered from Montauk out of a total of 572 striped bass entered. We also lost Paulie’s Bait and Tackle, leaving Montauk with no significant bait and tackle shop that catered to the surfcaster aside from the Montauk Anglers Club. All of this would lead you to believe that Montauk is no longer the Mecca for striped bass.

All of this is not to say that there were no runs of fish. If you were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time you were rewarded with mostly slot and larger fish.  These fish could be the remnants of the strong 2015- and 2011-year classes.

In summary, it took many anglers a very large commitment of time and effort to produce positive results in the surf this year. As noted in other annual reports, the numbers included in this report do not include a much-overlooked statistic — catch per unit effort or the amount of effort required to catch fish. To a man, the great majority of anglers queried reported needing to invest substantially more time on the water to produce the fish they catch compared to previous years. It is very difficult to quantify catch per unit effort since it is rarely tracked. Thus, as fish populations shrink, these anglers develop new approaches, fish in new locales, fish longer hours, and make more trips because they own the skills to make the effort pay off, and because they are pushed by the competition. Meanwhile, the 90% of surf anglers who catch 10% of the fish become frustrated, make fewer trips, and may ultimately give up. Finally, in the surf, so much depends on the abundance and distribution of bait that the yearly catch may fluctuate wildly even when fish populations are expanding or contracting.

On Average

Below are the average weights for striped bass and bluefish for the 2024 season and a historical comparison dating to 2010.

 

Significant Fish

To qualify as a “Significant Fish” the NYSFC uses the following minimum weights:

Striped Bass – 20 pounds; Bluefish – 12 pounds; Weakfish – 8 pounds

 

In the striped bass category, the clubs totaled 242 fish weighing 20 pounds or better. This is a decrease of 24.4% from 2023 when the clubs totaled 329 fish at or above the 20-pound mark.

In the bluefish category, the clubs entered 234 bluefish weighing at least 12 pounds. This represented a 29.5% decrease from 2023 when the total had been 332 bluefish at or above 12 pounds.

In the Largest Striped Bass category (witnessed), Santos Acosta from All-Island Surfcasters weighed in a 47-pounder in October taken on the South Shore.

In the Largest Bluefish category (witnessed), Keith Bascone from Paumonak Surfcasters weighed in a 21-pounder in October taken on the South Shore.

In the Largest Weakfish category (witnessed), there was not a fish entered that weighed at least eight pounds.

Conservation

2024 was the first year of the ASMFC’s emergency action regulation, which is a slot of one fish between 28-31 inches per day for all members of the recreational sector. The most recent Atlantic Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Technical Assessment released in 2024 showed that there is less than a 50% probability of rebuilding the striped bass fishery by 2029. This rebuilding date was established in the Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan.

Rather than take action to address this shortfall in rebuilding the fishery, the Striped Bass Management Board decided against taking immediate action to implement additional harvest reductions. Instead, the Board voted to initiate an addendum process to analyze the possible management actions needed to meet the 2029 rebuilding mandate. Once the draft addendum has been approved by the Board it will be published and begin a public comment period where we will be able to weigh-in on the management options that will be offered. This draft should be ready by the summer with the Board considering action at their 2025 Annual Meeting held in the fall.

In 2024 none of the 1,043 fish entered in the NYSFC were harvested. This speaks volumes about the fishing club members of the NYSFC and their demonstration of good stewardship of the fisheries.

Looking Forward

GET INVOLVED IN INTERCLUB
If you are not part of the interclub contest now but are interested in participating, you must first join a surf fishing club registered in the contest to do so. If you need help or direction with this, reach out by sending an email to ross@nycrf.org or mbroderick@thefisherman.com for guidance.

2024 proved to be another challenging season for surf fishing on Long Island. While I would like to say that there is a silver lining and that things will improve, the recruitment failure in the Chesapeake over the past six years and the last two years in the Hudson are troubling. Combine this with a seeming depletion in the bluefish fishery and it appears that we have a black cloud hanging over our sport.

When the number of fish in our waters decrease the keys to success were spelled out well by Steve and Aaron. Persistence, time on the water, focusing on positive tides, leveraging successful patterns, and expanding beyond your comfort zone seem to be the roadmap to success.

A Final Note

I want to acknowledge and say “Thank You” to our Contest Officer, John Citarella who continues to do an excellent job of gathering the data and quickly publishing the results. This is a thankless job, and John, please know that your time and efforts are greatly appreciated.

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