June Family Striper Fishing, Quality over Quantity & Golfing Considerations

Son & family wrapping up their yearly 2 week visit at "Mimi's & PopPop's". The granddaughters have been having a ball catching green crabs off the dock "chunking" hot dogs, and we even found a few mackerel for to amuse them after a trip to "Seal Rock" to say hello to the seals.

My son & I have been taking daily forays to the river's striper spots with a mixture of results. Here's the Reader's Digest summary:

• Numbers of fish caught down, only 40 this year as opposed to over 100 the preceding few years
  
  
• Although overall numbers down, size is up. In previous years there'd only be 2 or 3 fish 25" or greater in that large number, but this year there are usually 2 or 3 fish per outing of that size. Son got PB this year, a 27" "Close, But No Fish Tacos" beauty. He was very happy. As opposed to 2019, we're seeing a resurgence of rats, as small as 10" which bodes well for the future.
  
  
• Fish visibly around, but very lure shy. Many times we'd see fish actually get out of the way of the plug. Savage, hard strikes were rare. There were many "nips" and short strikes, which meant staying hooked up got frustrating. It has me screaming at the fish and looking up the price of golf clubs. I even stooped to drowning some bunker chunks the other night with no results.