Its a Start

[taxid]

by catch kills more fish than is harvested. and its legal. I,ve seen it myself in vineyard sound after a troller goes by and theres a guy shoveling all the dead fish off the back. dead shorts floating  everywhere

Absolutely!

[lowaccord66]

 

Sorry Joe...you know I hope it doesn't come down to that again...

[SalmonAndStriper Stalker]

Fishery is definitely going to have a closure. Just a matter of when. I'm assuming next year. Wont bother me that much I could care less but will really hurt charter captains. I'll just chase other things.

[lowaccord66]

Fishery is definitely going to have a closure. Just a matter of when. I'm assuming next year. Wont bother me that much I could care less but will really hurt charter captains. I'll just chase other things.

If you can care less more power to you.  I wish I could say the same.  However flounder and stripers....in the death grips of commercial fishing.  Cod too.  Its hard to ignore. 

Sure there's other stuff to chase, but consider this...Is a 30lb stocked king salmon from O nearly as special as a 30lb striper that is wild...and has made years of successful migrations up and down our coast?  To me...no. 

I guess sentiments are tied to experiences. I remember my first bass from shore, my first over 30, my first over 40, first one on an eel in the surf...one on an eel in a river in March, swimming at Montauk for them, blitzes at the canal with only 20 guys fishing, my first over 50"....all things burned into happily my head.

I chase lots of fish but none I respect more than the striper. 

[Baitbucket]

I would be 100% behind them not allowing recs to keep them and let the comms guys have their fill, just to prove we arent the problem. The comms guys will take whatever the rec guys dont. And if they cant, they will increase the quota the next year. As long as there is MONEY involved, the fishery will suffer.. I recall reading somewhere that some of the people involved in the decision making for striper regs have money in the commercial harvesting of them. I have NO idea how anyone can be allowed to make decisions that would knowingly affect their cash flow.. It would be like making a meth dealer the chief of police....

[lowaccord66]

You make solid points Will but let's not down play the recs role in over fishing.  Surfcasting and even the canal saw much less participation even 10 years ago.  Now we've made it very easy to find out without and legwork when the bass are there, feeding heavily and subsequently the harvest is increased.  Couple years back when the rec limit was still 2 I remember seeing miles of dead bass at the canal.  Its equally unsustainable long term. 

I did the rod and reel commercial thing for 1 season and what youd see guys doing is taking their commercial limit on days you were not suppose to.  Then that limit would be sold on the next open commercial day.  Also unsustainable...

Add in draggers, extreme poaching down south, weak year classes and it just isn't looking good.

[Baitbucket]

I agree Jon, but i feel a large majority of the rec guys would continue to striper fish, even if they werent allowed to keep them. I think the canal would be just as busy when the fish are running minus the miles of dead fish. The recent reg changes to 1 fish is all the proof we need. I dont remember hearing a single rec guy complain. In fact most agreed.

I still think its absolute BS that guys running charter boats are lumped in with recs.. They are making MONEY on the fishery on their "company boat" towed by their "company truck" at their "company slip".. Hell, most provide rids, reels, and bait a well.. But the fish caught are rec.?.?. Dunno, doesnt seem right to me at all...

[lowaccord66]

Im with you.  Like anything else that involves money or politics things are likely to go sideways.

[Roccus]

Sorry Joe...you know I hope it doesn't come down to that again...

I've been involved in the striped bass fishery since1972, I've seen alot,more than most,my only beef with any of it is the fair play laws, why do you let different user groups use differant methods and hooks, it's idiotic... what I'd like to see is a tag system along with fish count reports for every one, tag systems work out on the west coast and with big game animals,  I  think that a well implemented plan with catch cards will help curb poaching and over harvest, simply fill out your tag, keep it with your fish, no tag, 1000 k fine 1 year loss of licence, second offence you  spend time in the hoosegow.all fines go directly to law enforcement..I hate doing paper work, but I think it would supply more data that is pretty much just made up right now . People need to work a little harder to make things better. I wouldn't mind a slot limit as well, with a trophy tag provision. .there are options, we just need to discuss them amongst ourselves in a reasonable manner and bring the fight to them..
Last year was pretty darn good up my way better than the last few. . I'm thinking this season might be even better...my boats ready, the waiting has begun.

[SalmonAndStriper Stalker]

If you can care less more power to you.  I wish I could say the same.  However flounder and stripers....in the death grips of commercial fishing.  Cod too.  Its hard to ignore. 

Sure there's other stuff to chase, but consider this...Is a 30lb stocked king salmon from O nearly as special as a 30lb striper that is wild...and has made years of successful migrations up and down our coast?  To me...no. 

I guess sentiments are tied to experiences. I remember my first bass from shore, my first over 30, my first over 40, first one on an eel in the surf...one on an eel in a river in March, swimming at Montauk for them, blitzes at the canal with only 20 guys fishing, my first over 50"....all things burned into happily my head.

I chase lots of fish but none I respect more than the striper.

I agree that a striper is more of a respectable fish. Sad to see that man put it in this place. I love fishing for striper but o would gladly give up fishing for them for the better of the species

[lowaccord66]

I've been involved in the striped bass fishery since1972, I've seen alot,more than most,my only beef with any of it is the fair play laws, why do you let different user groups use differant methods and hooks, it's idiotic... what I'd like to see is a tag system along with fish count reports for every one, tag systems work out on the west coast and with big game animals,  I  think that a well implemented plan with catch cards will help curb poaching and over harvest, simply fill out your tag, keep it with your fish, no tag, 1000 k fine 1 year loss of licence, second offence you  spend time in the hoosegow.all fines go directly to law enforcement..I hate doing paper work, but I think it would supply more data that is pretty much just made up right now . People need to work a little harder to make things better. I wouldn't mind a slot limit as well, with a trophy tag provision. .there are options, we just need to discuss them amongst ourselves in a reasonable manner and bring the fight to them..
Last year was pretty darn good up my way better than the last few. . I'm thinking this season might be even better...my boats ready, the waiting has begun.

I like all of those suggestions. I wouldn't mind them being catch and release only.

I am holding out hope for a good season! 

[butch two]

Money talks and rec fishermen take the hit......or something like that.

[SHaRPS]

I am with you guys as well. Monitor, report and have a plan that actually makes sense for the species. Fines should be more than a slap on the wrist. Slot limit would be great and so would a harvest tag for only rec guys.... maybe 2 per season over 33 and under 36..? Does
Mass do fin clipping for fish over 36" like RI?

[SalmonAndStriper Stalker]

I am with you guys as well. Monitor, report and have a plan that actually makes sense for the species. Fines should be more than a slap on the wrist. Slot limit would be great and so would a harvest tag for only rec guys.... maybe 2 per season over 33 and under 36..? Does
Mass do fin clipping for fish over 36" like RI?

It's some weird rule that literally noone follows that goes something like if you are a commercial fisherman fishing on a non commercial day you have to clip the fin if it's over 34in. Nobody follows it and they stack fish on ice for days in advance to sell them on Monday and thursday

[lowaccord66]

Pretty sure the requirement to clip a fin was for all anglers.  Not just recs.  I could be wrong its been a long time since I've kept one.