Why do we allow this to happen? - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

DZ · 05-25-2005, 11:43 AM

IMO there are adult pogies "Somewhere"- just not here. How can we explain the massive amount of baby menhaden we have seen the past few years? - more than I've ever witnessed in my 35 years of chasing stripers. There may in fact be a decline in large menhaden - but these babies have been spawned by a significant population of adults.
A bigger question may be "Why are adult poigies not coming to northern waters in any numbers?
Could it be water quality, temp, food source? Or is it just cyclical?

JohnR · 05-25-2005, 12:13 PM

One of the RI Marine Scientists indicated that the large menhaden might be offshore and prefer not to move inshore. But we get the nuts every year strong. Would it be that these couple hundred thousand pogies that come into the bay every spring leave their eggs before getting sucked up by Arc bait? Or would a couple years of a commercial no take policy inside the bay be enough to develop a large returning menahden population. Who knows, maybe if they were left alone here for a few years a local reocurring population would be resident here.

I seem to recall a deal made a few years back that Arc Bait had made an agreement, perhaps with some people from RISAA that they would not go into certain proptions of the bay to net menhaden. But then I heard that the agreed on areas not to net were not big netting areas anyway. I'm very vague and that is a combination of both hearsay and bad memory, so take it for what it is worth

MakoMike · 05-25-2005, 12:36 PM

Just a question from a relatively newbie to the area. Who does Arc Bait sell them to? Us? Recreational fishermen, or are they catching lobster bait?
If its the former, maybe we only have ourselves to blame?

Saltheart · 05-25-2005, 12:42 PM

I beleive they use them to make a fertilizer , a protein suppliment and oils.

kayaman · 05-26-2005, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MakoMike

Just a question from a relatively newbie to the area. Who does Arc Bait sell them to? Us? Recreational fishermen, or are they catching lobster bait?
If its the former, maybe we only have ourselves to blame?

the majority of their stuff is used for lobster bait... a lesser amount to the bait shops.....

Raven · 05-25-2005, 01:16 PM

being able to go out in buzzards bay...striper fishing....and the schools of pogies were so thick - my pram would get caught up in their migratory drift...or current from them swimming...and you could cast a bare hook 200 feet in any direction on the compass and snag a pogie every time. Mostly to see just ...what in fact they were ..as i trolled for stripers and blues.

fishdog13 · 05-25-2005, 03:00 PM

I live in Mass....

Whats a POGIE ??????????

parker23 · 05-25-2005, 04:21 PM

I had a neighbor several years ago that worked for Arc bait. He had a freezer full of stripers from the nets. Daily catches of thousands of fish that are crushed in the nets and doa. They sell them illegally as well as dump the excess. As soon as they clean out the bay, they run the boats down the coast and kill fish in other states. Most of their catch is sold to lobster fishermen. My father went to school w/the owner and I went to school with the son. Many generations of dirtbags run that business.

These guys are scum. I have been run off schools by their boats many times over the years.

I had a few faulty flares fire out of the gun at their boat, while the gun was still in the box stored in the locker. I never figured out how the gun fired on its own. Maybe it was the ghost of the dead fish taking revenge on these scumbags.

Clammer · 05-25-2005, 04:34 PM

Mike & John == that [was] a gentlemen,s agreement //

Arc bait has contracts with Lobster boats & bait shops //

ThrowingTimber · 05-25-2005, 05:32 PM

MakoMike · 05-26-2005, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clammer

Arc bait has contracts with Lobster boats & bait shops //

Well doesn't that make us part of the problem?

kayaman · 05-26-2005, 07:09 AM

I used to work for an unnamed bait supplier that bought pogies from arc. let me repeat...USED TO.... that was about 15 years ago... at that time they had done a number on the schools in the fall river area and were working on cleaning out quincy bay... which they did a pretty good job of. I would meet the boats on their return and load my truck full of barrells... as the bait was coming up the conveyer belt they would grab stripers and blues that got caught up in the nets.... they way they strip the bays clean I would have thought that they would have put themselves out of bussiness already.