Rumors about stripers

[striprman]

I'd like to see the recreational fisherman be able to keep 2 fish a day over 24 inches. I'd also like to see no commercial fishing allowed.

1 fish at 30 inches is more realistic.

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by striprman

I'd like to see the recreational fisherman be able to keep 2 fish a day over 24 inches. I'd also like to see no commercial fishing allowed.

1 fish at 30 inches is more realistic.

Problem wih 2 at 24 is that they are much more attainable and easy to catch. The typical angler is lucky to get two keepers over 28 a year, make them24 inches and a lot more of those younger class fish will be taken out of the pool. At least a slot between 20-26 has a fair amount of males mixed in as there are a higher percentage of males at 20 inches than 24, whereas females are over 90% of fish over 34 inches... I think cutting out comm fishing is rediculous. I thknk there is too much take commercialy AND recreationaly and that both should be scaled back. Unfortunately, if the biomasses of the various baits keep shrinking, it will all be moot. The problem is not the commercial or recreational fishing as much as it is the forage these fish feed on. Too many people feel that if they debate the size issue of Striped Bass, that their work is done, the size of the fish is just a small part of it. The important parts are not addressed strongly enough...

Slot limit.... and no commercial pogie harvest within 3 miles of the coast, fix the herring problem and we'll have a wonderful stock of fish...

[eelman]

John, why is everyone so fixated on the bunker? while its a main forage, its not the only one.I agree that the comm take of bunker should be scaled way back, I think bass adapt. I have cleaned plenty of bass over the last 25 years from both boat and shore and have found 80% of the time these fish have some type of lobster, crabs etc... in there belly. This year was banner for bunker in narr.bay however all of the fish I saw had lobsters or crabs in there gut, in fact there is no shortage of crabs! there was a recent crab hatch and there were millions of the tiny guys all over the shore.

Dont get me wrong small finfish are a staple in a stripers diet and I want to see it stay around and be protected but bass simply eat anything they can, flounder,scup, etc....I have seen years where the finfish forage was non existant and still the bass fishing was good, they adapt and acually prefer a diet of crabs and lobster. What a loss in bunker does do is prevent fish from being in places we normally see them, if no bunker in the bay then no bass.I caugt a bass once that had tautog in its gut!

I dont want this taken the wrong way but bass eat everything.Sure we do need to protect the forage but the bass does not care weather it dines on lobster or bunker its going to eat the same........

I dont like slot limits, granted you certainly seem to know more about the sceince than I do but that size limit encourages to many small fish taken. My final is 36inches at 1 per day and leave the comm. bass fishing alone

[Notaro]

then what is the size limit for the striper commerical fishermen to keep? right now, they are allowed to keep 34 inches or above. so if the recreational striper limit creel is 36 inches and comemrical size limit has to be 34 or what? just asking.

[CANAL RAT]

if you change it to 36inches in coming years we will have tons of these 36inch fish which means more of a chance or some BIG stripers the bass will have a chance to breed and we will have more stripers. scale back the pogy quota in a big way and we will have a healthy fisherie.having all the states have the same regs will have a positive effect

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Notaro

then what is the size limit for the striper commerical fishermen to keep? right now, they are allowed to keep 34 inches or above. so if the recreational striper limit creel is 36 inches and comemrical size limit has to be 34 or what? just asking.

Joe:
I can't remember. I think when the 36" rule was in effect the commercial guys had to go with 36" also. Anyone remember? I would say this was 1991 or 1992.

[FormerUser]

Originally Posted by #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&

John, why is everyone so fixated on the bunker? while its a main forage, its not the only one.I agree that the comm take of bunker should be scaled way back, I think bass adapt. I have cleaned plenty of bass over the last 25 years from both boat and shore and have found 80% of the time these fish have some type of lobster, crabs etc... in there belly. This year was banner for bunker in narr.bay however all of the fish I saw had lobsters or crabs in there gut, in fact there is no shortage of crabs! there was a recent crab hatch and there were millions of the tiny guys all over the shore.

Bunker ARE the stripers' #1 forage.Its what maintains them.They be eating lobster and crabs because that's what's available especially now that the Asian crab has become so prolific.

This year was "banner" for bunker ?I guess a few schools could be considred "banner" when compared to no schools.There hasn't been a banner year for bunker since the early to mid 80s.The pogie boats literally SUCKED the bay and surrounding waters dry of pogies in the 80s.

What makes BIG bass truly BIG is a steady diet of pogie.

[eelman]

Basswipe, sorry but your incorrect, lobster and crabs are there main diet, read nick karrass book, the sceinetific jargon is all there, during comm.season go watch them gut bass you will find crustasions all day long.

I dont know, there are plenty of bass around and more 50s landed at the island than I can remember, I am catching on a consistant basis more fish than I ever have and there not on bunker, go see a bass that has sucked down a 2lb lobster and see how fat that will make the fish! I have said before I have fished when the bunker were nill and still caught plenty, they forage around rocks "rockfish" no bunker there...........

So as far as a banner year? I am having one!!

[Nebe]

Pogies are more important for the bass in the winter IMO

* look at the macrobacrteriowhatchamacallit disease that the bass get down there. they are lacking food.

[Notaro]

pogies mean fat bass.

[eelman]

Originally Posted by Eben

Pogies are more important for the bass in the winter IMO

* look at the macrobacrteriowhatchamacallit disease that the bass get down there. they are lacking food.

I agree its an important forage fish for sure, but once the bass get up this way, they eat whatever is availible and along the rocky coast of rhode island its crustations......

[FormerUser]

Originally Posted by #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&

Basswipe, sorry but your incorrect, lobster and crabs are there main diet, read nick karrass book, the sceinetific jargon is all there, during comm.season go watch them gut bass you will find crustasions all day long.

I dont know, there are plenty of bass around and more 50s landed at the island than I can remember, I am catching on a consistant basis more fish than I ever have and there not on bunker, go see a bass that has sucked down a 2lb lobster and see how fat that will make the fish! I have said before I have fished when the bunker were nill and still caught plenty, they forage around rocks "rockfish" no bunker there...........

So as far as a banner year? I am having one!!

I stand by my original statement that the pogie is the stripers #1 source of food.

This from a study done in Virginia by the National Coalition for Marine Conservation around the same time period as the Mass Gov. study.

"Why striped bass are starving"

1.Up to 90% of striped bass on the East Coast spawn in Chesapeake Bay.

2.The diet of large striped bass is 70-80% menhaden.Most of this consumption is of juveniles.

3.The Chesapeake produces nearly half of each new generation of menhaden.

4.70% of Atlantic menhaden are caught in Chesapeake Bay and adjacent waters.

5.The population of juvenile menhaden (age 0-1) is in decline reaching an historic low in 2001.

Conclusion:The resurgent population of rockfish is not finding enough to eat.
It could lead to a future collapse in the fishery.

[Bass Babe]

Originally Posted by basswipe

This from a study done in Virginia by the National Coalition for Marine Conservation around the same time period as the Mass Gov. study.

Do you have the link to the study, basswipe? All I can find on the "www.savethefish.org" are those facts, but no mention of a study. I would be leery as to what information I believe, coming from a special interest group. Facts can always be used and omitted to support or refute a certain point. Not to say that I disagree with the fact that baitfish need some help. If you're looking for more information on striped bass or baitfish, I'd shoot for studies done by universities, and, yes, the government. Political action groups don't always provide the most accurate information, even if they ARE angler groups made up of people like us.

[fishdog13]

Originally Posted by striprman

I'd like to see the recreational fisherman be able to keep 2 fish a day over 24 inches. I'd also like to see no commercial fishing allowed.

1 fish at 30 inches is more realistic.

OoOOoo another HERO!