Mass. weighs tougher protections for striped bass - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

CowHunter · 12-06-2009, 09:23 AM

Makai, if youre gonna make it a gamefish then why be allowed to kill anyfish??? Take away the comm catch but let recs kill theres.

The Decline in the numbers of bass is not to to the 20 some odd days of the Mass Commercial season. That entire biomass is taking a pounding from December through June. Ill say it agian, Many of you guys havent got a clue what goes on down south of you, You just complain when the fish dont show up in new England and blame it on 20 days of commercial season. There is no comparison whatsoever!

Doublerunner · 12-06-2009, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CowHunter

Makai, if youre gonna make it a gamefish then why be allowed to kill anyfish??? Take away the comm catch but let recs kill theres.

The Decline in the numbers of bass is not to to the 20 some odd days of the Mass Commercial season. That entire biomass is taking a pounding from December through June. Ill say it agian, Many of you guys havent got a clue what goes on down south of you, You just complain when the fish dont show up in new England and blame it on 20 days of commercial season. There is no comparison whatsoever!

Would it be better if you had 60 days of commercial fishing with the same poundage limits? Let's not focus on the amount of days and instead focus on the amount and size of each catch

I agree that what happens down south needs to be rectified ( and I believe will be as more states come in line ) but don't use what happens elsewhere as an excuse to do it everywhere

As a rec if I catch and keep 1 - 6 fish a week I am not killing off generations of fish for years to come as there are still huge amounts of fish in that pack to still re-generate. As a commercial if you are sitting on top of a large school of fish and take them all out you are also wiping away generations of future fish from that pack. Perhaps then extending the commercial season to a larger amount of days....say 60 or so...but reduce the amount that can be taken daily, weekly, and monthly would go a long way towards not wiping out complete generations of fish

CowHunter · 12-06-2009, 10:05 AM

In mass the commercial season is spread out to 20 some odd commercial days over say 5-6 weeks. There are different bodies of fish that show up in different areas dependent on the bait. Fish move, A big body of fish may show up and stay only for a tide, day, week, or until a weather change. Fewer fish have shown up the last 2-3 years. I personally like it harder the better. In any case there is a problem with fewer fish. I wont be one to say that the fish in buzzards bay are wiped out, they just dont show there the last 2 years or so in the numbers they have. Quicks hole hasnt had the fish. Weather, bait deffinatly are factors. The bait showed up in April through May frm NJ through Mass. In June we had unprecedented rain, maybe the bait moved out due to salinity, in either case they didnt come back, and niether did the fish. You cant blame the Mass Commercials for that. There is a big difference recreationally / charters pounding an entire biomass that is staged in its wintering grounds or transitory moving up the coast where they are pounded day to day in huge numbers. Recs in VA probably kill more fish in a week than the entire mass comercial season. Just pound the school day in and day out! Look at the commercial methods for harvesting striped bass down in Md, NC, VA... No pinhookers there! break out the nets boys!
I do believe there is a change in pattern also, alot of fish are staying offshore with the bait, well over 3 miles. Theres few inshore baitfish anymore in NE. Grubbing on crabs, lobsters, and reef fish... They are with the miles of sand eals and herring. Cant blame for no fish on the back beaches to mass commercial either. Some people just cant adapt when it gets harder and you have to change, they dont understand the fish but they want to manage the fishery....Might as well let Obama regulate striped bass...

CowHunter · 12-06-2009, 10:13 AM

Doublerunner, there is a whole different mentality in the south.... When Chesapeake Bay is open in November and December, you cant get a room, house on the northside. If you dont get to the ramp early you are out of luck and The Ramp in Kiptopeke holds more cars than all the southshore ramps in mass combined! Every Charterboat from NC and VA is pounding the bay and rec guys from several states. As soon as they shut the bay down Jan 1 and make it catch and release it is a barren wasteland. Nobody is going down there for catch and release!!! Hotels are empty, no rentals, no charters, tackleshops are closed, all restaurants stores in the area are empty. Need to go look for yourselves.... Just a few of my own observations and my own experience. Not what somebody tells my or what I may have heard....

CowHunter · 12-06-2009, 10:21 AM

Brian, That is just to keep it for guys that are Full time commercial. Gotta do what you can to adapt. I do have a full time job myself before Charters and commercial and I still do about 150 days a year on the water. I still do consider my charters and commercial as full time work. If that was all I did I cant see how I could survive paying all expenses, and put away money for healthcare, pension, kids college and so on.... Making it harder and harder to make a living off the water. Its become a rich mans game, thats all it will be if it were a catch and release gamefish only....

Doublerunner · 12-06-2009, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CowHunter

Doublerunner, there is a whole different mentality in the south.... When Chesapeake Bay is open in November and December, you cant get a room, house on the northside. If you dont get to the ramp early you are out of luck and The Ramp in Kiptopeke holds more cars than all the southshore ramps in mass combined! Every Charterboat from NC and VA is pounding the bay and rec guys from several states. As soon as they shut the bay down Jan 1 and make it catch and release it is a barren wasteland. Nobody is going down there for catch and release!!! Hotels are empty, no rentals, no charters, tackleshops are closed, all restaurants stores in the area are empty. Need to go look for yourselves.... Just a few of my own observations and my own experience. Not what somebody tells my or what I may have heard....

That will have to be changed. What happens in one area can and does affect the whole striper coast. As I've said we all have to do our part

How close to shore can comm's fish?

CowHunter · 12-06-2009, 10:53 AM

I somehow doubt stripersforever is gonna get a warm welcome in the South! The boys down there are trying to get the eez zone opened to 12 miles so they can kill more and it aint commercials....Ive seen boats down there tossing dead keeper bass out of their coolers when they get bigger ones so they can have more meat!

MikeToole · 12-06-2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CowHunter

I somehow doubt stripersforever is gonna get a warm welcome in the South! The boys down there are trying to get the eez zone opened to 12 miles so they can kill more and it aint commercials....Ive seen boats down there tossing dead keeper bass out of their coolers when they get bigger ones so they can have more meat!

Stripers Forever fully understand this. They know that the Va and NC guys would kill ever fish in the ocean. I'm not a SF member and I am not in full agreement with what they want but I understand what their doing and agree with much of it.

They have one real focus point, stripers become a game fish. They understand that the only way to do that is for recreational fisherman to obtain the controlling voice at ASMFC stripe bass board. Having Mass end commercial fishing is not their end goal. It is just a step towards their end goal. If they can get three states to end commercial fishing the board would now have a lean towards the recreational ficherman. Then it would be possible to gain game fish status.

Most of the comments being made here are only looking at it from the present state of the ASMFC borad make-up and that this is the end point rather then a step towards a goal. Saying that the Mass quota will be given to another state is based on the boards present make up. If Mass changes this will make a real difference, get one or two more states to change, then we would see a real difference.

They also know that as long as the board continues it's present make up it is almost a waste of time to try and get them to reduce the catch numbers. Right now it is a fight to just stop them from increasing the numbers.

MAKAI · 12-06-2009, 11:29 AM

Seems like the Bass is the new Buffalo. Get them while you can.
Of all the fish that are on the brink. This one gets it from both sides.
There are so many one sided opinions as what to do we've become myopic.

C. H.
I have sold fish since 1970. Seen the halcyon days and the barren days. I gave my permit up 2 yrs ago, Just didn't feel like killing them anymore. But that's just me. I wish all states would be hook and line only, with the potential to let every fish breed a few times at least before being killed, but that's not going to happen. It's not a matter of who gets to keep what but keeping the fish population healthy. There are far more issues regarding that problem than just rec vs com. No easy answers.

CowHunter · 12-06-2009, 11:45 AM

Makai, I just have a problem with organizations like striper forever who are blaming the state of Striped Bass on Mass Comercial Pin Hookers. They are trying to change the rules so it is easier for rich yuppies to catch fish and have a "Super" day on the water with no regard for anyone else. There are morons who have no clue whatsoever, they just want to go out and catch countless of fish on their fly rods and not work for it.... They have no idea As to all the other factors that are causing the sad state of the striped bass fishery. Shutting down Mass commercial isnt going to make a bit of difference......