Your thoughts on releasing large stripers

[redlite]

Oh brother, here we go again......
To each their own....
Oustide the tournament, I let 80% of the fish I catch go (most because they're too small).....I only keep em if people(family and freinds) have asked me specifically for fish, and it is not too bad of a job to get them back to the truck.
Here is a break down on my numbers so far for this year---
So far this year I have weighed in 7 fish for the Striper cup, all but 3 were in the commercial season, so they would have been taken anyway. I have kept 8 fish for the table so far. I sold I believe it was only like 20 fish this year, so I have removed about 28 fish from the biomass since the begining of April. That isn't even a bad DAY for a boat during the comm season.I keep the big ones cause they are more yield per fish. I got a 50, and I sold it. If I ever get another, you can bet yo arse its comin home and onto my wall. Do I keep the bigs ones to feed my "ego" or some other hidden human nature? I don't think so. I don't know, but I get a greater stisfaction riding along the canal after slammin fish with empty baskets and people thinking I didn't catch anything than havin 2 fish jammed into my baskets witha flat tire.

As far as tournaments and promoting killing of fish and all that crap, a quick count of the Striper Cup thus far which is the largest and longest running tournament, with approx 5000 people fishing over 5 months, from NJ to Maine, this is the count so far:
60#-6
50#-27
40#-35
30#- 233
Total 301 fish

A vast majority of those fish were commercial fish that would have been kept anyway. So please stop crying that tournaments are so wrong, and bad, and killing ALL the fish......Horse pucky.

Like I say, to each their own, but don't frown upon others that are operating within the guidelines.

[piemma]

So you guys know how hard I usually fish. Well this year a bit less but still got over 100 legal fish. I have killed two fish this year and both were gut hooked, one swallowed a pogie the other an eel. I cannot do it anymore and I have killed a lot of fish in the past. It has become too valuable of a resource to kill.

Someone on the Board has a signature that has a saying by the famous Lee Wulff. "A striper is to valuable a fish to be only caught once." Cannot be said better.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by redlite

Oh brother, here we go again......
To each their own....
Oustide the tournament, I let 80% of the fish I catch go (most because they're too small).....I only keep em if people(family and freinds) have asked me specifically for fish, and it is not too bad of a job to get them back to the truck.
Here is a break down on my numbers so far for this year---
So far this year I have weighed in 7 fish for the Striper cup, all but 3 were in the commercial season, so they would have been taken anyway. I have kept 8 fish for the table so far. I sold I believe it was only like 20 fish this year, so I have removed about 28 fish from the biomass since the begining of April. That isn't even a bad DAY for a boat during the comm season.I keep the big ones cause they are more yield per fish. I got a 50, and I sold it. If I ever get another, you can bet yo arse its comin home and onto my wall. Do I keep the bigs ones to feed my "ego" or some other hidden human nature? I don't think so. I don't know, but I get a greater stisfaction riding along the canal after slammin fish with empty baskets and people thinking I didn't catch anything than havin 2 fish jammed into my baskets witha flat tire.

As far as tournaments and promoting killing of fish and all that crap, a quick count of the Striper Cup thus far which is the largest and longest running tournament, with approx 5000 people fishing over 5 months, from NJ to Maine, this is the count so far:
60#-6
50#-27
40#-35
30#- 233
Total 301 fish

A vast majority of those fish were commercial fish that would have been kept anyway. So please stop crying that tournaments are so wrong, and bad, and killing ALL the fish......Horse pucky.

Like I say, to each their own, but don't frown upon others that are operating within the guidelines.

Like you, I've never figured out the logic of why the OTW is a "bad" tournament, but the MV Derby is a "good" one.

And IMO the dumbest thing that the MV Derby does is award daily "mystery prizes" by the luck of the draw among all the fish weighed in that day. Guys keep 34" bass (assuming that's still the minimum weighable length) that they know won't make the daily prize board just to have a shot at the mystery prize

Daily prizes, too. How many guys keep a 25 pound fish that they know won't land them on the Grand leader board for a shot at a lousy $20 check and a pin?

But it has tradition on its side, so guys support it while railing against the Striper Cup.

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by redlite

Oh brother, here we go again......
To each their own....
Oustide the tournament, I let 80% of the fish I catch go (most because they're too small).....I only keep em if people(family and freinds) have asked me specifically for fish, and it is not too bad of a job to get them back to the truck.
Here is a break down on my numbers so far for this year---
So far this year I have weighed in 7 fish for the Striper cup, all but 3 were in the commercial season, so they would have been taken anyway. I have kept 8 fish for the table so far. I sold I believe it was only like 20 fish this year, so I have removed about 28 fish from the biomass since the begining of April. That isn't even a bad DAY for a boat during the comm season.I keep the big ones cause they are more yield per fish. I got a 50, and I sold it. If I ever get another, you can bet yo arse its comin home and onto my wall. Do I keep the bigs ones to feed my "ego" or some other hidden human nature? I don't think so. I don't know, but I get a greater stisfaction riding along the canal after slammin fish with empty baskets and people thinking I didn't catch anything than havin 2 fish jammed into my baskets witha flat tire.

As far as tournaments and promoting killing of fish and all that crap, a quick count of the Striper Cup thus far which is the largest and longest running tournament, with approx 5000 people fishing over 5 months, from NJ to Maine, this is the count so far:
60#-6
50#-27
40#-35
30#- 233
Total 301 fish

A vast majority of those fish were commercial fish that would have been kept anyway. So please stop crying that tournaments are so wrong, and bad, and killing ALL the fish......Horse pucky.

Like I say, to each their own, but don't frown upon others that are operating within the guidelines.

Read my post again, I don't see anything where I cried that any tournaments are so wrong,and bad and killing ALL the fish... , so maybe someone else in the thread did I made a decision about if I catch a cow based on my own observations and what little i know about Bob Pond.
I don't frown upon others. I am trying to find out how we can get the word out that the bass may not be in such great sustainable numbers as the people in charge like to tell us so. That way others can make an informed decision as to whether or not they'd like to keep 2 fish or release them instead. I am not the one preaching here, I am asking others what their thoughts are. I am not blind, I see the population changing year in and year out. I'd hate to see stripers end up like cod.

I have no problem with the striper cup or the derby and do not bash them or put down one over the other. No need to defend the Cup tourney here with leader board stats. I don't have and never had a problem with commercial catching and selling of bass either.
Obviously Charters and serious shore fishermen have a much better chance at consistently catching cow bass, maybe if more people think about what happens when all those fish are removed they'd think about releasing them to be caught more than once like in that quote.
I have no problem with keeping fish for food either, I have eaten plenty of tasty fish from the sea.

"but I get a greater stisfaction riding along the canal after slammin fish with empty baskets and people thinking I didn't catch anything than havin 2 fish jammed into my baskets witha flat tire."

Me too Mike