MichaelT

There are two sign right at the entrance of lighthouse road with the rules. They say private road no vehicles except for senior citizens over 65 and handicapped visiting the lighthouse. I have seen them give out tickets but only during the summer season. Never seen them tow, just ticket and run them off. Also never seen them bother a senior fishing.

If you are over 65 you can drive to the lighthouse.

The 1201M with either a Penn 650 Slammer or Spinfisher was my go to rod for eel fishing. This is a heavy rod so I rarely used it for anything else. If you have the money for a VS reel there are far better rod available that are lighter.

Just one more excuse for inaction. I understand that the TC are for the most part government employees and there was pay issue during the government shutdown but that was resolved months ago. If you want to be a commissioner you should not take the job if you are not willing to put in extra time when there is an identified need. In today’s world there is no need to have meeting in person so there is no reason to travel and timing can be adjusted to meet needs of the people. Each state has several people working together supporting their specific commission member so duties could be shared. Stripers are a big money fish from an economic standpoint for the Northeast so there is also justification for states to give it additional resources.

Tired of excuses for ASMFC! I worked many days during my career without pay when there were important issues, plus the budget was resolved months ago.

My option of the meeting was it was nothing but disgraceful. They knew last meeting what was coming and some members suggested they have additional meetings prior to this one but didn’t. Now they have just kicked the can down to the August meeting looking for a plan with only a 50% chance of making a 17% reduction. With talk of not looking to reduce the commercial harvest.

I recognize that changing the size limit will reduce the overall kept kill by a 11 to 1 ratio using the 9% number and could obtain the 17% reduction. Problem I have is that to obtain the reduction it increases the number of wasted fish. This recommendation is rather mechanical and does nothing to address the release issue which is responsible for almost 50% of the striper kill each year.

The problem I have with this suggestions is that it only focuses on kept fish and does little to address the release kill. While it would reduce the kill this would actually increase the recreational release kill of the fish in the 28 to 35" range. People often point back to how the stock recovered with the 36" size limit but that was driven to protect a specific year class at a time when there were far less people targeting stripers. While the TC stated different, seasons designed around additional protection for spawning fish including their transit paths when entering and exiting the spawning grounds would be an important. Along with season closures along the migration path when the conditions (such as warm water) increases the likelihood of increased release kill. It would also seem that required training on regulations and catch and release practice prior to getting a saltwater license would be helpful. There could also be gear restrictions as simple as tail hooks have the be single and limit plug trebles to one. No matter what increased enforcement of the regulations is needed. With the amount of money involved in fishing the states need to increase the number of enforcement officers. This cost could be offset through increased numbers of fines and the amount of the fines themselves.

So I guess they will have to do without stripers until the stock recovers to a level to justify commercial fishing again. There are other fish available. There are many types of fish and game that I can’t have unless I fish or hunt for them. There are many just can’t have at all. There is also the availability of farm raised fish, including stripers.

This is not true since in the Feb 9 RFHFA newsletter the specific example they use as what they call McMurray propaganda deals with stripers and bunker. Also should be noted that RFHFA their news letter claims to be looking out for all recreational fisherman including non-boat anglers. Your argument often sound like a politician saying it’s only 5% or 10% like those numbers are meaningless. Then making it sound like the 85% group making comments here only wants to take but not give. Where many if not most of the 85% are willing to take needed cuts. What many can’t understand is when you need the limit the public to one fish a day and now looking at further restriction how can you justify having a commercial season.

In my opinion both are equal reels with the only difference for me is the Slammer is easier to service yourself.

I don’t see them on the vendor list for the RISSA Show. I would expect that there would be a vendor selling them there. ODM will be at the MSBA Show on 3/30&31.

I have both and use the 120-1m as my go to eel fishing rod. I have used it with Sluggo’s but only in a pinch. The rod is just to heavy and you won’t be able to feel what it is doing. The 120-1L is much better for plugs and Sluggos. That said, the 120-1L has become a back up rod to a 10’ ODM Genesis which for me is much lighter and gives a better feel of what your plug is doing. Not pushing this rod there are many others that are light with good feel.

The show is next weekend, 22-24.

The quota is kind of a joke since in 2017 the actual commercial catch was less than half of the quota and is looking about the same for 2018.