MichaelT

By far the best bait is horseshoe crabs but need to check requirement for getting them. Next would be crushed crab and fish in a bait bag. Liver also makes a good bait if trapping in freshwater. Normally I only keep eels 12-18” so don’t need to measure for 9”. Not sure about Maine but here in NH the trap mesh must be half inch so the stand tube traps sold in stores are not legal since they are quarter inch mesh. Best place for me has been to set the traps in brackish waters where the water meets some form obstruction and is slow moving but still tidal.

I didn’t see it noted but Mass decided not to pull in the start date of the commercial season. The season will open on June 24, with the commercial minimum size bumped up to 35”.

The show has been canceled.

Sorry to say the show has been canceled.

Aquaseal is great for wader repairs.

Show is two weeks away now. Current list of vendor on the club web page.

Show is two weeks away. There is a up to date list of vendor on the club web page.

I have switched over to using inline hooks on the belly and a siwash on the tail when the main target is blue fish. Since at least 90% of the blues hit the tail I have not seen any really loss in the number of hook up. Think a longer shank is needed on the rear hook. Many standard blue fish lures like the Roberts only have one single hooks and they are deadly on blues. When stripers are the main target then use a treble on the belly with one hook cut off and barbs crushed and single on the tail.

While not decided Mass is looking at changing open of the commercial season from June 23 to June 1. They have the 18% reduction and will not carry over the under quota from 2019. Sounds OK but the open season change has a good chance of actually increasing the kill from what they killed in 2019. In 2019 they missed the quota by about 23% so the 18% reduction is about meaning less.

Yes, still on the club’s board. Show is coming together with an increased number of vendors and the speaker area much improved. I’ll be down at MSBA show hope to see you.

Plenty of restaurants in Newburyport with all price range. Just let a club member know what you are looking for to get recommendations. We have a lot of home made food at a reasonable price at the show. There is parking at the show plus an overflow area if needed.

Yes same location and we do have overflow parking arrangement. this year we rented an additional area at the church for the speakers that has much better lighting and sound. There will also be more plug builders selling at the show. A up-to date list of vendors is on the Plum Island Surfcasters web page.

Yes, that is the main reason I can’t believe ASMFC went along with it. They select a slot that kills small breeders professing that this protects the large breeders and then allow a trophy season focused on the big breeders. They could have stopped it saying there are better ways to meet the reduction. really in the end we will be back here in 2 years looking for another reduction since there is little chance this will resolve the overfishing issue.

If you use those numbers 1954 plus 11,455 you get 13,409. This is a lot of big fish taken in two weeks. The unknown is still with the changes will we see a much larger increase in effort and why would they allow targeting bigger fish when the main slot is designed to take small breeders.

Not sure where you got 458 but if you look at the tables on pages 7 and 9 the number is a little over 13,000 for the May 1-15 for 2018.