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Targeting spawning striped bass is a g.d disgrace

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DeepBlue

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1 hour ago, Drew C. said:

That's not true at all. I did not fish for bass at all last year, not one single trip, didn't catch a single bass all year. That's the fist time since the late 80s. In past years, my life has pretty much revolved around bass. Virtually every vacation had bass as a target. I live where I live so I'm close to the coast so I can fish for bass. The vehicle that I own is meant for beach driving, an d on and on.

 

I moved onto to trout last year. I also made more trips last year for trout than I did in the last 2 years of fishing the salt.

 

I see no point in me pursuing short fish. I've caught more dinks in my life than I can remember. I see no benefit in catching a bunch more. They're not hard to catch and really aren't that much of a challenge. Big fish, I've caught my share of them too and I can't justify pursuing them any longer as well.

 

I realize the vast majority won't do what I did. While I did it to 'protect' bass I also did it because I'm convinced that bass are going to crash and not be available in the future. It was time to start to learn new things now on my terms vs scrambling in a few years when the bass are gone.

I'm doing the same thing this year. LMB and trout; I feel like a fool catching schoolies with big plugs in the surf when bass are overfished. Had one catch a hook to the gills last fall on my first cast and I packed up and went home feeling like crap. Also didn't get a single blue last year.

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1 hour ago, Pickerel92 said:

Appreciated, but Nobody is gonna give up their passion just like comms are never gonna give up their “livelihood”. There are plenty of measures we can all take before hanging up the spikes and taking up stamp collecting.

 

 

 

I quit.Got thousands and thousands invested in gear that's just collecting dust.Used to use every vacation day to drive to the coast to fish them 60+days/yr and countless 12-18 hr days to make the most of my time there,not to mention the thousands of miles I used to drive to fish NY/M, Jerz,RI,and Ma every year.Done!

It's not about me and my supposed passion,gonna love it to death if ya keep fishin them in the state they're in...

 

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I'm gonna throw a hypothetical out here, particularly for those of us in N.J.

If F&G came along and said that in exchange for a required saltwater license, the laws(i.e. fines, equipment seizures, etc) would not only be enforced, but the penalties would be increased, would you be for or against this? Also, the money from the license would be used to hire more F&G officers to enforce the laws. The license would be expensive, say $100.00 per year for a combo salt/freshwater.

Also, the daily license fees would also be increased to weed out the tourist who just want to pose for a picture with a big fish, before tossing it in the dumpster behind the local shop rite. Would you be for or against this? I'm just thinking along the lines of weeding out those who abuse the resource from those who are serious about it.

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5 hours ago, Pickerel92 said:

Youd have to throw block island SW ledge and montauk into that same discussion. CCC gets singled out due to easy access. Nobody scolds the guys who got on those epic block island and outer cape blitzes :) 

 

just sayin

 

 

The seasonal choke points in the Hudson an ccc are a bigger issue than oceanic movements that vary between seasons...but I get your point as well.

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3 hours ago, slip n slide said:

I quit.Got thousands and thousands invested in gear that's just collecting dust.Used to use every vacation day to drive to the coast to fish them 60+days/yr and countless 12-18 hr days to make the most of my time there,not to mention the thousands of miles I used to drive to fish NY/M, Jerz,RI,and Ma every year.Done!

It's not about me and my supposed passion,gonna love it to death if ya keep fishin them in the state they're in...

 

Thanks for being a savior to the bass. You are a true internet hero. :eek:

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Make WSB a protected game fish up and down the whole Striper Coast Federally.

It's should be nothing but a catch n' release fish everywhere.

You wanna eat something you caught?.....how 'bout Black Sea Bass & Tautog?

The Comm's can destroy another fishery.....they always do.

"For our discussion of kayak angling is no trifling matter but is the way to conduct our lives, nobody untrained in fishing may enter my house."- Fly's Plato

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We are all very passionate about our beloved striped bass. Nobody will be happy with the solution until we can walk across their backs on the Hudson.  Will we get there, no!


You can make arguments to target other species and leave the bass alone, guess what your still killing fish. Trout, handle them you remove the slime. LMB how many choke a lure? How many short fluke die because someone wasn’t paying attention? 
There will always be mortality with any C&R fishing

 

The best I can do for now and been doing for years is release all my legal fish. It’s more than likely a wash when it comes to release mortality of my total catch.

 

It’s the “I got to eat fish” mentality that has to change on the rec side. If you really must eat some fish go to the market and buy some. The commercial guys did their work for you. In the long run it’s more cost effective to buy a piece of fish than to spend tens of thousands of $ on boats, gas, and gear! For the price of a Super Strike plug you can get a pound of filet.

 

 

 

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Lots of opinions here. Its aggravating to see the differences in laws from state to state. When we had a slot system here it was 22" to 26" or one over 40. I always had a fish to eat if I wanted and caught more big ones than I have in the last 3 or 4 years. I am in Maine and fish the Kennebec, Androscoggin and few other places. It's gone to **** the last 3 years. I have not seen a fish bigger than 26 or 27. 

 

It just makes sense to me to have a slot. The snook and Red fishing in Florida is fantastic and they have had slots for years. Leave the breeders. Mid sized fish are better anyway.

But what do I know just an old salt from Maine.

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2 hours ago, LowEnd said:

We are all very passionate about our beloved striped bass. Nobody will be happy with the solution until we can walk across their backs on the Hudson.  Will we get there, no!


You can make arguments to target other species and leave the bass alone, guess what your still killing fish. Trout, handle them you remove the slime. LMB how many choke a lure? How many short fluke die because someone wasn’t paying attention? 
There will always be mortality with any C&R fishing

 

The best I can do for now and been doing for years is release all my legal fish. It’s more than likely a wash when it comes to release mortality of my total catch.

 

It’s the “I got to eat fish” mentality that has to change on the rec side. If you really must eat some fish go to the market and buy some. The commercial guys did their work for you. In the long run it’s more cost effective to buy a piece of fish than to spend tens of thousands of $ on boats, gas, and gear! For the price of a Super Strike plug you can get a pound of filet.

 

 

 

I agree except for the fish market part. If you want fish to eat then target abundant species like scup and sea bass. It’s more sustainable to catch it yourself on hook and line than to support the draggers that are killing tons of bycatch and destroying the sea floor. 

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2 hours ago, Cavitation said:

Lots of opinions here. Its aggravating to see the differences in laws from state to state. When we had a slot system here it was 22" to 26" or one over 40. I always had a fish to eat if I wanted and caught more big ones than I have in the last 3 or 4 years. I am in Maine and fish the Kennebec, Androscoggin and few other places. It's gone to **** the last 3 years. I have not seen a fish bigger than 26 or 27. 

 

It just makes sense to me to have a slot. The snook and Red fishing in Florida is fantastic and they have had slots for years. Leave the breeders. Mid sized fish are better anyway.

But what do I know just an old salt from Maine.

It really should be the same size limits coast wide g go or both recs and comms. It makes no sense to allow a fish that has to be released by one group to later be kept by another. Way back when CT had a high minimum length (I think 35”) guys would would drive up to Maine so that they could keep the smaller fish like you mentioned which were easier to catch. 

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18 hours ago, trwhite said:

I'm doing the same thing this year. LMB and trout; I feel like a fool catching schoolies with big plugs in the surf when bass are overfished. Had one catch a hook to the gills last fall on my first cast and I packed up and went home feeling like crap. Also didn't get a single blue last year.

That's important too. I haven't caught many blues that last few years as well, none for all practical purposes. Weakies are worse. The last time that I even saw one was ~6 years ago. Those were fish that would be good targets in the middle of the summer when bass were more scarce. 

 

There's not really much to fish for is you're a shore based fisherman in the NE.

ASMFC - Destroying public resources and fisheries one stock at a time since 1942.

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11 hours ago, LowEnd said:

We are all very passionate about our beloved striped bass. Nobody will be happy with the solution until we can walk across their backs on the Hudson.  Will we get there, no!


You can make arguments to target other species and leave the bass alone, guess what your still killing fish. Trout, handle them you remove the slime. LMB how many choke a lure? How many short fluke die because someone wasn’t paying attention? 
There will always be mortality with any C&R fishing

 

The best I can do for now and been doing for years is release all my legal fish. It’s more than likely a wash when it comes to release mortality of my total catch.

 

It’s the “I got to eat fish” mentality that has to change on the rec side. If you really must eat some fish go to the market and buy some. The commercial guys did their work for you. In the long run it’s more cost effective to buy a piece of fish than to spend tens of thousands of $ on boats, gas, and gear! For the price of a Super Strike plug you can get a pound of filet.

 

 

 

Of course there is but those fisheries are in decent shape and can handle the pressure. Plus, C&R is standard for LMB and well in grained in trout (not talking about the put/take stocking fish). So again, there will always be mort even in C&R fisheries but it's automatically less that catch and kill fisheries.

ASMFC - Destroying public resources and fisheries one stock at a time since 1942.

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12 hours ago, LowEnd said:

We are all very passionate about our beloved striped bass. Nobody will be happy with the solution until we can walk across their backs on the Hudson.  Will we get there, no!


You can make arguments to target other species and leave the bass alone, guess what your still killing fish. Trout, handle them you remove the slime. LMB how many choke a lure? How many short fluke die because someone wasn’t paying attention? 
There will always be mortality with any C&R fishing

 

The best I can do for now and been doing for years is release all my legal fish. It’s more than likely a wash when it comes to release mortality of my total catch.

 

It’s the “I got to eat fish” mentality that has to change on the rec side. If you really must eat some fish go to the market and buy some. The commercial guys did their work for you. In the long run it’s more cost effective to buy a piece of fish than to spend tens of thousands of $ on boats, gas, and gear! For the price of a Super Strike plug you can get a pound of filet.

 

 

 

Difference is trout and lmb are stocked fish. We can't just restock striped bass into the ocean after we wipe them out year after year. I'm still going to fish for C&R stripers but just not as much as I used to. Just need to ease off the pressure on them for a bit and they will come back like they have in the past.

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