New slot limits for Bass

[slacktide]

It is basically a catch and release fishery now .

[Dunky]

Yet the commercial fishery caught the quota quicker this past year than many past years!! Decimated big fish on pogie schools canal to boston last year

[bob_G]

20 mins ago, slacktide said:

It is basically a catch and release fishery now .

I hate to say this, but no it's not.    I'm sure you see lots of guys releasing fish, both under and over the slot.

But the number of fish kept illegally is staggering. The tile of thumb seems to be, regardless of who many eyes are on you, if you catch a fish ify any size, and want to keep it, and your car is close by, that fish is gone.

 

[Turkeybacn]

1 hour ago, slacktide said:

It is basically a catch and release fishery now .

Good

[FoulHooker]

There is a huge class of slot fish this year.  They are trying to limit the amount to be harvested.  This is a great link explaining the state of the striped bass with the best available science . No dock talk.

 

https://asmfc.org/species/atlantic-striped-bass

[MakoMike]

Never should have gone lower than the old 36 inch size limit.

[Intrepid95]

20 hours ago, Turkeybacn said:

Good

 

x2

 

I'm ok with it.

[Intrepid95]

3 mins ago, MakoMike said:

Never should have gone lower than the old 36 inch size limit.

 

Agreed. I always thought 28" was really low.

[FoulHooker]

24 mins ago, Intrepid95 said:

 

Agreed. I always thought 28" was really low.

Its about protecting the big breeders.  I don't like eating striped bass over 34 inches any.  

[bdowning]

56 mins ago, MakoMike said:

Never should have gone lower than the old 36 inch size limit.

 

Many would agree, myself included.

[WorcBoy]

16 hours ago, MakoMike said:

Never should have gone lower than the old 36 inch size limit.

Ya beat me to it!!!

 

[HanoverStriper]

On 5/2/2023 at 4:38 PM, fondew said:

I don't like it.

I like a 34" fish for the table

[iputmyhoursin]

These regs are getting ridiculous. I keep a few fish per season and want to feed my family and friends, what's the deal? I wake up at 4am, drive a hour out to my spot and put in the the time, I should be able to take home a fish I worked for. I play by the rules, 28-35" seems reasonable, but 28-31? seriously. My assumption is that this new regulation is going to cause harm then good, a lot more people are going to poach outside the regs, some with clear intentions, others out of pure ignorance.

 

Ultimately the question needs to be asked is, how are they going to enforce this? There's fewer EPO every year, and the work force is as thin as it's ever been. Good luck...

Edited May 4 by iputmyhoursin

[mikez2]

I find it hard to complain about it.

 

If you're really so hungry you need to spend all that time and effort and money to obtain a chewy, Fishy tasting striper filet, you probably haven't thought it through. 

At $16.00 a pound, fresh caught local cod tastes way better. And you don't have to get up before dawn to get it.

 

If you're just doing it for fun, who cares what the limit is? Release them all.

 

If you just absolutely need to catch your own to eat, you couldn't ask for a better limit. You should be able to get enough to fill your freezer easily. 

 

I don't get the "there's no enforcement" argument. Why is it harder for the warden to measure a 31 inch striper? Why should lopping a few inches off the length requires an increase in wardens.

They all carry full sized tape measures, don't they?

[pogie_boy]

If the problem is really that there are too many recreational fishermen releasing too many fish that die... the only real solution is to reduce the number of fishermen fishing for stripers.
 

By that same token, you don't have to really worry about the poachers so much, they don't release anything anyhow.

But i believe what they are trying to do is to protect the 2015 year class of fish, which they effed up last year by instituting the slot they did, they essentially targeted the 2015 year class as they were right in the middle of that slot.   Those fish are now 32" long or more.   So reducing the slot to a 31" max should protect them, but at the same time allow folks to decimate the 2014 year class which is already sub-standard.

If they wanted to put a slot limit in place, it should have been 36 to 40" for everyone across the board.