Rumors have it that in a couple of years they might reduce the size limit of stripers... If you know any thing about it reply :claps: :claps: :claps:

I wish they would raise it again for a couple years.

It should go the other way and make a keeper 34 or even 36 inches!!!

36" please

Why would you want it bigger

I herd it might go to 20

Itll never go to 20... much to the chagrin of southeast asian poachers everywhere.

Bigger minimum size = bigger median size of fish (hopefully) less people bringing home the schoolies..

36" minimum would be great.

another vote to bring it back up

...and back to one a day

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't 28-34 in bass breaders?

bring it back to 36"

Bigger please.

Slot, or 36-40in please

When the limit was 36, we were getting good quality fish, all largees.

36" and one fish please.

i have no problem w/slot limits for non comm. :shocked:

1 at 36' thats my vote :alien:

i thought this site was 18 or over?? guess that limit has changed too :huh:

a 36" striper is older than he is.i think.

Bring it back to 36".

Does anyone know what the best breading fish is? i.e. When people get bent out of shape when 50+ pounders are taken do those big old fish still produce or not. Are they like humans where after a certain age it just doesn't work anymore?

Bring it back to 36".

Does anyone know what the best breading fish is? i.e. When people get bent out of shape when 50+ pounders are taken do those big old fish still produce or not. Are they like humans where after a certain age it just doesn't work anymore?

Whats this, do fish take viagra? :laughs:

Striperboy, check you e-mail...


Eben, the age isn't hardfast 18, we have several members that are under 18 but they seem to have the blessings of their folks and are not 11 years old.

Kudos to the kid, at 11, wanting to join our group and having a great passion for stripers, unfortunately, that's toooo young IMO... I would not let my son hang around you riff-raff when he's 11 either...

so many darn questions he'll give bigfish a run for his money.
day one up to like 30 posts.
nice he's 11 and fishes, but this probly ain't the place for him?

John, do you still have the youth forum up???

show him capesams or fishaholic's avatar so he can witness the horror of old fishermen

Does anyone know what the best breading fish is? i.e. When people get bent out of shape when 50+ pounders are taken do those big old fish still produce or not. Are they like humans where after a certain age it just doesn't work anymore?

It all boils down to reproductive potential and fecundity. Fecundity is the number of eggs a female fish produces. The larger the fish, the more resources it can allocate toward egg production. Therefore, the largest fish lay the most eggs -- and they don't go thru the 'pause. But although a 50 lb-er may lay more eggs in one whack, it has lower reproductive potential, as it is not expected to live for a heck of alot longer. Reproductive potential is the potential number of offspring a fish can produce in its remaining lifetime. So...a younger, smaller fish has greater reproductive potential, assuming it will live for many more years, grow, and make more babies each year. So don't feel guilty taking the monster fish...think twice about keeping the 28 inchers, because they're the ones with many years of breeding and tons of striper babies in their future.

I wish they'd raise it and make it 1 fish per day. And... dare I say.... stop the commercial fishery :rude:

I wish they'd raise it and make it 1 fish per day. And... dare I say.... stop the commercial fishery :rude:
:claps: :claps: :claps: :claps: :claps:

:claps: :claps: :claps: :claps: :claps:

:kewl::kewl::kewl:

I wish they'd raise it and make it 1 fish per day. And... dare I say.... stop the commercial fishery :rude:
:claps: :btu:

I wish they'd raise it and make it 1 fish per day. And... dare I say.... stop the commercial fishery :rude:

How about catch and release only recreational and keep commercial fishing but limit the days and amounts of fish so the season lasts longer :nailem: :p

:hidin:

I agree with Bruce or Canalman either way. P.

In Mass, they added 1 extra rec fish and 250K pounds or so to the R&R comm guys. Personaly, I would like to see losing the extra fish recreationally, or maybe a slot 21-26 and over 38, plus losing 500K commercially with a take of 10 per day that would extend the season and bring the price per pound back up.

Bassbabe,

Thanks for that info on bass reproduction :wavey:

i would like it set back the old way 1 fish at 28in and i would be open to having a slot limit.people seem to forget we had a compleat collapse of the striped bass populations not to long ago in the mid to late 70's and 80's. it is too soon to be raising size and bag limits with this stock just recovering i say make the striped bass a gamefish it makes sense the striped bass stocks cannot support comm and recs at such a high level of commerical harvest also we should regulate the whole ecosystem including forage and natural conditions(pollution,run off and such) in the chesapeke and hundson the main breeding grounds of the striped bass

36" and 1 fish

while we r at it outlaw worms and chunk....I see too many 14 to 20 inch fish floating by my place on the river :nailem: :gorez: :liquify: :behead:

Had to reply here! Why in the world would anyone be happy if they lowered the size?? As it is 28inches is way to small, it should go back to at least 34, I would love 36....Why do people want to keep dinks! They should also make it a one fish limit

Hey! They are burning me in effigy on FFSW cause I joined this discussion. But the thought of making it a gamefish is just ridiculous. Just cause commercial fisheries for groundfish are F$%^@! up doesn't mean that the current bass situation has anything remotely to do with commercial fishing. It's fishing pressure in general and the biggie that everyone of the so-called righteous sportfisherman seem to conviently forget "LACK OF SUITABLE BAIT".
Duh!!!!!! Look at the canal this year so far, poor herring runs (decimated by sportfisherman I might add) The last time recordable numbers of adult pogies was seen around the cape has been ten years or so now maybe longer. Seen a whiting in the canal in the last twenty years? No. The commercial fishing catch is tightly regulated, christ, it's been since 1937 since haul seining was stopped and the bass is now recognized as the most studied, most regulated fishery in Massachusetts waters. We know how nay the commercials take yet any guess as to the take of sportfishers is just that, a guess. Giime a break. Sportfish status? Time to join the Stripers Forever crowd with thier junk science to back up thier claims. One over 36 will get you better fishing thats true but without the large bait that 36 inch fish will go 16 instead of twenty five like they used too when we had big bait. Can't see the forest from the trees and the debate goes on. What a waste of breath. Save the bait the bass can take care of themselves. :nailem:

Flaptail -- Word. That's all I have to say.

Did you guys already forget what the ASMFC technical committee did last year? If its the same this year you can look for the size limits to go up and the bag limits to go down. Last year they thought that we were overfishing them, but they wanted to wait until this year to get better data.

The prime breeding size are roughtly 34 to 44 inch fish. The larger ones produce less eggs per pound of fish and there are a lot more of the smaller ones. So in terms of the biomass, the 34-44 inch fish are the "workhorse" breeders.

Why do people want it to go up,so they get bigger and why onily 1 keeper

Conservation.
I'd like to see it go back to 36"/ 1 per day also.

Why do people want it to go up,so they get bigger and why onily 1 keeper

Did you read the thread at all? To sum it up, I think what they're trying to say is that we want more bass out there, and we want bigger bass out there. The way they suggest to do it is through raising the size and bag limit. I'd hazard a guess that many people here are more about the sport of fishing than the carnage (killing) or even the sustenance (eating). If you don't have to kill it to survive, then why not put it back? The fun part is catching it, anyways, not carting it home so it can smell up your car, and not swearing as you try to fillet it. :scream2:

also striperboy, they might just want the striped ones to be around long enough so maybe your generation, and the next don't see the demise of them. However, Flap is right as well... the bait is in trouble too, got to take care of what they eat, too.

I've onily caught one keeper my life so once I herd everyone said they wanted it bigger I was shocked...........

I've onily caught one keeper my life.

Come on now Kyle don't forget I surf this site...... :wave:

5/0

Kyle- remember with the bar that much higher it will be more rewqarding when you do get them...

Kyle- remember with the bar that much higher it will be more rewqarding when you do get them...
Exactly,bring back the real keeper.36'' :claps: :claps: :claps:

Yea I know you surf this site and I just got started but JohnR wants to kick me off for some stupid reason when you told me to go here..... :( :( :(

And yes I did get permission from 5/0 = My uncle and my mom :realmad: :realmad: :realmad: :af: :af: :af:

Kyle check you're PM's

5/0 = Uncle is getting ticked off

Does anyone else besides me think that there are better eating fish than striper?

They are a blast to hunt and catch, but frankly, I think they taste like muddy cardboard compared to other critters you might save for the table.

The best (non-battered) striper recipe I've ever had was at Lola's in Oak Bluffs (MV), but it was just okay.

Sometimes I wonder if bluefish and skate wings taste better!

iluvstots - Striper is very tastey not every day, but while they are around, they're on my menu a couple times a month . I gut and ice fish immediately, dry filet with paper towel, rub with olive oil, salt and pepper, hot hot grill 7 minutes first side, 5 minutes second side. yummy.

I'm not wise to the science of bass reproduction, but I like the idea of a slot limit, 1 fish 18" - 24", one over 40".

Kyle check you're PM's

5/0 = Uncle is getting ticked off


That is priceless... :claps:

Another vote for 1 fish and 36". I noticed the same thing as others have mentioned. It seemed that there were bigger (and more) fish around when those were the rules. There were 34 and 35 inch everywhere.

bluefish taste pritty good if you bleed them out and keep them on ice dont even try freezing them they only taste good fresh

1 FISH 36"

FLUKE FOR THE TABLE PLEASE

Sheesh... from the sounds of things some people want the fishery to return to the way it was, back in the old days or think its there now, which I obvioulsy never saw. I think that is an unrealistic goal. Gone are the days of selling fish to support yourself for the summer. I'm surprised that people even want to do it now with the price per pound fighting against the price of fuel. I think a lot of you need to "let it go" and realize that it's just not realsitic to think your doing anyone a service by fishing commercially... least of all yourselves. Am I wrong? I know it's fun and you're making some money while having fun, but it seems to me the cost would outweigh the bounty... perhaps I'm not correct. Like gamblers that believe they're beating the house, are you really "playing on their money" when you finally tally up the bottom line?

Flaptail - You really are googan :rude: ... did 36" fish really weigh 25# back in the day?? :shocked:

Flaptail - You really are googan :rude: ... did 36" fish really weigh 25# back in the day?? :shocked:

Well, we did tend to measure them by fork length back then ;)

What is a keeper? Come on a 28inch fish? Give me a break, those are way to small, they are the future I would much rather see someone take a lrge fish than a dink at 28 inches, Its almost embaressing to keep a 28inch fish. I have never considered that size fish a keeper to me they should be 34 or 36 inches and up before I would even want to mention it. Steve has said there are so many guys that go into the shop with these 28inch dinks , its a shame to see. As john said its so much better to get a fish at 36inches sure its harder but it is much more rewarding. The 28inch size thing was a disgrace, its a schoolie nothing more, let em grow!

The 34 to 44 inch are the "workhorse" stock, however they are much harder to catch than 28 inch school bass so, I dont think it will hurt the future to raise the size.

How about one at 34" and one at 44" that way you get a respectable fish for the table and if you get your Cow you can bring it home too.

the only bass i usually keep are the ones thatare barely 29 inches up to 30. They feed my family for one night, plus another if i make a chowder and they are safer to eat. I want to see a one fish at X and one greater than Y... leave all the 20's all the 30's and all the 40's.... take your trophy and take your dinner. look at what they did with the redfish down south- thats what i want to see.

Sheesh... from the sounds of things some people want the fishery to return to the way it was, back in the old days or think its there now, which I obvioulsy never saw. I think that is an unrealistic goal. Gone are the days of selling fish to support yourself for the summer. I'm surprised that people even want to do it now with the price per pound fighting against the price of fuel. I think a lot of you need to "let it go" and realize that it's just not realsitic to think your doing anyone a service by fishing commercially... least of all yourselves. Am I wrong? I know it's fun and you're making some money while having fun, but it seems to me the cost would outweigh the bounty... perhaps I'm not correct. Like gamblers that believe they're beating the house, are you really "playing on their money" when you finally tally up the bottom line?

Flaptail - You really are googan :rude: ... did 36" fish really weigh 25# back in the day?? :shocked:
the cash is good from the boat and the new rules are good.
I get the dirt from a few people and if i had a 20' boat I would be making doe to.

the only bass i usually keep are the ones thatare barely 29 inches up to 30. They feed my family for one night, plus another if i make a chowder and they are safer to eat. I want to see a one fish at X and one greater than Y... leave all the 20's all the 30's and all the 40's.... take your trophy and take your dinner. look at what they did with the redfish down south- thats what i want to see.
You know its fine to take a fish now and then to eat at 28 inches however I see to many people stretch a 27-1/2 to a 28 and justify taking it, I would rather them stretch a 35 to a 36. Its the mentality of it that I see, they take the 28s just to say they have a "keeper" not with the thought of a meal.

I'd like to see the recreational fisherman be able to keep 2 fish a day over 24 inches. I'd also like to see no commercial fishing allowed.

1 fish at 30 inches is more realistic.

I'd like to see the recreational fisherman be able to keep 2 fish a day over 24 inches. I'd also like to see no commercial fishing allowed.

1 fish at 30 inches is more realistic.

Problem wih 2 at 24 is that they are much more attainable and easy to catch. The typical angler is lucky to get two keepers over 28 a year, make them24 inches and a lot more of those younger class fish will be taken out of the pool. At least a slot between 20-26 has a fair amount of males mixed in as there are a higher percentage of males at 20 inches than 24, whereas females are over 90% of fish over 34 inches... I think cutting out comm fishing is rediculous. I thknk there is too much take commercialy AND recreationaly and that both should be scaled back. Unfortunately, if the biomasses of the various baits keep shrinking, it will all be moot. The problem is not the commercial or recreational fishing as much as it is the forage these fish feed on. Too many people feel that if they debate the size issue of Striped Bass, that their work is done, the size of the fish is just a small part of it. The important parts are not addressed strongly enough...

Slot limit.... and no commercial pogie harvest within 3 miles of the coast, fix the herring problem and we'll have a wonderful stock of fish...

John, why is everyone so fixated on the bunker? while its a main forage, its not the only one.I agree that the comm take of bunker should be scaled way back, I think bass adapt. I have cleaned plenty of bass over the last 25 years from both boat and shore and have found 80% of the time these fish have some type of lobster, crabs etc... in there belly. This year was banner for bunker in narr.bay however all of the fish I saw had lobsters or crabs in there gut, in fact there is no shortage of crabs! there was a recent crab hatch and there were millions of the tiny guys all over the shore.

Dont get me wrong small finfish are a staple in a stripers diet and I want to see it stay around and be protected but bass simply eat anything they can, flounder,scup, etc....I have seen years where the finfish forage was non existant and still the bass fishing was good, they adapt and acually prefer a diet of crabs and lobster. What a loss in bunker does do is prevent fish from being in places we normally see them, if no bunker in the bay then no bass.I caugt a bass once that had tautog in its gut!

I dont want this taken the wrong way but bass eat everything.Sure we do need to protect the forage but the bass does not care weather it dines on lobster or bunker its going to eat the same........

I dont like slot limits, granted you certainly seem to know more about the sceince than I do but that size limit encourages to many small fish taken. My final is 36inches at 1 per day and leave the comm. bass fishing alone

then what is the size limit for the striper commerical fishermen to keep? right now, they are allowed to keep 34 inches or above. so if the recreational striper limit creel is 36 inches and comemrical size limit has to be 34 or what? just asking.

if you change it to 36inches in coming years we will have tons of these 36inch fish which means more of a chance or some BIG stripers the bass will have a chance to breed and we will have more stripers. scale back the pogy quota in a big way and we will have a healthy fisherie.having all the states have the same regs will have a positive effect

I'd like to see the recreational fisherman be able to keep 2 fish a day over 24 inches. I'd also like to see no commercial fishing allowed.

1 fish at 30 inches is more realistic. OoOOoo another HERO! :shocked:

I would like to see it change to what we have up here in Maine>

one fish 20" - 26" or 40" or greater.

I liked it when the limit was 34" one per day. No one was killing 28" babies. I don't keep anything under 34" anyway and never take more than one. Eben, pointed out that one fish feeds a family and then some.
I was in the Thundermist Striper Club years ago and you couldn't register a fish unless it was 34" or more. Someone pointed out that at 28 a lot of guys stretch 27 1/2. I agree.

MAKE IT 34", one a day :claps: :claps:

then what is the size limit for the striper commerical fishermen to keep? right now, they are allowed to keep 34 inches or above. so if the recreational striper limit creel is 36 inches and comemrical size limit has to be 34 or what? just asking.
Joe:
I can't remember. I think when the 36" rule was in effect the commercial guys had to go with 36" also. Anyone remember? I would say this was 1991 or 1992.

I liked it when the limit was 34" one per day. No one was killing 28" babies. I don't keep anything under 34" anyway and never take more than one. Eben, pointed out that one fish feeds a family and then some.
I was in the Thundermist Striper Club years ago and you couldn't register a fish unless it was 34" or more. Someone pointed out that at 28 a lot of guys stretch 27 1/2. I agree.

MAKE IT 34", one a day :claps: :claps:

AMEN :claps:

John, why is everyone so fixated on the bunker? while its a main forage, its not the only one.I agree that the comm take of bunker should be scaled way back, I think bass adapt. I have cleaned plenty of bass over the last 25 years from both boat and shore and have found 80% of the time these fish have some type of lobster, crabs etc... in there belly. This year was banner for bunker in narr.bay however all of the fish I saw had lobsters or crabs in there gut, in fact there is no shortage of crabs! there was a recent crab hatch and there were millions of the tiny guys all over the shore.

Bunker ARE the stripers' #1 forage.Its what maintains them.They be eating lobster and crabs because that's what's available especially now that the Asian crab has become so prolific.

This year was "banner" for bunker :huh: ?I guess a few schools could be considred "banner" when compared to no schools.There hasn't been a banner year for bunker since the early to mid 80s.The pogie boats literally SUCKED the bay and surrounding waters dry of pogies in the 80s.

What makes BIG bass truly BIG is a steady diet of pogie.

Basswipe, sorry but your incorrect, lobster and crabs are there main diet, read nick karrass book, the sceinetific jargon is all there, during comm.season go watch them gut bass you will find crustasions all day long.

I dont know, there are plenty of bass around and more 50s landed at the island than I can remember, I am catching on a consistant basis more fish than I ever have and there not on bunker, go see a bass that has sucked down a 2lb lobster and see how fat that will make the fish! I have said before I have fished when the bunker were nill and still caught plenty, they forage around rocks "rockfish" no bunker there...........

So as far as a banner year? I am having one!! :hihi: :hihi:

Pogies are more important for the bass in the winter IMO

* look at the macrobacrteriowhatchamacallit disease that the bass get down there. they are lacking food.

pogies mean fat bass.

Pogies are more important for the bass in the winter IMO

* look at the macrobacrteriowhatchamacallit disease that the bass get down there. they are lacking food.
I agree its an important forage fish for sure, but once the bass get up this way, they eat whatever is availible and along the rocky coast of rhode island its crustations......

Perhaps a scientific paper will stop the bickering...

the following is a synopsis of the research they did, and the full paper can be found at this website: http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dmf/publications/nelsonetal2003add.pdf

might I add that Gary Nelson rocks my socks off -- he's a nifty guy

Striped Bass Diet and Bioenergetics

Food Habits of Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) in Coastal Waters of Massachusetts. Nelson, G.A., B.C. Chase and J. Stockwell. Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Science, Vol 32, 2003.

For the past 17 years, our biologists have studied striped bass growth of striped bass caught along Massachusetts and have noted an apparent decline in average weight at age. Like wise, striper fishermen have repeatedly reported the appearance of 'thin' fish in their catches in recent years. As a result, the Sport Fish Program conducted a study during 1997-2000 to address the issues of forage needs of the recovered striped bass population and the potential impacts of striped bass consumption on economically-important prey species. This MarineFisheries research project was designed to provide diet information of striped bass and to build a computer-based bioenergetic model that allows us to estimate consumption rates of striped bass for any particular food item, such as river herring, menhaden, and even the commercially- important lobster. We collected diet information from over 3,000 striped bass collected from the North Shore, Cape Cod Bay, and Nantucket Sound regions of Massachusetts
Striped Bass gut contents displaying different sizes of prey

We found that, in general, striped bass consumed mostly fish (menhaden, herring, silversides, and sand lance) and invertebrates (crabs, sand shrimp, and sea fleas); however, the amounts eaten varied depending on the month of summer, fish length, and where the striped bass were captured. Large bass (>24 inches) generally ate more invertebrates (mainly lobsters and crabs) than small bass (<24 inches), but small bass ate more fish (mainly menhaden during August-September) than large bass. Striped bass captured from rocky shorelines or offshore waters generally ate more invertebrates than bass captured from estuaries or harbors.

We also found that the striped bass ate different sizes of prey. Fish prey ranged in size from 0.9" to 19" total length, and crab prey ranged in size from 0.1" to 4" carapace width. Individuals of menhaden and sand lance were generally <5" and the three dominant crabs (rock, green, and lady crabs) were generally <3" . American lobsters eaten by striped bass were <2" carapace length.

Using the bioenergetic model, we estimated that an "average" striped bass of six years (27 inches in length) must eat about 16 pounds of prey to gain 1 pound in weight during June-September in Massachusetts waters. Most energy contributing to the growth of this age class comes from different fish prey during June-July, but mainly from menhaden during August-September. These results confirmed the importance of fishes like menhaden to the survival and health of the striped bass population.

The next phase of the project will be to estimate the consumptive impact of striped bass on their prey. This task will require us to estimate the numbers of striped bass residing in Massachusetts waters and is expected to be completed by summer of 2002.

." Large bass (>24 inches) generally ate more invertebrates (mainly lobsters and crabs) than small bass (<24 inches), but small bass ate more fish (mainly menhaden during August-September) than large bass. Striped bass captured from rocky shorelines or offshore waters generally ate more invertebrates than bass captured from estuaries or harbors."

I love it when I am right :hihi: :hihi:

I've always thought a slot limit was the best approach. Allow fish for the table , allow some trophys but protect the breaders.

I also think we need a coast wise limit , whatever it is. In Maryland , they take about 9 million pounds of tiny fish. In numbers of individual fish , it makes the RI and MA alotment miniscule.

[QUOTE=#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&
I love it when I am right :hihi: :hihi:[/QUOTE]

your right, but so am I. the bass are lacking all that protein that they used to get pre and post spawn. How many baseball bat shaped bass have you caught this year? i have caught a few and i always think that they were put on the atkins diet over the winter. You may be right that they eat lobsters when they are up here, but what about when they are down there???

pogies matter.

I caught a fatboy full of Tatoug not long ago. :hihi:

You know its fine to take a fish now and then to eat at 28 inches however I see to many people stretch a 27-1/2 to a 28 and justify taking it, I would rather them stretch a 35 to a 36. Its the mentality of it that I see, they take the 28s just to say they have a "keeper" not with the thought of a meal.


The problem is that people are taking fish home to show off and not eat or sell.

As someone pointed out (eben I think) the 28in fish is enough for a meal or two and is safer (from a toxin level). I perfer to keep a small fish once in awhile for a meal or two. I do not take fish to stock freezer.

I hope the length limits do not drop. I do not know enough to decide whether they should go up.

I do like the idea of a small (28-36") and a large (over 44") so that you can have table fare and still keep a trophy if you are lucky enough.

But the bait fish demise makes the most logical sense to me. If there is not enough bait to supply the predators, there are no predators. and the predators that are left are smaller, undersized, and not as healthy.

-IWK

I'm prbabaly not adding any value to this thread, but,,,arent there tons of juvenille blues (snappers I called them as a kid) for the bass to feed on? Wouldnt they be an available source of forage for big bass?

Jimmy:
I think they bite the bass when the bass bite them and then you have a lousy bite or no bite or.....never mind. :buds:

I think this is a multi-faceted problem.
1. Male bass comprise 50% of the population of fish under somewhere in the low 30s. There are very few large male bass. A 50/50 ratio of males to females is not neccesary for good reproductive success. This is the rationale behind a 20 to 26 inch slot limit.
2. The pressure on the Striped Bass fishery is historically very high at this time. They are relatively easy to catch, you dont need a boat or a lot of special equipment. (Don't tell my wife that I said that) Fish still die from catch and release and there are estimates that will scare you on percentages.
3. Shoreline developement and the resultant pollution has increased tremendously over the past 30 years. Thsi includes stormwater discharges into nearshore areas. When I was a kid it was not a requirement in Suburbia that you fertilize your lawn and make sure that it is a bluegrass monoculture. Now it is not unusual for people to have service contracts for fertilization, etc. This makes a percentage of the estuarial areas unsuitable for use as a nursery by any fish, bait or game.
4. We have become too effecient at finding schools of baitfish and being able to collect them.
I am sure there are other factors involved. I think a Maine style slot limit is the way to go.

your right, but so am I. the bass are lacking all that protein that they used to get pre and post spawn. How many baseball bat shaped bass have you caught this year? i have caught a few and i always think that they were put on the atkins diet over the winter. You may be right that they eat lobsters when they are up here, but what about when they are down there???

pogies matter.

Absolutely pogies matter.Its the #1 forage when there down in the Chesapeake.

I shoulda stated that in my 1st post.

Basswipe, sorry but your incorrect, lobster and crabs are there main diet, read nick karrass book, the sceinetific jargon is all there, during comm.season go watch them gut bass you will find crustasions all day long.

I dont know, there are plenty of bass around and more 50s landed at the island than I can remember, I am catching on a consistant basis more fish than I ever have and there not on bunker, go see a bass that has sucked down a 2lb lobster and see how fat that will make the fish! I have said before I have fished when the bunker were nill and still caught plenty, they forage around rocks "rockfish" no bunker there...........

So as far as a banner year? I am having one!! :hihi: :hihi:

I stand by my original statement that the pogie is the stripers #1 source of food.

This from a study done in Virginia by the National Coalition for Marine Conservation around the same time period as the Mass Gov. study.

"Why striped bass are starving"

1.Up to 90% of striped bass on the East Coast spawn in Chesapeake Bay.

2.The diet of large striped bass is 70-80% menhaden.Most of this consumption is of juveniles.

3.The Chesapeake produces nearly half of each new generation of menhaden.

4.70% of Atlantic menhaden are caught in Chesapeake Bay and adjacent waters.

5.The population of juvenile menhaden (age 0-1) is in decline reaching an historic low in 2001.

Conclusion:The resurgent population of rockfish is not finding enough to eat.
It could lead to a future collapse in the fishery.

your right, but so am I. the bass are lacking all that protein that they used to get pre and post spawn. How many baseball bat shaped bass have you caught this year? i have caught a few and i always think that they were put on the atkins diet over the winter. You may be right that they eat lobsters when they are up here, but what about when they are down there???

pogies matter.

ever hear of maryland crabs?? thats what they eat down there :humpty:

Pogies matter but it aint the only thing they eat, bass have survived much before us and will do so after we are gone...Pogies are important, I am not going to get into a pissing match here..Bass eat many different things and adapt well

This from a study done in Virginia by the National Coalition for Marine Conservation around the same time period as the Mass Gov. study.

Do you have the link to the study, basswipe? All I can find on the "www.savethefish.org" are those facts, but no mention of a study. I would be leery as to what information I believe, coming from a special interest group. Facts can always be used and omitted to support or refute a certain point. Not to say that I disagree with the fact that baitfish need some help. If you're looking for more information on striped bass or baitfish, I'd shoot for studies done by universities, and, yes, the government. Political action groups don't always provide the most accurate information, even if they ARE angler groups made up of people like us.

I don't know whether anyone up in this area knew what a pogie was before the early 70s. They just weren't around. Bass fishing in the 50s and 60s was pretty damn good despite there being no pogies up here. The irony was, as pogies began to become plentiful, the bass were going into decline.

Canalman, fact, yes Virginia they did weigh 25 ( 22 to 25 on average)pounds if you have no personal experience in the recent ( last 30 years) then you wouldn't know. No I am not a googan, googans only make statements like yours. Now that being said, the tremendous influx of baby pogies that happens to coincide with the study would only serve to show that that was what school fish are and were eating. Duh! am I the only one that remembers the giant schools of baby pogies we were infested with 3-4 years ago?MikeP.,I am sure you must remember in the sixties all the harbors of the cape had large pogies, the canal was inundated with whiting, especially in June, unfortunately we don't get those runs anymore. Every year the squid run on Billingsgate and Cape Cod bay was tremendous. ( I have seen a resurgence in Squid in Barnstable in May these last two years) Noting that in this study was started, as usual, by the feds, when the problem was already well under way. Of course they are eating lobsters and crabs, first off lobsters are everywhere in rocky terrain, hell they even inhabit channel walls in sand and mud having burrows such as line Nauset inlet and Barnstable harbor channels. But pogies are, if they are available in sizes other than peanut, thier preferred food.

Studys done on the low end of bait cycles will only show what is self evident. If there are only peanut bunker then that's all your going to find in thier stomachs. Remember these are done by grad students not someone who spends most of his life on the water. They have only the data they collect there and then and can only postulate a thoery from that. History rarely gets involved though it should. Kinda like the seal population problem we have now. They are protected but no one on the federal scientific side can say for sure 100% what the historical population was. :claps: I love it.

I've always thought a slot limit was the best approach. Allow fish for the table , allow some trophys but protect the breaders.

I also think we need a coast wise limit , whatever it is. In Maryland , they take about 9 million pounds of tiny fish. In numbers of individual fish , it makes the RI and MA alotment miniscule.
Amen,Amen,Amen

Flap, how many of us here even know what a whiting looks like? It's been a while. I remember jigging pogies in Wellfleet harbor in the late 60's early 70's from a canoe. Jumped out landed barefoot on the oyster shells and tooke the rest of the season to heal. If I can find it , I have a photo of rows and rows of pogeys washed up Bayside after an all-day blitz in Truro, looks like a silver highway from high water to low water marks..

Flaptail - You really are googan :rude: ... did 36" fish really weigh 25# back in the day?? :shocked:

back in the day the 36" fish i caught( and sold )averaged about 22-23 lbs. a fat one could go 25lbs. :humpty:

ever hear of maryland crabs?? thats what they eat down there :humpty:

The Chesapeake crab population is down 80% this year.

Pogies matter but it aint the only thing they eat, bass have survived much before us and will do so after we are gone...Pogies are important, I am not going to get into a pissing match here..Bass eat many different things and adapt well

i agree, bass eat what is in front of them, but I still stand by the fact that pogies are a superior food source.. Feed a bass pogies for a year, and feed another bass crabs for a year- which one would you think would weigh more, and be more healty???

thats all i got to say/ :lurk:

I don't know whether anyone up in this area knew what a pogie was before the early 70s. They just weren't around. Bass fishing in the 50s and 60s was pretty damn good despite there being no pogies up here. The irony was, as pogies began to become plentiful, the bass were going into decline.


Eben read above!!

In the late 60s I remember drifting in Huntington Harbor over schools of bunker and spearing them with a frog gig, chunking them for blues. You could always find the schools.