Been meaning to post this, last week David Martins from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (Recreational Landings and MIRP) gave a presentation at the Stellwagen Bank Charter Boat Association monthly meeting. Interesting presentation focused on recreational landing assessments. The following are a few things he shared according to his data comprised from surveying and research his team has done:

• In Massachusetts in 2014, 74% of total Striped Bass caught were caught by recreational fisherman (70% of total Blue fish were caught by recreational fisherman
• In Massachusetts there was an estimated 2,041,244 individual striped bass caught in 2014 by recreational fisherman (I believe he said there was a +/- 9% margin of error either way so the range is 1.8M-2.4M)
• In all the New England states combined (including Massachusetts) there were an estimated 3,072,705 individual striped bass caught in 2014 by recreational fisherman
• There were 156,000 registered and licensed recreational salt water fisherman in Massachusetts in 2014
• There were 787 licensed Charter Boats in Massachusetts in 2014
• There were 52 licensed head boats in Massachusetts in 2014

David seemed pretty confident in the numbers above so thought I’d share with you all

How do they have ANY number of anything on RECs, there is no reporting of catch! Except for BFTs. They might know number of licenses period!

How do they have ANY number of anything on RECs, there is no reporting of catch! Except for BFTs. They might know number of licenses period!

According to him its from MRIP Access-Point Angler Intercept Surveys...so take it with a grain of salt

Seems like a bunch of hokum to me. These numbers even with the bass stocks are all guesses so it depends on what side of the fence your in.....
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All I'm tossing on here is what that specific scientist from Mass Fisheries is saying about the data he and his team collected...the only way to really know for sure is to require all recs to report their catches

Here is his contact info:
http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dmf/contact-information/martins-dave.html

Interesting there is no mention what percentage of the recreational catch and what percentage of the recreational harvest (as opposed to estimated release mortality) is accounted for by those 787 charter boats. They do have that information available.

My sense is that a large proportion of the Recreational catch and keep harvest, particularly of large breeder bass, is the work of the charter industry, which I consider a quasi-commercial fishery. The majority of recreational mortality otherwise is catch and release related. I do not think that very many recreational non-charter anglers consistently catch and keep large bass (not that they are altruistic, just that they don't consistently stay on large fish). Even allowing for the carnage that is the canal most of those guys are only getting a few big fish each year.

Sorry, I'm calling bull#^&#^&#^&#^& on those stats. Sounds like he was saying "its not your fault" to the charter association.



What exactly is it that you think he was saying "its not your fault" to the charter association about ? :huh:

Funny they never say a word about net by-catch. MMMMM Makes a body wonder.

Funny they never say a word about net by-catch. MMMMM Makes a body wonder.

The commercial impact/questions did come up but they said this was a recreational study only and only focused only on that aspect of the fishery. The commercial side they have much much more data on, the net by-catch...that is a different (and very important) animal.

When are they going to work on making sure the fish have enough to eat?

How do the fish not have enough to eat? Just this year alone from shore in multiple states I've seen big numbers of adult menhaden, more herring than ever, and a school of horse macs the size of a football field. I've also been fishing around terns and getting small keeper size fish that are probably on small sand eels.

Bait isn't the issue, IMO

There's plenty for a bass to eat to be honest it seemed when we didn't have macks adult bunker and river hearing was at an all time low there were bass everywhere. Maybe with less bass the forage has had a chance to come back...maybe with the increase in forage was the down fall of the bass....
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Come have a look what happens to schools of bunker in narragansett bay when they arrive. They get literally ambushed by Arc bait company with draggers and helicopter spotters...
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Narragansett bay = menhaden trap.

You guys killed all the inshore fish from the migration. How many times does a bass have to fall for the same old trick before it learns.
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You guys killed all the inshore fish from the migration. How many times does a bass have to fall for the same old trick before it learns.
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I've often wondered this, but why then do the bass pile into the Canal and smash pencils year after year?

Doing my part with the new regs:

Sunday I had a group of Landscapers that wanted Meat - took home their 6 fish and a bunch of macs. We released the rest - in past years, that was 12 dead fish.
Monday was a family of 4 - only took home 3 - that's all they needed. Released some more.

Good part - they both rebooked for July. I was really worried about the landscaping crew, but those guys were fine. They asked if blues would be around in July so we could stock up on them after the bass.
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You guys killed all the inshore fish from the migration. How many times does a bass have to fall for the same old trick before it learns.
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I have always felt there may more truth to that than not. From anecdotal observation by divers I know, seeing the same fish for a few years. ( Mutated fin so it was easy to identify )
To talking to fish scientist at the bass dog and pony shows regarding tagging data. Makes me assume that maybe bass return to approximately the same area each summer.
Who knows......
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Most likely ALL their behavior for migration behavior is inbred (in the genes) so the only real way for a fish to "learn" is not to move to some strange/unkown area due to fishing pressure but to learn the ultimate way: DEATH! The next generations of fish then learn to stay offshore during migration cause that is the way it has always been for them. Less and less fish are inbred to migrate close to shore and in the range of the dredded plug with hooks. With the canal it is likely a numbers game, enough fish make it through the ditch to keep the route passing from one generation to the next. You canal rats can't catch them all even though you think you do.

I’ve always speculated that having ARC bait remove the massive menhaden schools from the cozy confines of Narragansett Bay is more than likely very beneficial to the striped bass population. Menhaden make bass easy targets. To me if you’re going to have a Menhaden Management Area where the take of menhaden is restricted then no one including recreational fishermen should be permitted to use and/or take menhaden in that area.

• In Massachusetts in 2014, 74% of total Striped Bass caught were caught by recreational fisherman (70% of total Blue fish were caught by recreational fisherman
• In Massachusetts there was an estimated 2,041,244 individual striped bass caught in 2014 by recreational fisherman (I believe he said there was a +/- 9% margin of error either way so the range is 1.8M-2.4M)
• In all the New England states combined (including Massachusetts) there were an estimated 3,072,705 individual striped bass caught in 2014 by recreational fisherman


I call BS on ALL the above numbers, percentages, and margins of error. Those are guesses, as good as yours or mine.