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

maine has a slot and it bites!!!!!!!
 

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.

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:

yep......
 

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...........

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...

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".

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:

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