Hi Guys,

I hope you are having a nice weekend.

I just wanted to say that I respect and understand all the different opinions, perspectives and beliefs voiced throughout this thread.

I will certainly give some thought and consideration to all your comments. We all have a right to our own beliefs and opinions, which is of course A-OK with me.

Best of luck guys and enjoy the rest of your 2012 fishing season.

Take care,

Ryan Collins

Um what? :confused:

Fishing the Canal is easy, no one needs a map... all you need is a tide chart and a pencil popper. There are articles detailing how to read the Canal chart dating back to the 1970s and there were probably many more before that.

No one person or one service made the Canal what it is...

WE DID IT... these message boards did it (They do a lot of great things too don't get me wrong :uhuh:) but I know several guys in New Jersey who have Canal bikes... and I know they didn't buy a map, they read the boards, got hungry, read an article or two and went to take their piece of the pie. It's fisherman ego that ruins every spot because too many people can't quietly enjoy a good day of fishing--they have to shout it from the rooftops, puff out their chests at every tackle shop they see on the way home, post it on Facebook and, amid the flames and daggers, post it on a board like this one. It's one of the markers of our times. And when you look it, of course the Canal is a good place to fish, it's the biggest fish funnel on the east coast...

-Dave

X2

If one half the people that claimed to be heavy conservationists made comment on many of the addendum's and legislation that is put in front of us. A lot more would get done.

Regardless it's recreational anglers expect to take fish away from commercial anglers they have to show they're willing to cut back as well.
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Oh here we go again!

I hope that no one that has a problem with commercial fishing has ever eaten a wild ramp in a fancy restaurant because I cant find a one in the woods to bring home to my dinner table.

I have said it before and I will say it again if you fish and catch stripers YOU ARE HAVING AN IMPACT ON THE FISHERY in some way shape and form! Even if you are a "catch and release" holy roller!

Exactly.

1 @ 36.. With gamedish status...And protect the forage fish.
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congrats to the angler. don't blame him for the way the laws are. Maybe if more pics of boat loads of dead fish were put out there than it would motivate more people to get involved with changing the laws. Until then I will just wonder why I don't run into schools like that as I fish same area and see him often out there.

The answer is pretty obvious to me.

R U stupid? Bragging on killing so many breeders on this site. Go drive for Domino's for your gas $.

I knew I could count on you to keep me grounded:uhuh:

My biggest beef with all of this is that this is called a "commercial fishery". Yet, it apears that this is how many recreational anglers are able to afford their fishing habit. After the season is over, do they call themselves commercial fishermen?? Just my opinion, but this fishery should be regulated to the point that you must clamr at least 75% of your income as a commercial fishermen before you can get a comm bass liscense. Those are the guys who deserve to reap the financial rewards of the fish.. Not a rec guy who struggling to make the payments and dockage of his regulator.
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EXACTLY! And do you notice how many people complain on the internet, but when the time comes to attend a meeting or hearing to protect the fishery they have other more important things to do that day.

So youve been hammering 30-40lb fish for a ,month now. Really doing well. Keeping a fish herecand there. Gas is adding up, Not to mention bait and dockage, oil ect. You meet someone through a fishing freind. You get to talking about your success lately. He offers you 3.85 a pound for your future fish. says he'll buy all the fish you can catch..................Now the question......What would you do?
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This post bothers me.

First the guy is not "bragging" on this site over anything. He posted the original story on his own site for people who pay to know how he is doing.

Secondly telling him to go deliver pizza is insulting. He likes catching fish and people should be able to do what they like as long as it is legal. Commercial fishing is legal and the same number of fish will be killed whether this guy fishes or delivers pizza.

Thirdly, the recent large YOY class makes the argument about the need to preserve breeders less compelling. These fish have produced a big year class that will ensure the future viability of the species. At this point they become expendable in the eyes of fishery managers.

Like yourself, I am bothered by seeing so many quality fish taken out of the fishery.....whether it is to be sold as food or shown off to family and friends by some rec guy......since there is nothing for the next 10-12 years in the pipeline to replace these large fish. If we protected them (via use of a slot limit) and directed both commercial and recreational pressure on smaller fish I think the overall quality of the recreational fishery would be much better over the next decade (although there are valid arguments that this might also be counter-productive). If that is what we want, then we have only ourselves to blame for not getting it. Attacking people for doing what they like within the existing laws is not a constructive way to promote change. You need to work on changing the law, and if enough people share your/our views it can happen.

I hear you but it is what is allowed. The guys that do it and the guys that don't will never agree on what should be done. I think this will remain the case till the fish are wiped out and even then they will probably never agree. Granted it does help pay for the bills associated with a boat and fishing. There are all kinds of things I don't agree with, more on how it is run, like flooding the market and driving down the price, letting out of stater's obtain licenses, etc...but most of the guys I see in my neck of the woods during weekday fishing are not regulator owners they are older retired guys in semi crappy boats looking to make a few bucks. I think it all boils down to what is allowed. If it is allowed than I can't see many not doing it if they want to. The problem should not be with them but with the system. I got plenty of friends who deplore the fact I do it but like I say to them the quota will be met whether I do it or not, not that I really have any bearing on the overall take, so make it a game fish and I will live with it.

I agree. like I said above maybe seeing more boat loads of dead fish will motivate more people to get involved with changing the law.

Hey Ryan Collins,

I'm jealous!
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So let me get this straight??? I can do part time hours at, let's say Home depot, as a second job. Work 25 hours a week, probably weekends, so I can supplement my income to afford boating (which I'm not using because I am working weekends ). So maybe after my part time week I take home 250 bucks. Or!! I can hop in the boat with my kids, after work or on Sunday, sell 100 pounds of bass a trip. I can pay for the boat slip and fuel, use the boat and have more fun, and be with my family and friends.
How many fishermen you know make 75% of their income rod and reeling? How many fishermen you know claim all their income?
All imo of course.
We all know what opinions are like....

Commercial fishermen are commercial fishermen.
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There is a spot near the canal that something similar happened to due to loose lips,I guess a dude got a big fish there and next thing you know it was overrun with NJ plates.Freikin internet.

I was standing on the corner not doing any harm.
Along came a policeman that took me by the arm.
We turned a little corner, and rang a little bell.
Along came a wagon that took me to my cell.

When I woke up in the morning, I looked upon the wall.
The cooties and the bedbugs were playing basketball.
The score was six to nothing, the cooties were ahead.
I got so darn excited, I fell right out of bed.

When I went down to breakfast, the bread was very stale.
But that's how they treat you in the Hampden County Jail!
Hey!!!
Take that chit Raven

I can't explain this, but I feel more disgusted when I see a picture of a rec guy holding a couple thirty pounders than I did when I looked at his site. I understand why he is keeping those fish and in the market place it isn't a huge amount, compared to something like the salmon fishery in Alaska which supplies me with a dozen or so meals a year. I can't understand why a rec needs to kill big fish, let alone 2. Not meant to be a judgement, just my perspective. In the end it is all about numbers and the total take is too big.

just burns my @ss that theres still this "historical" fishery in Mass when seemingly everywhere else on the coast measures are being taken to preserve the stock. just because they always had bass to catch doesn't mean they are somehow entitiled to keep going..... times ARE different now

U R on the internet....therefore U must be a self proclaimed ----- :)

well said
 

what i was trying to say earlier

Hey Ray,
If you fish the canal and have a fish on I'd
be happy to cast a tin over your line.
If I had a boat I'd be happy to do a high
speed run right across you stern. Name is
Miss L. right???

It's hard for me to get too excited about 30 fish here and there after driving through miles of striped bass floaters off of Chatham; the result of herring boat by-catch.

It was the only time I've come close to vomiting on a boat.

FWIW, a pair of those trawlers can kill as many bass in one morning as the entire Mass commercial quota. All wasted.

Here's the difference between the true commercial fishermen and the goons with a striper license.

The real commercial guys would have those fished iced down and in totes.

As a seafood buyer, this video is a giant facepalm.


http://www.gifsforum.com/images/gif/..._bed_2_gif.gif

Striper should be treated as a gamefish. I doubt the 1000 pounds those guys took is a big deal. Then again what happened to all the blues in Narragansett Bay. There were acres and acres 8 years ago. And gogans galore fishing the #^&#^&#^&#^& out of them. Where are they now?

:uhuh: