AMEN! Federal game fish status for the species.

How many of those fish will make it to spawning age, considering that MD netters can legally harvest 18" fish?

Recs can also keep two 18" fish a day most of the year, too.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I heard it was dropped to 16" this year :smash::smash::smash::wall:


DZ, that certainly sounds like the present.:(

one word- flustercuck.

By keeping 18" fish as MD can they are harvesting a lot of the males and not necessarily the females. Would you rather they take the spawning females (those over 28") or the males? myself I would rather see the males taken leaving the females to spawn. Ron

It already is. Most states are at 2 fish at 28 inches or greater, but any state can adopt more restrictive regulations (like NY) or use conservational equivalancy (like ME).

New Hampshire is one @ 36" or greater.
Maine is 1 @;20"-26" and one @ 40" or greater.New Hampshire is the only state to hold it's ground for one at 36" that it great,MA. Had the same criteria back in the nineties.
The should bring it back.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Ron, not to be a jerk but your logic is flawed. ALL bass are 18" at some point in their live. What, you think the females go from 17 to 22" and never are 18".

1 @ 36. If it wasnt broke dont fix it.

I agree,for some dumb reason RI. Was the first state to implement 2 @ 28" maybe it's just me but I feel that's going in the wrong direction.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

You should have seen the poaching and illegal fish taken during 1 @ 36" and 1 @ 34". My fishing partner at the time and I had a gun pulled on us when we challenged a guy, in the surf at Deep Hole, as he walked off the bar with 2 20" fish. No lie!

I agree, if we cannot get game fish status then 1 @ 36 will help. It won't stop the black market however.

When I was a kid, some people were keeping 14" fish when the limit was 16". Enforcement may be spotty at best now, but it was non-existent then.

Maine is one or the other, not both.

New Hamsphire is 2 fish; Minimum 28" only one over 40".
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Wow I just there spec's and I stand corrected, I had no idea they changed I wonder why after all these years.....

Actually, his logic is quite correct. Its a game of odds.. a female will grow to be a cow, while a male will grow to be only half the size of a big fat female. so, if you catch a 28 inch bass, the odds of it being a male fish are much greater than a female because they grow much faster. If a slot limit was in place, it would ensure that most of the females in the prime breeding age are far more protected than the males.

Maine has got it right.. also Florida's redfish regs are to be learned from as well.

Eben, if we were talking about 28" bass I would agree. Actually the discussion revolved around 18" bass at which point the numbers are not in favor of either gender. Because of the anomaly of males not growing as big as female bass, it only becomes statistically accurate after 28 or 30". All bass become 18". Not all male bass reach 30"

Been hard at it for the last 2 weeks. amazing how many of the cell phone brigade aren't out there cause they're not gettin any calls about this pole number or that. Wonder why. the night fishing is very lonely as there are very few of us out there.but I know us old timers have just forgot how to fish.You kids gotta start listening or all those VS,Stellas,an Zeebass reels you got to make you better fishermen are gonna be some expensive yard sale food or dust collectors. Us old guys don't use cell phones at night. Think about the reports from everywhere about how slow the fishing is. The water temp,lack of bait,wrong tide,wrong moon,bein a googan an so on can only be used as an excuse so long.

you're not that old Ron

I agree that all the fish are 18" at some point but from my experience most of the fish that size are males. I can not explain it but that is what I have seen, maybe it has to do with the fact that a spawner drops so many eggs at once she needs multiple males around to provide enough milt to fertilize all the eggs.
Even if a female at 18" is caught enough will survive to reach spawning size and be "protected by a slot limit" so the species can carry on. Ron

I agree with you on the redfish of FLA also the snook.
Also the male bass only live about 10yrs; whereas the "cow" will reach 25+ yrs. Ron

how the hell do you tell the difference between a male and female striper?
:huh:

If they drip like a faucet when you talk dirty to em,then you know you got a girl:love:

one squirts white an the other squirts little marbles LOL

I think its the way they smell.