When I first started fishing it was for dinner and freezer fillers. I was married, had a job that didn't pay squat, and Sunday dinner came from Nature. Nature also got me through the Winters. Conservation? Another word for Duty or Responsibility. Otherwise you're stealing from the planet. This rebound in stocks has been amazing, if you were trying to catch during the crash. In the OTW Cup, the cry of outrage at a two fish per week limit, the fishermen demanding it be one instead, has encouraged me that the direction of management in the striped bass is positive. Don't get me wrong there was a time when I would keep every fish in the Ocean, now ,though, I just keep what I need. Back to the subject, I think slots are the way to go. It may be complicated to some, but only if they're not future minded. IMHO breeders should breed, not feed. A tag for "Trophy" fish would be no more confusing than a tag for deer.

Hate to say it Zeno, but the prevailing mindset around my neck of the woods is, if it's a keeper, it goes home. :( Both go home if someone gets two.

I eat bass. I love fresh striper and my wife is a hell of a cook. My favorite fish to keep is one around 15 pounds. 35" or so. I get two fresh meals out of it for me and my wife and that's it. No excess, no waste. If I have to keep a bigger one because it's a bleeder, or I can't revive it, the neighbors get half. It boggles people's minds when they watch me release a 20 or 25 pound fish under their noses. "Hey mister, why didn't you keep that one? It was big enough" :doh:

pete, dz, clammer

i coudn't agree with you guys more. i've fished all over this country for 50 years and have zero fish on my walls not because they didn't belong there but because they belonged to the water. don't get me wrong, i LOVE to eat fish. take a picture and let the big one's go. you want the fishery to be good 10, 20 30 years on? don't kill the most sucessful of the breed today. duh!!!!! my 2 cents.

something that never comes up in these discussion is the fact your dealing with two complete generations now....those that were there before and during the 16" age who thought that the fish were endless only to see it crash and now know fish can be wipped out and for the most part take only what they can eat......

the second generation of new fishers who never even knew what it was like before and or don't want to hear or be told to cut back on what they catch because......it could happen again....will look at you like you have two heads.

how would one try to convince the new generation to lission to the history of the by gone days without being told it 2006 and get with the times ya old fart.

CS,DZ:

The crux of all my posts here is not to imply that there are endless fish and no conservation is needed. My feeling is despite the current harvest levels, there seems to be plenty of fish.The bilogists/scientists data(not used in the past) seems to support this view. The difference this time around is that there are alot of smalls(replacement fish), unlike just before the collapse when it was all super large(bad).The last thing is that our preferred style(surf or shore fishing) doesn't always produce a true representation of what's available out there. Jump in a boat like DZ said and really anyone can catch large in good quantities. That's a sign that the times are good. I personally keep less than 1% of my annual catch regardless of size and typically just keep the incrementally larger fish. Everything else is released.

Clammer: What type of inner tube should I try and how many #'s of air do you need to put in? Hopefully I can cast the thing.:hidin:

Hey Clammer. I knew Back Beach when it WAS good on the Back Beaches. That's where I met him years ago and we did have nights of 30 and 40 fish from 20 to 40 lbs. I don't see that happening anymore. I think the Cape downturn is due mostly to the seals. There isn't as many big sandeels as there use to be either.

I think the RI scene is still viable. You just gotta work for the fish. July and August have always been the "Summer Doldrums". Eels in the middle of the night have always been the ticket. So what's changed??? I think that we had a good Spring run (I know my partner and I did) and perhaps guys got spoiled. These are always the toughest 2 months. If you want large you just have to loose sleep and crawl the dark hours with eels. So nothing is different. I am willing to bet that in 2 months (Sept 20th) you will see tons of big fish being caught in the surf. It's always been that way.

first off i would have to say that anyone who has spent enough time on the water will tell you that just because there are a lot of fish today doesn't mean there will lots tommorrow.every fish keep today is one less tomorrow. i haven't fished from a boat much in the last ten years so i can't say how good or bad it really is.i do know what it was like in the 60's and 70's and i serouisly doubt that the number of fish between 20 and 60 lbs is anywheres near what it was back then.if the boat guys are doing as good as everyone says doesn't that give you an indication that maybe too many fish are being killed, idoubt that many people in the real world practice C@R like the guys on these boards do. i like to eat fish so i keep my share to eat fresh.i am curouis if the boat guys are doing well because there are a lot of fish to catch or are they just catching fish because of there mobility and abilitly to stay on fish if and when they find them.

I myself practice catch and release for stripers, but I would be happy with a slot length for those who want to keep some for the table. I have problems with those who kill for show-and-tell, but keeping one or two at 24" - 30" would leave those that make it past there to contribute large, healthy, viable eggs. I know and work with NMFS scientists who advocate this practice.
I agree 100% with the previous post that said that every bass released is another to be caught. A good striper is too valuable to be caught only once.

As several have mentioned, the boat game has changed SO much in the past few years in particular due to the widespread availability of great GPS units.

Anyone can eventually find the BEST spots anywhere they fish very easily. Just take a look at your GPS, find sharp changes in structure, park your boat near it, throw some plugs at it or pull a tube past it, and usually you'll catch a fish. Or just pick up and move to the next good looking spot. Even an every other week boat fisherman can catch big fish easily now. Obviously before GPS things were a little tougher out there.

I've spent enough time fishing off Newport that thanks to staring at the GPS and the fish finder I literally have almost square foot of real estate you can put a boat over memorized. Think I have an advantage over guys fishing before electronics?

There are many spots and small features that the GPS doesn't reveal and that is still partly what separates one angler from another, but overall it's damn accurate. In tandem with a fish finder anyone can get educated about the bottom of the ocean very easily.

Boat fishing is MUCH easier then it used to be and a whole lot easier then surf fishing simply due to the mobility.

thats not necissarly true unless you really mean just tomorrow. they do reproduce on occasion.. at any right i know what you mean.

Not all boat fishing guys are doing that great. like i said in a previous post. talked to a commerci guy the other day who fish from 2am to 8pm for 3 or 4 keepers. Fished with a buddy of mine who ALWAYS catches fish and is having a crappy year and other than a million dinks I have one 29" keeper to show for the year.

I personally love to eat what i catch.. Its my favorite tasting fish and would love to have enough for once or twice a month through the winter...I don't see anything wrong with keeping to your means.

Do you think people are wasting what they keep??

I disagree strongly, I think you'd find that the "new" generation of fisherman practice catch and release more than the old. Many of us begain fishing when we knew the population was in trouble, we never witnessed the massive cathches of the 60,70s. We know what overfishing can do and many of us have more of an environmental approach to fishing. I dont want to turn this into an old vs. new, but I believe your generalization is way off.

Was going to say something similar...a lot of the new generation is much more accepting of conservation in principal...we've grown up with it.

To be honest I look at the notion that anyone has the right to take fish, especially from a comercial perspective as quite absurd. I grew up in the midwest and watched the collapse of the "family farm" back home...it's not any different.

-spence

I see people in both groups that really care and are active about as well as those that could give a rat's buttocks about it...

I think one thing that often gets overlooked is that the majority of anglers on boards like these or in fishing clubs tend to be fairly to strongly conservation minded - for example I keep generally less than 5 fish per year - than say your average joe walking into the B&T looking for 2 three packs of frozen bunker and then going next door to the packy.

There are a LOT of people that just don't know ~or~ could give two bleeps. That is where it is important to get the word out to promote a conservation friendly mindset.

Fortunately, we have been having a very strong YOY index, ususally year after year - this bodes well for the future. Unfortunately, problems like general lack of forage fish, disease, polution, and excessive bycatch have a negative impact. I can't see how this tourney - as it stands - can have an even insignificant impact on the species.

As for Tourneys though, I recently had a long and interesting conversation with the fellow that runs the FLW Striper tour. Very interesting and even positive :eek5:

Guys, the fish are on there way, I have never seen the bass so plentiful down here in jersey, acres of them feeding all around the new moon and full moon, the bunker(pogies) schools are massive and the bass are there. I remember the discussion on the N.J. forums last year and the worrying, then we here about R.I. and the year they where having. When you hear guys down here referring to rats on the beach this morning or this evening, they were actually talking about 15-20#'s:shocked:

Road Trip!!!

Pick up me and shadow on the way through!

And there you have it.....big bait[fish] not crabs or lobster...they have it,we don't[on the cape] maybe in wareham, but not in the bay[after the mac's leave] or on the backside. so it all depend's on who you talk to in the different area's as to the stock of striper's...those fish in NJ won't be coming here anytime soon , if at all unless ....as John r is alway's saying.....SAVE the bait or you'll have no fish.

Hey, Like I said, they are comming temps. are rizing down here and it seems tobe slowing right now but we will see, hopefully you'll get them, it's been one for the books, think about heading them off at the pass bukaroos:uhuh: Find the bunker and they will come

Count me in

Most guys are NOT taking two fish per day. Most recs take nothing home or one large now and again. The guys that that 2 @28 fish so infrequently it is not important.

What hurts IMO is taking 1.2 million # from your 'hood in 4 weeks...and you wonder why the surfcasting suddenly sucks after comm season begins.:fishslap:

take the price off the fish and rebuild bait stocks and you will have all the quailty bass you want.

FWIW, to date, I have released 6 fish that were "pin worthy" and I could have weighed in but released, I only weighed in one fish that was not going to make it and I took that home and consumed it.

IMO this contest is not doing measurable harm to stocks. Also you are now seeing comm guys weigh in fish! Expect to see a LOAD of big fish every week for the next 4 weeks. These are going to market after the scales.

Wincheater, so all the bass that should be in NY CON RI and MAss are held up in NJ. i really hope that it is wall to wall bass every where in NJ other wise we are in trouble. i think you can't judge by what is caught. you can catch 50 fish out of a school of 50, that doesn't mean there are a lot of fish to be had.if things were the way they should be you would here of decent fish along the whole striper coast,not just one spot or the other.sure there are small fish, but o few bad YOY and what is left for the future?

Somewhere there is a reply about road trip in here but I don't see it, mentioned to head them off at the pass, but oh well! We never had fish this time of the year before, go figure. Temps. are warming up down here and the bight had slowed considerably!
Does it sound like 50 for a bunch of guys? Hopefully for you guys they just didn't go offshore for cooler water and are heading up!

Enough said.

L.i.f.i.v clean out your PM'S

If u would have seen the 10 acre's wide 10 minute eruption's of tens of thousand's of fish,Large fish.U would have a Idea what John is trying to say.There where so many fish here it's amazing to me that any where caught anywhere's else.I truly belive the better part of the chesapeke run is still in the area.We have had days where a 50 mile stretch of coastline all lit up.from sandy hook to seaside.I have seen them ball up just off shore an just pound bait for what seems a eternity.for some of the truely most amazing sites u could possibly imagine.I was listening to the Noaa radio this week said water temps offa montauk where 76 degrees.When we get a constant south wind an some deep water upwelling the water goes into the lower 60's this is near optimum range for the bass.Add miles of bunker an why would they leave.There's this strange higher than normal gulfstream bringing warm waters not far off shore.I would bet this is blocking the normal offshore roues to the north.The north winds in NJ bring warm shallow water the bass go down in 50-70 ft an feed on blackfish when the souths come back it cools they find the bait an chow like there's no tommorrow.These fish are mad, totally ravenous it's been a week since the last bit of mahem but I bet it's not totally over.
That said i could easily live with 1 @ 36 but there would be great opposition to this in the form of party boat an bait an tackle industries people pay to get on a boat they want some food for the table.Sometimes 36 inchers are not so prvelant in these parts.I would have no problem with special permits.but the public outcry would be great.It's also funny how lots of folks who where for the OTW contest are now having second thoughts.An as ususal NJ Is taking the brunt of it.What did u think the 30 lb page would look like.I was at the SWE on sunday an saw a few nice fish in a cooler.I agree letting big fish go is almost as rewarding as catching em.
Habs I need a proto pencil.

Nib, Give me a Call , I have them..................