WAS..market hit bottom...a glut has made them worth almost nothing now because the boats and farm's have brought in so many,,the market has no where to go with them......I just came from a fish market..bass $13.99 lb....bluefish $6.99..steamers $4.00...One thing fisherman will never do is get together and put a min. on what they bring in to controll price's...the price drops down,,they bring in more to keep their earning's the same as when they were getting good prices with less product.

As of July 26, the reported landings were up to 358,053 lbs. About 31% of the quota.

FYI...

As of today, August 2

571,791lbs.
50.1 % of the quota harvested.

That would be behind Last Years, I'd say the pounds are Down.

571,791 lbs so far
that is halfway there.

I bet the updates are slow and behind.

maybe they landings are behind last years, but lots of stuff factors in as to why.
I hope we are all not killing too many of the larger breeding bass.


I was at that free for all in August of 2000, great fishing that day among the 200 boats on that ledge. We got our 2 fish and got the heck out of there not long afterwards.

slip, that number is updated as of today.
and with the 34" size, big breeders are pretty much all they get.

It's been tough going for the Wareham/Mattapoiset/Fairhaven guys this week. Best I've heard so far was one guy with 15 fish yesterday.

Another guy ran all over CC Bay today and only marked a few fish that he couldn't get to hit. Said no evidence of bait in the places he tried.

talked to a naba this mornin...he said he's been everywhere offshore[chatham] in the rips..water temp.67 way to warm...said some guys are spending 12 hours for two fish....even he's giving up and he's one of the better comm. guy's.

He shoulda gone this AM.. saw a cooler fulla fish this AM that was on a boat that went out in the (trap line) slop this AM.. 7 over 48 inches, plus a few others... on the way to mkt. now...
a weather Front can make allll the difference :)

he was way out where he always does well...there at 4 this morin...so he must have splashed at 3am....refuses to fish inshore.:huh:

nice haul, but i don't think he's selling them today.

Or tomorrow. Sunday he can sell 5. If I were him, I'd just eat the other two, because they'll be crap by Tuesday.

Must be the black market Karl. Fri. is a non sell day.

well! he didn't which market...could be one of them places all those people go to eat dinner...back door market.

he didn't say where they was going, just that they was spoke for..
one of my typical carpenter/fishermen/painter/plumber/electrician/landscaper make a buck anyolway custumers... we do have two chinese joints in town too....

we do have two chinese joints in town too....[/QUOTE]

I wonder if they'll buy a seal or two:think:

I will probably get threats for this but....
 

Man,
What the ----? Why would anybody take 10,000lbs in a year. I guess the reasoning is that it is legal. I just can't understand depleteing a resource that has shown time and again that if you limit the catch the fishing improves.
I know science is behind the quota, well guess what the scientists work for the government of MASSACHUSETS!!!! the same state that gave you the big dig and Ted *^%)#dy oops no politics.
I am the farthest thing from a tree hugger(or kelp hugger in this case) but darn the commercial harvest hurts us guys who fish for the love of it.
I remember a post from last year where a lot of the names I see in this post were ranting about a bunch of asians taking shorts...well the commercial fisheries hurts the stock a whole lot worse.
For the record I am not asian and do keep 1-5 fish per season. So do each of my buddies and that allows me to eat striper most of the season.
O.K. now I'll take the flaming.

Tight line for the rec. guys:cheers:

The Mass quota is 1.1 million pounds. With a 34" minimum limit. All of those fish have spawned at least once. Unlike the 22" slot fish some folks are allowed to keep. The entire coast-wide quota for commercials is about 6 million pounds. Recreational mortality is estimated at 28 million pounds. That's a 4.5:1 ratio of dead fish in favor of recs. You could also focus some of your anger at the recs in the Proud to be a Gamefish State of New Jersey who killed more 30#plus fish in a 6 week stretch from June until mid July than will hit the markets in Mass all commercial season. You don't hear the Mass and RI guys complaining about not getting a chance to catch those fish that never made it past NJ, do you?

The biomass of striped bass in the North Atlantic is estimated at 40-50 million fish. Maybe 50,000 to 60,000 fish are killed commercially in Mass before the quota is met. Plus, the season in Mass doesn't open until the week after JUly 4th. Those fish off the Elizabeths, the Vineyard and Nantucket, and off the backside, aren't making the trek to Maine after that date. They're resident fish, not migratory by that point. So, the Mass commercial season has little, if any, effect on your fishing.

Go hump a black bear. :jester:

Great response
 

Gotta say I may stand corrected on this one. Thanks for not going over the top with your response. I had just seen catch rates improve in years past after tight regulations have been put in place. I guess that my thinking on the comm. fishery may be flawed. :claps:

Landings Data Reported as of August 9, 2006
Striped Bass
716,058(2006 MA Landings*)
1,140,807(2006 Quota)
MA 62.8 %

I still may have a chance.

Last year Quota was filled in a little over 4 weeks , Its been more than that now, Seems to be off this year.

$3.25 today:shocked:

Price of gas and poor fishing reports probably have a lot of the part-timers sitting this one out, too. Which is good for the full time comms.

a lot of guys are really struggling. i know of 4 guys that fished on tuesday and wednesday in the same general area. between the 4 boats, 2 fish in 2 days. these guys are good fisherman, which makes things pretty depressing.

a lot of the part-timers are finding out that its not always easy trying to be a commercial fisherman.

As of August 16, 2006...

847,175lbs.

74% of quota caught.

at this rate your probably looking at 2 more weeks, unless there is a glut of fish that shows up off chatham or gloucester.

Jeez, the guys I know are doing great. Limits, good prices,.... they say it sure beats not catchin' tuna.....

DMF passed the word down today...

season set to close :soon: thursday august 24.

get'em whilest you can.:gorez:

Price finally Hits 3.75-3.85, up from the 1.75 and under earlier in the season... quota gets filled zip boom bang.. now it's over..
hmmmm....

Rumour has it a charter boat out of the Harwich area was bagged yesterday by the EPO's, and the feds in the eez. Guess they followed him as he tried to run and chuck the fish over. They just netted all the bass and finally got him near Monomoy. The feds vow to make an example of him. Not good, not good at all. This is gonna cost him many many thousands of dollars when they get done skewering him.
Stoopid bastard. :doh:

Any more on this?

It sucks that these guys who earn most of their yearly pay taking customers out to catch striped bass are restricted to some of the least productive waters during the summer months. Bearse's is a desert most days in the summer and when you throw in 40 boats on the same rip..... But a few miles SE are some great bass rips, but fishing them makes you a criminal. Why? Because a fish swam over an imaginary line on a chart....

I know a guy who is honest as the day is long, got skunked on an 8 hour trip because he refused to fish in the EEZ, even though he knew there were loads of fish there.

Ok, now you can light me up about the rules concerning the EEZ :rocketem:

looks like all that b@#$hing and moaning about not catching fish didn't end up like everyone thought...

here are the final numbers...

1,109,195
97% of the quota filled.

How long did it take. Last year was a little over 4 weeks ,It took longer to fill this years quota, I wonder Why............

Took a week longer this year, probly because there were a few less out there do to gas prices and stuff.

Opened July 12, closed Aug 24. Total of 25 days doing the arithmetic in my head. Bear in mind that I've been up since 4:30 and have had several :gu:

30 fish per day and 5 on sunday this year
was it that last year?

Yes