who here would be in support of an outright ban on all fishing for stripers for 5 years? no one targets them.

I'd be in favor of a strict catch and release fishery. No take at all.

The things are so packed with PCBs and mercury that we shouldn't be eating them anyway.

That's a completely unrealistic notion.

boat or surf???

oooooohhhhh, good one!!

I say RAISE it. CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIng

Until the stock crashes again, and no cha-ching for years or ever.
that's the mentality that drove it into the ground the last time.

fail.

Don't blame the new school blame the old school
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

WHO IS THE RECREATIONAL FISHERMAN?
 

A personal friend of mine, Steve Howell is a trailer boat captain: Doubled Up Charters. He commercial fishes stripers in season; in fact, I host him with a bed and a shower whenever he needs as he is from Paxton. (I do this despite the fact I am opposed to the entire entity of a striped bass commercial fishery). His "take" for the season was: 37 stripers that went OVER 40 pounds! VERY FEW of these, and many other fish harvested by him were killed and recorded during the commercial season.

Tell me: Isn't the so-called Recreational Fisherman killing the fish really just the same Commercial Fisherman outside the Commercial Season?

Very very few so-called Recreational Fishermen have the expertise or the opportunity that Capt. Steve does. This is not a Recreational Fisherman! There are many many like him, and they need to be brought out from hiding.

some folks are just fishermen
 

bought out from hiding!?!? like they are public servants on the take!?!? they are just good bass fishermen,period. I find your post disturbing.....there's a million pound quota in ma......that quota gets filled by folks that are good at catching bass, thats all.....I grew up on the cape......you guys love to talk about rec. vs comm......I'm a fisherman period. sometimes I sell the fish, sometimes I eat the fish and sometimes I let the fish go.......I'm guessing your "buddy" capt. steve is the same way...........

hey rob~~

i believe that SRKT is referring to skewed/inaccurate commercial ###'s with respect to the coming increase in their Commercial Quota for 2011.

if the numbers are OFF and we already KNOW that they can be manipulated, then how is the ASMFC supposed to make legitimate regulation? AND i am certain that this has been happening for decades!!

my view is to reduce the take for BOTH! 1 @ 36" for us, ??? millions ##'s less for them. ALSO, we must Fix the Forage!! leave the bunker alone for three yrs!! just my thoughts,,,,,,,,,,

I am not saying this is what needs to happen, just asking the question. As far as nonsense, I am not sure about that.

You ask how striper stocks managed to survive before humans... Stripers increase , bait decreases; stripers decrease, bait increases. Fewer stripers= more bait.More stripers less bait.

Nature was fine before we effed it up is true. I am not sure how that is related to the current state of fisheries, as we aren't absent from nature in the present. We (humans) harvest eels, crabs, herring, bunker, macks, lobsters, flounder etc. Our activities also make the ecosystem less habitable. Striper numbers increased to record numbers. ALL of the factors have to be considered.

People say fix the bait, which I agree with. It isn't simple. The intent of the points I made was to show there are many possible aspects to management.

JD- when you say "nonsense" do you mean you completely dismiss the idea that a reduced striper population would increase the amount of organisms preyed on by stripers? That seems hard to substantiate.

When I say "nonsense", it's with regards to the whole concept of "kill more bass so the bait fish can come back" being beneficial to any fishery. Like I said before, nature did a pretty good job finding an equilibrium in the millions of years before man. I don't agree with your idea that "stripers increase, bait decreases; stripers decrease, bait increases". There are far too many factors.

Maybe instead of culling out bass to help increase the bait population we get rid of indiscriminate fishing methods like the trawlers and get stop companies like Omega Protein form decimating full populations of the bait.

JD- I think we are probably exactly on the same page. I don't think we should kill more bass either. I would like to see a 1 fish limit and reduced commercial harvest. As far as what the rec. size limit should be... I do think there is something to a slot limit which will target the take to certain ages of the population and increased male mortality, decreased female mortality, and decreased competition within certain age classes. What we know about populations is that more prey and less competition leads to healthier individuals and populations as a whole. The population in the Chesapeake is certainly exposed to terrible conditions. A smaller, but stronger and healthier population may be better able to thrive and prevent the collapse that seems imminent. It could lead to more big fish in the end. The scrawny, weak, diseased population at present seems just ripe for collapse. These aren't my personal ideas, but I have heard the arguments and I can't dismiss them.

The best evidence for 1 @36" is that it worked last time. I just wonder if it worked because the population dynamics were so different. There were hardly any fish around and few people fishing. Is it the best way with the current state of the striper population? I don't know.

Did you attend the ASMFC hearings? YOY numbers have been terrible relative to the number of spawning females. Up to 70% of the bass in the Chesapeake could potentially be infected with myco with an estimated lifespan of 5 years after infection.

The nice thing about nature is that only the strong survive. Without humans messing around, an equilibrium is always found. The weak die out and the strong get stronger.

I don't believe those numbers to be off and howv would one manage such a event with a fishery thats eyeballed by millions of people and citizens........

last time
 

imo....... most of u rec fisherman would not last a wk fishing for money. your the greatest when the bites on ,but hows your skills when its off ???? will u fish from dusk to dawn every day 10 ,12 hrs? trust me it aint e-z ,,,b glad if u have a real job.fishing wont make u rich . it will make u feel good and free but not rich.as i c it the rec fisherman KILLS 10 times the bass as the comm , if u flag wavering dopes would relize that you could help .stop pointing the finger of guilt ,, just look in a mirror ... chesse bay cond are a huge prob.thats it i,m done stop your crying its a long winter..:fishin:

are YOU SHEETIN', ME??

i would embrace the opportunity to fish for a living~~~
if there was a C&R Pro Circuit for Stripers!!
:biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:


and nobody is pointing a finger of guilt solely at anybody,
most of us are saying that there needs to be a reduction for BOTH!!

and i think the "crying" to which you are referring is FOR the AC Menhaden, who sadly have no voice!
why not use dogfish for bug bait? and leave the pogies alone, let them rebound for 3 yrs!!

i would LOVE to sea the return of The Great Silver Balls, INSHORE!!!
SUUUUX, that i can only read about that phenomena that used to be the norm. and, AGREED, we as a peoples/terrible stewards have done MUCH to destroy our beloved species' habitat.

certainly there are sacrifices to be made ACROSS the BOARD!! do you suppose that we'll EVER get Purdue, the CClubs along the Hudson, and the rest of the landlubbing polluters to admit ~much more DO anything~ that they are a huge part of the equation??

i appreciate your angle Stifftip, it is important that we hear ALL sides.
:grins: :grins: :grins:

I feel like a child now.

I have word from an inside source that the ASMFC Management Board has voted in today's meeting AGAINST increasing the coastal Commercial Striped Bass Quota. Just FYI.... :)

:).....it's a start.

It is a fact. The increase in the commercial quota was voted down.

good news (for once)

Except in Rhode Island and New York!

but that doenst mean that RI and NY can increase the quota does it? The overall decision was a no?

Overall decision was NO increase. Several states voted for an increase: RI, NY, DE, NC but the majority - and thus the final ruling - was for status quo (no increase).

Sooooooo.............does that mean the states that voted for the increase will not be increasing their quota?????:confused: Is it a blanket decision or by state?

Any solution that affects only coms or recs is just not smart. It will get beaten down as selfish by the opposite group. You have to include both in any solution.

To me , a reduction to 1 fish a day for recs would be fair. You can play around with the size but 1 fish a day is enough. You go fishing , you get to take one home if you catch it. That satisfies a lot of issues for recs.

Commercial also needs to give. I think its crazy that any form of fishing does not have to keep and sell anyfinfish they get as a bicatch. If you catch it in a net , it is almost 100 percent sure to die so you must find a home for it. This means a big difference in wasted dead fish and also a big difference in what's reported towards the commercial quota.

I also think there is nothing we can do about changing the way farmers a hundred miles or more fertilize , etc. Its too bad because its a major issue but these guys are farmers , not fisherman and they will not cooperate with anything that will drop the yield from their farms , especially the relatively small farms in PN where a lot of the high nutrient run off comes from.

Anyway , there are many specifics but the surest way to make sure your opinion is not taken seriously is to try to pin the blame and burden of the solution on "the other guys". Unless your idea deals with both Comms and Recs you bring discredit to your side and you are part of the problem when trying to get both sides to use the fishery responsibly.

no increase