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?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

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:

60 posts from budding fisheries biologists who know better because....

been thru this once before...and see the writing on the wall. denial- it ain't just a river in egypt. also have been told by govt bio's that the error can be up to 40%. flip a coin and you would'nt be far off.

Stopping to put your boots on with a triple header of 30's going off =

Priceless.

Chatham sure has alot of bass.

that amazed me too. how calm they stayed. I got all crazy just watching the rods bend over. wanted to jump into my pc and set them hooks

Maybe, but what has that got to do with that video?

Well that just isn't the case. They are still seine netting at Oregon Inlet. They are legally keeping 16" fish in Virginia. It' the way the laws are enacted.
Listen, we went through this in the 70s, 80, 90s. It's commercial Rod and reel in MA. I remember a night in 1995 when 2 guys from my club, Thundermist Striper Club, came off the Back with 1100 pounds of bass from SHORE! The law says they can do it and the guys with the comm licenses are within their rights to do it.
I'm not saying it's right but there are other abuses taking place that make this pale in comparison. A case in point is the North Rip and SW Ledge at The Block right now. There is a huge bio-mass of very large bass staged at both locals. There are so many boats out there it's a traffic nightmare. The ProJo reported Sunday that there are large numbers of 30s, 40, and yes, 50s being taken everyday. You get a charter with 6 guys snapping wire with parachute jigs and you have 12 trophy bass dead. That times 30 charters equals 360 trophy bass dead. That's happening everyday.
The answer is not banning commercial fishing for bass. It's setting more realistic limits and better policing of the take once the limits are set.

A "F'n" men to that!
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I agree. I think a slot is the answer.





Regardless of legality, if you honestly care about striped bass and their future..that picture has to hurt to see. I went out to Chatham once with a "commercial" buddy just to see what the buzz was about. I still feel very guilty about it. Greed makes people do crazy things and the chatham circus is strong proof of that.

I agree 99%. The canal is probably structurally the best location on the east coast to target bass. Anyone can fish it with basic gear and knowledge and have a great time. There is a wealth of "general" information out there, from bike building to reading the water, when the big spring and fall push usually takes place, etc. As you mention, it's all been around for years.

My reply had nothing to do with the link to the story being posted here. I have no issue with comm fishing. As may others have said, it's legal and helps offset the cost of fishing, etc. It was certainly a epic haul and something to be proud of, if that was what they set out to do.

My reply was directed at the amount of information for sale on the other site. Fishing the canal can be easy and fun, if you catch it at the right time. Producing consistent results all season requires putting in lots of time and lots of $$ worth of donated jigs learning the nuances of the place. Exactly how far ahead of the hole to stand or cast at the particular stage of the tide. Knowing how many bounces your jig will make before you have to dump line so it slides down into the hole where the fish really are. I've not come across any book or post that gives up that detail. Seems like from the infomercial I watched, that's what you get, for a fee, from the other site. Maybe not that much detail but that's what it sounded like. There was a quick glimpse of a GGE map with pole numbers and shaded areas in front of it, etc. That's what I don't agree with.

I don't believe the forums are responsible for making the canal what it is, the information posted has done the deed. Kind of like guns don't kill, people do...”Spot Burns” are definitely not cool on most sites. I don’t think anyone here would have wanted you to post where you got your recent 50 (nice fish BTW), but we would all love to know.

If everyone who fished the canal had the information to focus their efforts only on the most productive water, things would be much worse down there. Nothing is more frustrating than watching someone stand on the best spot to fish a hole and have no clue how to do it. I’ve tried to offer help and most often, get an Ahole response like “ I don’t need a guide, thank you”. 10 years ago, you could just move to another spot, but now there’s most likely another guy there doing the same thing.

This is all I was getting at. I can tell from the accolades sent from many members here on your 50, that you too have put in your time. No disrespect meant here - just frustrated that it’s all out there for sale and surprised that more people aren't. #^&#^&#^&#^& hole was a poor choice of words on my part....

Mark

Dave paid a guide and used a sponge bob squarepants rod for that fish
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makes you feel like all your C&R efforts over the years to rebuild the stocks are just so others can rape it .. legal I know ,, just a crappy feeling . wonder how many of these young guys were around when there were no fish .

Anyone who is #^&#^&#^&#^&ting on the anglers is in denial themselves. For every fisherman who has a great day like this, there is another that is waiting to take his/her place. As long as the law and quota are there, you WILL NEVER change the fact that fishermen will be catching striped bass and selling them.

And, as law abiding fishermen yourselves, I find it incredibly hypocritical to call these guys name and #^&#^&#^&#^& on them for doing nothing other than following the law.

Here is an excerpt from a 2008 Mass division of marine fisheries publication.

During 2008, the commercial fishery for striped bass in Massachusetts sold about 61,076 fish weighing
1,160,122 pounds and kept approximately 4,255 fish for personal consumption. Total losses due to commercial
harvesting (including release mortality) were 71,773 fish weighing 1,268,542 pounds. The recreational
fishery harvested about 343,347 striped bass weighing over 5.5 million pounds. Total losses due to recreational
fishing (including release mortality) were 634,648 fish weighing over 7 million pounds.

The recreational fishermen releases (wastes) more dead fish, than the entire commercial fleet kills all year.

And here is another thing to mull over.

How many people will those 30 fish feed? A lot. And I'll tell you something else - the people who are paying $15-$20 per pound are not going to put it in a freezer bag and let it get freezer burnt until they finally throw it out, like some rec guys that would.

Commercial fishing allows people who don't fish to eat striped bass. Instead of "supporting your local bait shop" and spending thousands on gear, these people are supporting their local fish market and fishermen.

Saying that a rec guy shouldn't be able to go out and make money by doing something that he loves and is legal, is like saying that Americans shouldn't be allowed to decide what they want to do to make a living. That goes against every value that our country was founded on.

My point is that you shouldn't be taking it out on the fishermen that are following the rules. Take it out on those who are making the rules and those who don't follow the rules.

And just to clarify, I definitely think that these guys should have been prepared to catch that many fish and ice them properly. They had enough eels, they should have been prepared with the proper equipment to serve the people of mass fresh fish. If they were so proud to do so, they would have been prepared.

does anyone know how many stripers exist as a species?

Let me preface this by saying I moved to St Louis in 2001 and before that I fished the canal 5-7 nights a week in season. I make it back 1-2 weeks a year and go crazy with anxiety leading up to the trips- f'in crazy. I read anything canal related to pass the time, which I have a lot of when I'm not fishing.

I found a link that said something about top 10 canal spots and how to fish them, join for $1 and get it free. I'll bite. I get on the site, which is well done and good for someone who needs to know basic canal info, which you can find anywhere else for free. When I asked him about the 10 canal spot info he replied (and I have the email) "well, I was getting $200 for it last winter, but I'll give you a deal for $150." Get f'ed buddy! Seriously, it would have been one thing to say it's not available anymore, but asking for $200 in writing!

As far as the commercial thing goes I don't fault him at all. He's doing what he's allowed to do by law. If I could live on the cape in the summers and fish 24/7 and support it by selling fish and chartering, I would.

While there was definitely information on fishing the canal prior to the dot com boom, coming from the perspective of a guy that started right in the cusp of it when I got my drivers license in 1994 (the WMI board days 1998-2001)- fished it hard up until 2001 and then stepped back and view it as an outsider once or twice a year, it has got out of control. I firmly believe that msg boards, ect, made it the way it is and it will never be the same. I would venture to say that everyone reading this has benefited, but is now paying the price with plugs over the head, 5 guys at your rock and trash all over the place.