the social media super hero bull#^&#^&#^&#^& has to end.

enjoy the fun easy fishing for what it is, but the "my crew killed it" "my lures killed it" "I'm the best fisherman in the world" just makes people look like the morons they truly are. the amount of dead fish was sad, one day people will realize how much damage they are doing to the population. when the ditch is void of big fish next year, they will wonder why ?

I was lucky enough to share some shoreline sunday AM before the flea market with an older white haired local named Jimmy, said he has been fishing the ditch for 40 yrs. super nice guy, we had a blast fishing next to each other! Don't know if he posts on the internet, but I wanted to say thanks for chatting with me about the tides/ structure, etc, i learned more in the hr listening to him then i would have all year long.

sounds like a good time:gu: but the real question is , how many switched to a green Jig:bl:

Dave I hear you the internet and all the pro staffers and want to be prostaffers sending there pics to a rod company bc without their rod none of this would be possible.lol yea ok ...This helped fuel the mad rush Its sad guys rather take a 2 hr car ride to get a chance to catch a good fish easily instead of putting in long but enjoyable rewarding hrs learning their home waters where they could maybe consistently catch good fish year in and year out. Every time I looked at face book a certain rod company had a picture of some talented pro staffer (lol) with a decent fish,not even a fish that would get a second look by most . Its this type of practice that has the newer guys running after any info they hear of for a chance to selfie it up with a good fish and hashtag the crap out of their photos . We stayed local and experienced a damn strong bite.I watched a friend land a true trophy largest bass I've personally seen. That's also the other part of the problem you do have to put in an unreal amount of time to find good fish. I remember when any good spot held some bass but now a lot of spots that should have some life are void or damn close to it that unless you can fish a ton to find those small isolated schools of good fish you have to follow the main body of fish when they pop up in the canal ,block , lis, or nj. Guys in the past followed the fish to the back beaches and block island in the past for a paycheck now it's for 5min of internet fame maybe 15 min if you get pro staff. The only positive thing I can see in this current blitz and the new culture of surfcaster is that all these product whores want is a photo and then they release the fish hopefully they survive. rant over Jason
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I honestly have left areas where it was too easy in the past- just because I didn't want to hook all the fish and come back the next night and catch a few more.... unfortunately the fish just moved out by the next night

I sure hope you're right- the reported massacre was tough to take.... I feel sorry for the fish sometimes

everyone has their arms up in the air about the last week in the canal, but in reality these fish are f@cuked every which way they turn.

yes probably hundreds of breeders were killed at the canal last week.

but what do you think happens ever year everywhere else?

at the housy all year? all winter? the hudson? the delaware and Chesapeake Bays...

what about the commercial quota?

what about "by catch"

just because you don't see it on Facebook, doesn't mean it isn't happening. this past winter/ spring some stainers emptied the housy of future breeders by the hundreds...

striped bass are #^&#^&#^&#^&ED because people are @ssholes, plain and simple

Theses fish are taken every year by Cape cod Bay boat guys. You just don't see up close unless you are out there and those guys don't want you to see it cause it will cause these kinds of reactions but it has been going on for years. In one respect be glad it was only 2 fish for the comm guys instead of 15 or the blitz would have been over way sooner. The rec harvest was epic and did make up for the limited amount able to be kept by the comm guys.
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how many of those are being reported as part of the commercial quota?

None of the rec catches are recorded. The fact the season is still open shows how slow it has been
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yes- I realize theres no reporting of rec catches.

I was commenting on the fact that the comm guys are supposedly taking their fish outta the Canal this year- albeit 2 fish at a time. but theres reports of widespread poaching as well-
so- how many are getting on the catch reports? is the MEP doing bike checks?

Poaching does exist but the poached fish are then sold and go against the quota the same with all these floaters. No comm guy is going to let a sellable fish drift by him.
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Had an hour to kill midday yesterday and wanted to stretch some new line, what a difference from the usual cluster lately.

where's all the exam-glove wearin' bait guys???

No facebooking/internet heroes.
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So just think! If the powers that be ever pull their heads out of their collective asses and make Striped Bass a gamefish (i.e. no commercial sales) and that blitz took place, think of how many fish would have survived to become 50s, 60s and even 70s.

Florida did it many years ago with Tarpon and Snook and now have a world class fishery.

So just think....If they banned ALL fishing off the banks of the canal how many of those fish.....................

Come on Piemma, it is pretty well established that most of the fishing during that bite was recreational since they have changed the rules from shore. This thread wasn't started on the Comm knock but just as a incredible bite.....

I agree the recs killed thousands more than the comm. during that week.
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Paul the com sales is the only fish that gets reported,,, unless the com guy takes them home and doesn't report them which most likely wouldn't happen, historical count will help them down the road...

I think the MA DMF can petty much figure out the 2 com fish take from the ditch via buyers reports... The reports for Monday and Thursday should give a good idea me thinks

My guess is the com take didn't come close to what was taken by recs.

Any how... Gamefish would work for me but admit I'd miss com season...

Tog is another story...... Going to "by permit" only soon....
Did I tell you I'm good at clearing land, going to be looking for sumpton to do...:cheers2:

I had the same thought....


I personally would rather fish 3 or 4 hours and catch one or two beauties than pull in a fish every 10 minutes. Kinda takes the sport out of it.

Well witnessed a whole bunch of boats that looked like a flotillia makin repeated drifts in the canal from keene st up to half way gate from about 1 -3 this mornin and heard quite a few fish hittin decks. Unbelievable that that that many had the cajones to say f it and get away with it. Disturbing that that many were able to get away with it that long with no patrol. Dumbfounding
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Are you joking, Mike? That's f'n ridiculous.
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Money always brings out the best in people.
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maybe they skipped on past the islands and landed at The End?

The canal cops don't come on til 7:30 or 8:00 AM
The EP boat only shows up at night for the Scorton bite
CG only on weekend safety checks.....

Carry on

4 trips from last Thursday to Monday got stopped by each on different days,,,
Had a stay out of jail card for the CG, boarded within the last 12 months.. :-)

4 trips in of 5 days and stopped 3 times,,, can't say what I really want to , but u can imagine,,, live free or die MF'r

I launched out of Sandwich just before 6am on Saturday morning and was shocked that at least 15 boats were within a stones throw of the Power plant, just outside the entrance of the Marina, drifting.... well within the end of the canal. They were there for over an hour with no sight of patrol. As I drove out I could hear some of the shore fisherman were not very happy and displayed their resentment, quite loudly I might add.

QUOTE FROM A COMMERCIAL BASS FISHERMAN:
 

"80 per cent of us...cheat". He included himself.

...and I'm sure this will bring "hell on wheels" But 80% of the Comms have regular jobs and the bass money is "play money". Gas, eels, booze, whatever. Not needed to sustain their families.
I speak from experience. When I was a comm there wasn't one guy in our club who was comm and didn't have a regular, well paying job.

Am I wrong about this?

You are probably 100% right piemma. But there is 100% nothing wrong with that. Lots of people have second jobs and hobbies that they make money from for extra cash and they use that for anything they like weather for bills or fun. We have hashed this out before on the site.
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A lot of the shore cheating stemmed from the reduction of the shore guys take to 2 fish. All that change did was cause even more cheating cause most held a boat 15 fish limit and it was very easy to catch 25 commercial fish each day of that week.
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It's time to call the "commercial" bass fishery what it is: a way for recs to defray the costs of their hobby and avoid paying sales tax on gear. The idea that 2 a day for a partial week, over 2 months, is the difference between staying afloat and going under, is laughable. Anyone who can afford the expense of owning and running a boat doesn't need to sell even 15 a day over an extremely short season. I'd estimate that only 10-15% of comm bass permit holders derive at least 50% of their income from the sale of fish. You want to have a commercial bass fishery? Fine, do what other states do. Require applicants for a bass endorsement to show their last 5 years of tax returns to pro that they earn at least 50% of their income from commercial fishing. The real commercials would enjoy a longer season, and maybe even be able to sell bass every day.

There's something majorly wrong with that: other second jobs aren't preventing some people from earning their living. Part time "commercials" are the reason for a short season and closed days, and really deprive true commercial fishermen from maximizing their earning potential. Making dog collars, and selling them on Etsy, isn't really hurting pet stores. The same is true of most other hobbies. Most aren't dealing with a very limited resource, and a extremely short sales window.

heres how it goes a lot now. Land 30lber. Run to tackle show. Weigh in for striper cup. Go back fishing. Catch 35 lber. Go to another tackle shop. As drive by dumpster tthrow 30 lber in dumpster. Go to different tackle shop weigh in 35lber.An on an on. Guys picking up dumpsters complaining of smell of several dead large stripers in many dumpsters around the Canal. See hats with several Striper Cup pins. MMMMM. Ad to this all the blue coolers placed along canal trail. No one owns them but they sure disappear quick when EPO comes around.
My point is catching big bass is fun. Catching and using them usefully is good ie feed family and friends. Catching for a pin then wasting them is a crime against the fish. yes the Canal was fun. Most have never seen anything like this season. Enjoy it but to some. STOP KILLI(NG THE DAMN FISH FOR A PIN OR A SELFY THEN WASTING THE FISH BY DUMPING THEM IN THE WOODS OR A DUMPSTER. Maybe is time for Striper Cup to go away. You know like the Scheafer tourney did.

Googan is as Googan does.
Can't fix stupid.
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.....and that's why I stopped doing the Striper Cup in 2013. I personally know of a 60+ that was killed for the pin and then thrown away. The Cup is outdated like the Schaefer Tourney was.

Sure they have a C&R. How many guys do C&R as compared to the guys that kill and discard breeders. IF you are going to kill it, for Christ sake EAT IT!

Part 2 started yesterday.
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striper cup can eat s*#t... with the state of the fishery it should have been a wrap years ago.

Couldn't agree more.
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what about the MV derby? Ive never fished it but was up there 2 years ago during it and the amount of #^&#^&#^&#^&ing googans kicking fish up the beach so they could quickly try to catch a bigger one was ridiculous. they claim those fish don't go to waste but thats totally bull#^&#^&#^&#^& no fish is edible after baking in the sun for 4 hrs.

They will put out the occasional editors comment about the importance of catch and release to product a dwindling biomass, yet promote killing for sport by hosting a yearly tourney. Hypocrisy
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I keep saying this and no one replies to challenge what I say so I will keep on saying it.. there are so many people making money off the blood of striped bass that we will never see conservation minded behavior until there is no more money to be made.
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