I will acknowledge it Jay. Step in the right direction. I know it
may hurt you and your dads biz a bit and glad your on board. A cut in the comm. take and a cut in the rec. take. All good and needed steps. So like you state we need to be happy measures are taking place. Some will say not enough and some will say too much but everyone will not be happy but at least the ball is rolling.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

maybe Patrick could come here and acknowledge he holds a commercial permit on his boat also
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Big jay. Thank you for your support ! I think some of us in Rhode Island have been hyper focused on only what is happening in Rhode Island.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

We are really all hypocrites unless you take all your fishing gear and lock it up for a number of years. Doesn't matter if your a rec, c&r, comm, charter, plug maker, tackle seller, interweb board member, club member.

The 9% release mortality rate does not discriminate, period.

Those of you that say you only keep a few a year for the table but c&r thousands have actually killed hundreds.....sorry, did I make you feel bad.....

Dead is dead.........it is called life and having fun.

When I think about it, I have killed allot of bass...........and so have you all.

So unless you pick up the golf clubs and sell all your fishing gear for 10 years we really talking about nothing.

Going to 1 @ 28 for a bit may be in the right direction to see where this is all headed. Unfortunatly, I don't think it will unless done ALL up and down the coast......and even this is a stretch. I put more of the blame on cyclical environmental conditions, gill nets, dragger bycatch, low inshore bait etc.

See you on the water.

No way you can make me feel bad about the C&R mortality, quite aware of it, price of business.
I agree that fishing kills no matter what you do, I just try to minimize what I can. I'd keep more bass if I liked eating them, I don't.





Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Blaming charter boats for lack of shore sucess is the new kool.
Boat fish don't count
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y25...9D8DF12E67.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y25...9DA7BB40EF.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y25...9DAEE7F6B1.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y25...9DB3E51377.jpg
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Actually saw one of those bags of puss on Wollaston beach just before it froze over 2 months ago.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I hung up my rods 2 years ago.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

BigJay - major Kudos to Mass for doing the responsible thing here.

As do people that kill what they catch - the difference is in the degrees. Do RI Charters keeping 2 fish, which slightly elevates, the total take, take less per person than those fishing recreationally? No.

Some charters may decide to keep just one or even none but it is better than two. I release 99+% of what I catch. Do you?

What tremendous amounts of money I do make on this site (trust me, it is not tremendous ;) ), some goes back in to promote responsible fishing practices.

[QUOTE=afterhours;1067165]And Ron - Charter Captains should be looking for a very healthy fishery as that benefits them as well.

A health fishery benefits EVERYONE that has an interest in stripers.

Well said !
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I didn't realize seals were a such a problem from NC to ME. I just assumed it was a lack of fish. I guess I am not seeing these seals storming the beaches here in CT; must be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Seals are way better fisherman than we. Any fish that had in their DNA to feed in shore has been wiped out. Cutting our numbers down will help the cause. We must do something about them! I haven't caught a dog fish, skate, fluke, flounder, sculpin, snagged a sand eel, seen a blue fish bliz from Shore , in years on the outer Cape since the seal crap happened. Just sayin

Trash fish used to be fun on a slow day for the kids on a hi-lo rig. No mas. Forget about getting a trophy on sand eels out there anymore. All those fish that used to hug the shore during the migration have been slaughtered.

And Ron - Charter Captains should be looking for a very healthy fishery as that benefits them as well.

A health fishery benefits EVERYONE that has an interest in stripers.[/QUOTE]



John,
Do you really think charter captains don't want a healthy fishery ?
This site is full of Hypocrites who say 1 thing and do another and there is lots here making $ off the fish.
This crap of guys are posting stuff like charters want 2 fish so they can sell them back door and we want to kill every fish possible is bull#^&#^&#^&#^&.

Ron - let me post this is in big and clear text.

Regardless if you make money off of them or not, whether you:

Commercially Fish for them
Sell the meat to others
Sell the Experience to others
Run a website
Sell tackle
Make tackle
Sell videos, Books, Artwork, jewelry or tattoos
Are a hardcore bass addict or you are a freickin beach bum with a passing interest in striped bass

The fishery benefits from having a better, thriving fishery with good numbers of fish distributed across all year classes.

As anglers, it behooves us to protect this fishery.

I am such a hypocrite that for 6-7 years now I have been an advocate for going back to pre-2006 Rec/Comm regulations, and then taking off another 33% of the take.

And yes, those numbers would require a closed season for recreational.

You seem to want every fish you can get your hands on - if not, then what do you want. What do YOU define as a healthy fishery?

When was the last year you entered SB in the On the Water tournament?
That speaks , with volume...
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

3-4 years ago?

There was increasing concern over the condition of the fishery. People from here brought it up one year, voiced concerns, and we stayed in - one last push with an option to go in or out the following year. The next year, we opted out and did not enter a team.

You understand that it contradicts your previous position about 6 or 7 years I hope.

Glad you decided not to endorse that tournament none the less.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Why do a couple of you keep rerunning this :bs: line? I haven't seen one post solely blaming charter boats. Let me make it simple for you. We are all the problem and 2@ for charter boats is bs.

6-7 years ago we decided to fish the Cup but made a consious effort to enter less fish in the process of participating. As things continued to degrade, we chose not to field a team. Watch, modify, adapt.

You seem to want every fish you can get your hands on - if not, then what do you want. What do YOU define as a healthy fishery?[/QUOTE]



"Healthy fishery"
Recreational guys/girls retire all their fishing gear and take up golf as some here say they are planning. When they get tired of golf and feel the need to go fishing, they book a charter !
That would be healthy to me ! :laugha:

Quote:
Originally Posted by big jay View Post
What are we doing to help?

We just took a 50% reduction in our daily bag limit. As a charter operation, that had the potential to hurt our business, but we took what we felt was the long term approach to managing the future.

30+ pages bitching and complaining, Mass stood up, took a big reduction, and no one here even acknowledged it.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device


I believe that was huge...i was told by a member at of the Cape Cod Salties that when it was announced at their meeting that the CC Charterboat Ass. was supporting 1 fish all modes it drew a standing ovation :claps: and I believe it was probably the crucial component to Mass going 1 bass without all of the consternation that RI currently finds itself embroiled in....