Moratorium Stories
 

Forgive me making 2 threads on the same day (my only day off) but being a youngster and knowing a chunk of the members here grew up and fished during that time when it was imposed, what did you guys do?

The one person that took me fishing for many years was a boater and he basically just Fluked, did some Flounder, and Bluefish blitzes.

Boating wise, I see options around the time that had to be imposed, but as a Surf rat, did you guys go on hiatus or just Bluefished (which to me is honestly just finding bait and cranking 007's or using poppers since those devils don't give a #$%#^ about structure and ambushing) since Bassing was forbidden?

Not many talk fisherman talk about what they did during that time except saying how bad it was for stripers.

went back to relaxing F/W fishing for 2 -3 years ><< in a couple of years Striper fishing was the best I had ever seen or Had
I was littlely [sp] running out of pogies on any giving day & these were all caught in the middle to upper bay.
& they were descent fish 20 # to 45# .

& schoolie fishing was all day if you wanted it ,you just had to know where to fish at what rip :fishin:tide & wind ><><><..

I had to take the fishing gear out of the boat because I,d leave to go digging at 5:30 & at 8 i was still f%^&*() around with schoolies // same deal on the way in .

Oh BTW /// there was a band on keeping //not catching :love:

by 1981 there wastn't much too catch on the south shore of LI,the bassing was slow to nonexsistant,fluking floundering codfishing were not good either their weren't many clams left,a good set of scallops was all there was.i packed my bags and went to VT ,skiing was great. looks like i will be skiing and mtn biking a lot more now.

I think a lot of bass hounds mended their marriages. ;)
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There were a lot of us that just kept fishing. Tag n release became a big thing as the research data was important. Stripers Unlimited became a focal point for Bob Pond. The Tri State Tournament went all catch n release covering 3 states to help gather info by catches,size,numbers and location.Lots of us just ground down the barbs an kept going. Fish size ,numbers, locations an so on were talked about freely to help get these numbers into the hands of the researchers to help the decline. Sometimes the fishing was great but those times were few n far between. Those of us that kept going did ok. Blues were everywhere with large stripers swimming under them feeding on the bunker peices from the blues.As far as the number of fishermen,well most were hardcores or oldtimers.Us younger fishermen chased the oldtimers to learn. we learned and landed some big fish.Just to find a new spot that held 20 plus lb fish was a very good thing. I never stopped chasing the stripers.

In Western Long Island Sound, where I grew up fishing ... our experience was much the same as what Ron described ... we still caught stripers during the moratorium ... as most of the fishing was live lining pogies - which were abundant - and when the blues were pushing them into the harbors, the bass were always below.

We also did a lot of plugging that yielded both blues and bass. The one thing that still good in the 80s were the fact that we still managed several tide runner weakfish, not nearly as abundant as during the 70s, but we always got several around 12-14 pounds on live pogies every year ... actually, this one fishing buddy of mine always seemed to catch them while I got the yellow-eyed demons. But it was nice to see those fish once every while.

I was freshwater tournament fishing on the weekends, I was lucky enough to have not gone back to the salt as of yet. When freshwater fishing became more of a job and I went back to striper fishing it was like Clammer said; bent rods all day if you wanted them. If we can't target bass, I think it will be time to sell the boat and pick up a small 16-17 foot V-hull aluminum and go back to some freshwater fishing, or just hit the links and F-fishing for a while.

we looked for bluefish, some great years fishing

Had good cod fishing then. Not now
Had good fluke fishing then. Not now
Had BIG blues on the back. Not now

Probably will golf, lift and shoot more.
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Grew up fishing the back during the moratorium. Once the 1982 year class started migrating the size limit was raised just enough to stay ahead of the growth. I think the limit went 24-28--30-33-36 or something close to that.

By 1988 there were a ton of 30-35" fish on the cape and everywhere else. Some nights at the race we'd get fish every cast for hours on end.

Interestingly, Mass was the only state that kept a commercial fishery going during the moratorium. That was good news for me at the time as fish money put gas in the tank and enabled me to keep at it for extended periods. Most everything we caught from early 80's to early 90's were large 30 plus pound fish. I remember a friend caught a 25# fish and we all thought it was the coolest thing we'd ever seen as there were very few 36-45" fish in the ocean at the time.

The 1982 class started hitting the scales around 1993-94. Our catch numbers went way up but average size went way down. For a lot of years 40# fish were the norm and became real tough to find and catch after 1994.
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I was 9 in 1982 but I would spend every summer on cuttyhunk for weeks at a time with my grandparents. This was my first introduction to striped bass and I would hitch a ride on a golf cart with a married couple on their golf cart down to southwest point. I'd watch them wade out to their knees in yellow foul weather gear and throw atom striper swiper poppers. They would end up with 10 or 15 bass.. All around 15-25 lbs and then cart them back to the town dock. Is get one that I would bring out to the boat for dinner. They made it look easy. I'm certain that if I went there now and replicated their technique, I'd be lucky to pick up 2 or 3 if any...
But, I talk to south county guys and they said at that time south county was devoid of striped bass... Nada. Sounds a lot like today.
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I'd love to know who that couple was. They were in their mid 60's to early 70's.
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Boy do I have a really good pic of a young Mike with a fish to make your eyes pop from that era. Bet you could stick your head in its mouth like a circus lion.
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^
Bob, I bet that picture is from the same day you and Mark had that mess of fluke.
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I wrote a story that was published by OTW in Dec., 1999
about fishing the 80s. Limit was one fish at 36" and most
of fish were under that. About mid-80s I ran into Bill Sales
and we toured the south shore hot spots. Until then I was
drowning eels in Canal at night. We started fishing together
and hit big fish (30-40lb) on eels. Finally Bill took his 50+
in 1988 and I took mine in 1989. I lost contact with Bill as I
stopped hunting stripers for the next 10 years. See if you can
get that back copy of OTW.
JohnP

I gave up salt until the early 90's (just didn't care that much).
Stayed in the fresh, and when I did go back to the salt it was basically a bait soaker experience. by the mid 90's I changed over to artificials entirely. I have gotten more than my share of decent shore-bound catches (which is why I like to "pay it forward" with younger anglers just starting out).

I am starting to head back to fresh more now as the fisheries are in desparate need of repair.

Used to spend my summers at Quonny Beach at the grandparents place. Sometimes we'd go out on the dunes from FD beach to the BW. Not sure if RIMS was around then or who owned that point but everyone went there? Bass were mythical to me. Never saw one and always heard the old timers say "you should have been hear last night". As a 10 year old I used to love sleeping out there and listening to their stories (many were from Hartford Surfcasters). During the day we'd fluke fish from the boat and catch a few monster weakfish too. When the weather was bad, we'd catch dozens of snappers in the ponds.

On a side note.... I saw the movie JAWS in 1980. It completely freaked me out and still does when Im in the wetsuit and swimming to rocks. Why my parents let an 10-year old see that is beyond me. thanks mom and dad.

The 80s were good to me... I was young and eager... the Plum Island area ( Mass) had a lot of big fish in those days.. I took three fish over 50lbs in 86... a 61... a 58 and a 54... two other "50's" were caught from the deck of my boat by other anglers... a half dozen other boats got in on the big fish bonanza too.. so did a handful of surf guy's... I remember seeing boats from the cape fishing our waters... the beach was lined with campers with new jersey plates.. ...the 90's were not so kind... I fished harder and longer.. tried new places all for little reward.. they( the 90's) made me a better fisherman and taught me to appreciate what I have...I didn't catch another "50" until 2004... I do see similarities to the way it played out back then... the big difference...back then I didn't know what I was seeing..now..I'm not sure I want to..

I've told all my moratorium stories. You young guys will be making your own real soon.

The moratorium wasn't until 88 or89 (I forget) and yes, there were no stripers in SoCo. There was a bait store at Monahans back then called Top of The Dock. One morning in 91 or 92 i caught 5 schoolies at Deep Hole and went to Top of the Dock and told the owner. he threw me out of the store and accused me of lying.

Ah Top Of The Dock. Brings back some nice memories. I used to alway stop there an work the ramp and the rock piles out front. The fall run meant running along the rocks between there an Hazard chasing the schools of fish-blues and bass.Long time back in the late 60's an early 70s.wouldn't want to try to do the same now LOL

That was probably Joe Molica. Ha!
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Ronnie--in late 60s youse was only 13!!

:rotf2:Funny!!! His name was Joe as I recall!

hey remember 1st Rock. use to be an epic big fish hot spot. Think Eben took a 36 and change there back quite a few years ago.

Yup it was nice havin family and some freinds in the Tri state that took me down there to fish.when i ist learned to build rods at 16 I would wtch how it was done there.LOL why do you think I'm the way I am now LOL

You got me thinking now. The 1st rod I used was a Gladding 7 ftr with a 300 on it that my grandfather let me use.Small hooks,perriwinkles that I broke open for bait an a rubber core sinker.Can't remember all of what I caught but I did land a nice flouner off the bottom of the launch ramp. we had it for supper.My grandmother loved the stuff. I got to keep the rod. LOL thought i was the best fisherman around. LOL. That was about 65 or 66.WOW way back.LOL

I did. On a needlefish.
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Did you ever fish there on a moonless night. Talk about spooky at times.Got some very nice fish there in the mid 80's on Atom P-40's . Color didn't matter as long as it was after dusk.

yes, I have. From First Rock all the way to Black Point is spooky. Lots of legendary spots like Bass Rock Road and "The Swimming Hole". Andy Lamar (God rest his soul) took many 40s from "The Hole" along with my late partner Gil Guillitone

One night a sail boat washed up in Nathans Cove on Black Point. Someone had died on board apparently. I got in to Nathans about 1:00 AM on a moonless Fall night and I swear that I heard a voice coming from the sail boat. Freaked me out! I bailed and went to the short wall in Galilee because there were lights there:smash:

I havent fished the swiming hole in years!!! that stretch of shore has a legendary feel to it. Had some fun nights at B-rock too. I mostly fished Newport area, but it always felt different fishing that area throughout the night. Had a spooky feeling. Coyotes helped that too.

Like at moonstone. I swear those rocks talk.

Agreed. It has an ancient feel to it. Like you're fishing where man has fished for 1000s of years.

I wish Eben would chime in. He knows some stuff about the old bass stands. I have stumbled on a few but he know a lot about them

There was never a moratorium, recreational or commercial, in Mass. They did gradually up the size limit from 24" to 36" over the 80s. You could still pick away at bass in the Canal and from the beaches. I caught some decent sized fish soaking fresh squid from Plymouth Beach. We'd go to the Vineyard twice a year, May and October. We got some bass on squid from South Beach in the spring. In the fall, bass were removed from the Derby in either 1985 or 1986, so we concentrated on bluefish. It was "civilized" fishing. Sleep in, grab a coffee and breakfast from Dippin' Donuts on the way out to Katama or Wasque, pack a lunch, then cruise from Katama to Pogue looking for slicks. Off the beach at dusk, dinner, sleep all night.

I always sucked at catching stripers, even pre-moratorium. I think the first one that I ever caught was like 8 inches long on a Kastmaster fishing for snappers at West Dennis Beach in 1981 or 1982.

I started really fishing for them when Mikey and I moved to the cape in 1995. Caught lots of schoolies, but no keepers (although I watched Mikey hook up with a good one that he lost at Nauset on an eel. I bet he doesn't remember that).

I caught lots of blues, though. Everywhere I went. I was like the bluefish whisperer. I dated a girl that did post-grad work at the Northeastern Research station at Nahant in 1993. I used to go there on the weekends. All bluefish on lures.

The first keeper I caught was in 1997 in Nahant. I didn't know how to find any bait shops, so I drove around until I found a Shaws in Lynn and bought some mackerel at the fish counter for bait. I tried to find my way back to the Northeastern place and forgot how to get there and ended up at Bass Point.

I was so dejected at this point, I just cut the tail off the mackerel and cast off the rocks like 10 feet above the water. I went to go grab a smoke and a beer and handed by buddy the rod (who I think had never been fishing before). Started mumbling that the reel was broken. I turned around and the rod was doubled over. He had no idea that he had a big fish on the line.

That spot did me well for the next 8 years. Had lots of fun there, especially with Mikey.

Always caught a lot of just keepers and most always put them back at that point, because I was too lazy to walk them back to the car.

Lost a couple of good ones there...also had some great run-ins with the local cops out there, as well. They were always hilarious...oh, the stories.

let's hear some of those stories Rick!

on the moratorium - I grew up spending my summers in Rockport at my grandfather's place - I never fished, but would spend a lot of time rock hopping for fun and I never remember ever seeing one fishermen out there. If you go to the spots I used to rock hop in the early 90's today, the white bucket brigade is out there most of the day soaking bait. Interesting...

Enjoy reading everyone's stories. I really didn't start fishing seriously until about 1995 so things were looking up then.

Ok, the first one was from the summer of 1997, when the Lynn Woods were on fire. They fire was under the leaves...it smouldered for like a week. Anyway, Mikey and I were fishing and Mikey decided to light a SMALL fire on the rocks (small...like two pieces of wood).

The locals called the cops and they came out guns-a-blazing. I remember one of them saying to Mikey "You'll be sorry when I drag your corpse off the smouldering rocks!"

There were no trees, no leaves, nothing around us even to burn. Just rocks...Oh well (Mikey put the fire out).

The next good one was I was out there by myself about 5 years ago, and there were these two guys hooting and hollering casting HUGE bucktails into the water and getting hung up. They were hammered. It was like 11 in the morning. They were really loud, and also both bald.

The next thing I know, I see some goth kids walking around on the rocks. I remember it being weird because they had a bike with them. Anyway, I see the kids and say "What's Up."

About an hour later, three cops show up and ask me if I had "a beef with the emo kids" and "threw their bike in the water."

I was laughing really hard at this point, and the cops asked me where my beer was. I told them I didn't have any, and then told them about my bald brothers that they must have missed on the way in. One cop actually had his hand on his pistol during this whole interchange.

OK, that's two...there was a naked photo shoot out there once. Not very professional. So many others weird stories.

We should start a thread with weird fishing stories. Like the mid-November night my partner and I walk up on a guy getting a BJ from a very attractive lady. Mind you it's November, about 25 degrees and here's this chick on her knees on a beach in the middle of no where.

Ricky, give us a couple more.

I once had an epic battle with bath mat. Thought I had a fish of a lifetime. Then thought it was a cow nosed ray
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