good luck

FIND ANOTHER RANT OR RAGE, WE'VE BEEN THROUGH BEFORE....:fury:THANK YOU

:lurk:

Freedom of speech!
 

And NOTHING has been done...

If YOU don't want to fish it then don't, If YOU want to send them angry e-mails then type away, if YOU want to boycott "On the Water"....then have at it.

Last time I looked the Striper Cup wasn't against the law.....so if Fisherman want to particpate in it they are well within their rights. If clubs want to field a team then that, also, is well within their rights.....so don't question anybody's "Stones" because a club has members that want to fish it.

I'm REALLY starting to get tired of everybody else's personal preferences being shoved in my face.

Bottom Line.....If You Don't Like it, Don't Fish it....

AMEN !

No such thing as freedom of speech on a privately owned forum.

Like I said in a previous thread.

I believe it is possible to sign up for and fish this tournament as a responsible angler that cares about the fishery. Most people that sign up to fish the Striper Cup on this site will not even weigh in any fish. Plus I think that those that do will do it in a responsible way to avoid the unnecessary killing of a fish that will not count at a later date.

Responsible fishermen that care about the resource will behave that way whether they fish a tournament or not. Fishermen that do not care for the resource will behave the same way whether they fish the tournament or not as well.

I truly believe that most (but not all) fishermen that catch a fish worthy of getting a prize in the Striper Cup would most likely keep that fish anyway. Again, not all, but most.

Nice concept;if it weren't for ideas such as this we would be funding the Royal Wedding.

F the naysayers and follow your conscience.

What you should be saying is ban the gill netting of stripers in the Chesapeake and ban all gill netting along the east coast, which would make a lot of sense. Thousands of stripers are discarded for up grading when gill netting the Chesapeake Bay area.

And you want to blame the striper club :smash:

Don't go, work a solution.

Advocate for your position. You can borrow my soapbox.

I totally agree. In fact when I renued my subscription to on the water. I expressed concern with the tournament. Yes keeping big stripers is not illegal. However with the many problems in regard to striper reproduction (see the dismal spawning numbers in the Chesapeake as recorded by the set of Maryland). In my humble opinion any tournament that encourages killing large striped bass for prizes sends the wrong message. I urge on the water to do the right thing take the bass out of the cup and promote responsible stewardship of the resource that we all love. Thirty years ago we came extremely close to killing off the bass. This time we might not be so lucky.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

amen charlie.

Isn't there a political forum? They one I don't go in because I try not to get into arguments. These posts should be moved there once they are posted. Or move them to another pissandmoan forum or whogivesa#^&#^&#^&#^&whatuthink forum. It sucks having this stuff in the main forum.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Its fish discussion, while I may have feel that this tourney can fished efficiently (and I think we do), I won't squash the discussion and good natured debate in exchange for happy talk. Stripers or Scup, as long as it is honest discussion, its open. As for S-B fishing the cup, that is an annual decision. This year we are in. Next year, depends on stock assessments, regulations, and anything OTW may do to further reduce impact on the fish.

westport mafia has a good point there
cuz it's happier times are here again time

Yeh, but its about fishing. If it goes over the top (in my opinion it didn't) it can get bounced to scuppers or round filed.

Besides, today is April 15th. Symbolicaly there can be no "happy times" today :wall:

it's just that some of us who were around back in the 80's are seeing it happen right before our eyes AGAIN. some of us love fishing for the sport of it and are willing to sacrifice the killing for the benefit of the fish at this time. this is not a political rant this is a fishing commentary that belongs front and center. after all isn't catching fish what it's all about...no fish no catch.

So there you have it. Two side of the debate and no resolution to the ever increasing problem of the demise iof the Bass population.

Tell you what, this year will tell the tale. Let's see how many of the the "gray beards" have a banner year. 6 years ago I had a 1000+ fish year (caught not killed). Last year I had a 200 fish year. I am speaking of "keeper" fish which I consider 34" not 28".

Let's see what time brings us this year and, if we have another "down" year, let us reassess our positon supporting the CUP.

Well put. My position has been clear on this since I let my subscription run out when they started the tourny. I am more experienced now, fish harder, and have a harder time finding fish than I did 5, 10, or 15 years ago. That isn't the way it should work. There is a problem and we all know it.

Problem is deeper than the Striper Cup! Think big......not tiny! People need to look within and begin policing themselves and fishing responsibly........however I am sure most already do that.....its the gluttonous irresponsible pigs that are killing the fishery! I take maybe 8-10 fish a year for myself.........thats far from the 2 a day permitted which, if I did take those would equate to approx. 225 fish???? So....people should take as they need not take as they are permitted!!! I have no issue with a responsibly run tourney like OTW......what more can they do?? I personally do not care to participate in tournaments.

The state permits 2 a day per angler which is far more than anyone needs in a day.....start there and get it dropped back to 1 at 28"!

Or one at 36 - until someone calls you elitist for not giving the everday angler a chance.

BFL - :btu: Problem goes way beyond the striper cup or gamefish status or commercially exploitable. It's D, all of the above and tack on C^R habbits, environmental conditions in the Chessie, Myco, Bycatch (want to save some fish? Cut off the Great South Channel for a couple weeks in the fall), Poaching, Pogies Forever, Fishing the EEZ, too loose comm regs, too loose rec regs, gut hooking clam caught fish in 80 degree temps, 10 minute poses, kick and release fishing, list goes on.

I'm no scientist, but observation is a part of science...and my observation and experience from the last 10years tells me there are less stripers. There may be some big ones being caught, but those are older fish. There are many less small to midsize stripers out there. Everything from the trawling to kill tournaments are the problem right now. Because these things are legal, does it make them right? I don't think so. It is legal to be an prick to everybody you meet, but is it right? No! In the end you'll get your ass kicked, just like all the fishermen when there are so many less fish.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Another quiet May/June in Narragansett Bay will really be telling for me.

For years you couldn't swing the proverbial dead cat out there without hitting a striper in the 24" to 34" range at the start of the season. Long before the adult bunker returned that was how it was.

I don't have the years some do on the water (17 years or so really isn't very long relative to the cyclical nature of fish and bait populations) but it's concerning to see such a large fishery as Narragansett Bay get so quiet.

There's still fish of course, but it's very different compared to anything I can remember.

good luck, while you're at it see what you can do about high fructos corn syrup..thats some bad chit...

1 at 34" would be better. Give every female at least one chance to spawn. I'm not convinced that all 28" females are spawners yet. The whole idea of the old 36" limit was to give every fish a chance to spawn. It worked then. It'll still work.

I've never found undropped eggs inside of a fish under 30". I've found them in fish as small as 33", but no smaller.

Can someone pls send me info on the crashing SB stocks?

It is very likely that this year will bring the 5th year out of the last 6 with below average yoy index on the Chesapeake. Couple that with the large rec take + comms. + bi-catch and rampant mycobacter. in the bay. It doesn't take more than a few years to go from decent catches to depletion.

game Fish...
 

I started this post because I wanted to see if the tide has turned and sadly it has not. I removed the original post due to threats and personal attacks. If people want to kill breader fish because they have "the right" go ahead. The facts are clear, the stocks are way down so if you want to have a pin in your hat in spite of the facts go for it. When the stocks crash you will still have your pin,comforting thought...:smash:if the major power house clubs and orgs don't want to take the lead fine. Every decision has a consequence...