Striped bass breeding size
 

Educate us.....

I would like to ask the question what sized fish are breeding size?

I do not however want to know the politics of it, if you would like to bring it up, please start your own thread!

In the past I've caught a 34-38” striper, I would not hesitate to fillet it up to eat it. Now a days people are trying to tell me that that sized fish are the breeders and I should revive and set them free. I also hear that the larger stripers 30-40-50lbs are also breeders, is this true?

If we can educate people with facts, then we may be able to help the fishery.

Thanks,
O.D.M.

females above 12# start to breed 30K eggs a season, the bigger the bass the more eggs produced... trophy females (50#) producing over 4million eggs.

off the top of my head, how accurate?:huh:

Lets google

I loaned my copy of "Striper" by John Cole to someone and never got it back. Find a copy and read it. There is more information on the life of a Striped Bass than you could ever need. It's a good read too.

Check this web site

Massachusetts Divison of Marine Species Striped Bass Profile - Stripers247.com - Massachusetts Striper Fishing

that was great info

woot- I was off though, 12# female 850K not 30K!.

any truth to what some people say about the really big fish 50+ carry eggs that aren't any good? I've always been skeptical but curious..

I can't see any truth in this, though I have heard it a lot. To me it seems logical that females will produce eggs until they are no longer capable, at which point they will simply stop producing eggs. Maybe some marine biologists here can chime in.

I'll breed with any size if nobodys looking
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Well since we'll never really get to know just how big and just how old they can get (because of legal harvesting) there's no way to gauge whether a fish is "sterile" or "barren" after a specific age or size. If you look at poulty, the hens just stop producing eggs after a certain age, so if you were able to translate that to fish terms, as long as the fish produces eggs, she's still capable. Maybe not willing, but capable.

Look at the salmon fisheries. They use broodstock salmon up to a certain age, then release them as part of the stocking program. They haven't stopped producing eggs, just that they have a limited lifespan, so the odds are that they will stop sooner than later.
This brings me back to the lifespan of stripers. Since we really don't know their full lifetime potential, all that we get are speculations.

I'm not sure I get your point, but the fact that the largest striped bass are important spawners is NOT speculation (I've posted links multiple times in the past), it is FACT. Killing them hurts us all.

One of my brothers is a retired marine bio chemist who specialized in Larval fish. He told me the big bass produce many more eggs than smaller fish and the eggs are healthy.

This is a good read too.

Facts About Striped Bass

The ist time I heard this was from Bob Pond way back when. several fish that were netted for eggs over 48lb had eggs that were almost black due to having been dead when they were formed as the fish were no longer ferile. but we also saw a couple fish in that range that had good eggs so it's more than likely dependant on the fish.

Thanks everyone,
I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction!!!!

Thanks for the good reading material Fly Rod and everyone else, we need to educate our younger anglers and the old, with this information....

Don't you kill all the fish you catch anyway?? :grins:

Yes, he does. Luckily for the fish, he hardly catches any.:rotf2:

WRONG! Saturday we brought about 20 stripers to the boat, mostly keeper size and only kept 3.

That's so cute how you stick up for your first mate, Phil. I also didn't realize that boat fish now count? Sorry.
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Oh, he doesn't catch any at the ditch! And if/when he does hookup, he likely does kill them all there!:rotf2:

Wow!!! Thanks buddy.... Did you catch a keeper the night we went to the canal????? I know I did and set it free......:uhuh:

Ouch!
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