Striper meeting rant.
 

I went to the RI bass meeting at URI last night. I came home tired, frustrated and angry. I need to vent I have three main issues. First I am tired of fishermen who complain of this years bad fishing (in my case I have seen the fishing getting worse every year for the last four years with this being abysmal) and don't do any thing about it. Yet they will bitch about it on the internet or to their buddy's or other people who cant effect any changes. Second am very disappointed at by RISSA leadership who supported the some of the charter guys in advocating a two fish bag limit as opposed to a reduction to one fish. What a sell out the majority of your members are Rec guys not charter guys. Guess the rec guys don't purchase adds in your new letters. Third I am disappointed with some of the charter guys who complain that a reduction in bag limits will stop customers from supporting their businesses if they cant take enough fish flesh. What an incredibly short sided view: fish for bass when there in short supply and when they're gone fish for something else. Oh that worked well for cod. Yeah right the old cod guys fish for bass because the cod are for the most part gone. What will you guys do when bass fishery is closed because there are no bass? Fish for choggies, and spider crabs? In summing up my rant. All of us have to bite the conservation bullet. If we don't we could become like the English. They have magazines like our NEF that have cover shots of happy anglers holding up big skates for the camera. The also have clubs for conger eel and tope (sand shark). If we don't act now and decisively for the bass this could be our future. GOD I HOPE NOT!

I hear ya loud and clear as does just about everyone who views the pages of this website. Unfortuneately, the percentage of all fishermen who come here/give a s**t/undrstand what needs to be done- is only about 15% (my guestimate) The rest just want to fill their freezers with as many fillets as they can catch.

A week ago some big bass pushed in close to shore. Myself and the guys I fish with (among the 15%ers) were among the first to get into these fish. One hispanic dude pulled up in his station wagon, jumped out and proceded to land and 4 large bass up to 45". He put each one in the back of his wagon. When questioned, he pointed at his wife and said, "two are hers". By the time the EP got there (they were called), he was gone with the 4 breeders. The worst thing was his comment when questioned- " I have not caught any fish this year so I am keeping whatever I catch"

The cell phones went into action and soon there were dead fish up and down the rocks.

Pull out the camera/phone and ask to take picture of him and his fish.
Do it sounding excited about seeing such big fish, then take a picture of his vehicle and license plate.

When he asks why the vehicle picture, tell him "It's so the authorities know who to go after!"

doesn't surprise me..
the charter thing just baffles me - one fish is PLENTY for anyone who wants to go home with some fillets... I bet most of the fools who go home with two fish worth of filets end of throwing most of it out, the bastids!

Oh and over on some sites they are already posting pictures of sea robin and cunner!

Sea Robins are worth .02 to the dealer .ya wanner see how many they still get . 100# of fish == 2.00 WTF
Today they had about a dozen Chogies / of the typical 4"-6" size ><> .I havn,t caught a dozen if you add up the last 5 years .

Its really sad that some of the commercial fisherman feel they have to sell everything they catch . their logic .it all adds up :devil2:

I spoke to guy who mates on a party boat in eastern CT- he said that people leave fish behind on every trip.... they catch (and kill) everything they can, mostly because its the "expectation" that everybody goes home with a lotta fish (even if they don't really want it).

if they were allowed to keep one fish instead of two- most of them would still go. they are there for the "occasion" or the "experience" and will still attend the stag or the retirement party (er whatever)

The irony is, years ago, before there were any bag limits, you got to take home one fish of your choice from 99% of the bass charters in the area. The rest went "to the boat" no matter who caught them. That didn't stop guys like Sabatowski from booking a whole season.

That is so true, it was always understood that nobody took home more than 1 fish and when I was a fish packer in Harwichport during college we had three charter boats that unloaded at our place from Saquatucket and Wychmere that went to Nantucket shoals everyday all summer long. It was almost all bluefish and if I told you how FEW bass were packed in July and Aug you would never believe it. But the charters were still booked because people who want to go fishing will go fishing.
Nowadays the captains who say they need to offer 2 bass are just meat wagon drivers hedging the bet in their favor.

We all need to go to one fish per outing, wouldn't mind a size increase too in order to let the 28-32" fish have a chance to breed a couple times first. I agree with the above statements, if it was one per customer they would still absolutely go fishing. Think about the logic, does a person go fishing on a charter just to catch two fish and then finish fishing? Bogus!!

I understand its in vogue to hate on comms and charter guys but some of you guys need to lighten up a little. in all likelihood recs are going to 1 fish and comms are getting whacked 25%. the stocks have not collapsed to the point that they will not bounce back - the sky is not falling - our children and grandchildren will be able to bass fish. I understand that there is an issue and it is being addressed. and for the record - I am friends with a lot of charter capts and many of them accept the 1 fish limit and are taking the long view on this situation

Thanks Niko - that is encouraging news.
Some of us are old enough to remember the last swoon and how long it took to take meaningful measures - to quote Breaking Bad "we took half measures when we needed full measures" - and in the end were finally handed a moratorium. This time we have a shot at getting well ahead of the snowball - some are just passionate about getting it done sooner rather than later.

you mean the recs. are being hit with a lessor %? I thought it was 25% across the board but your post seems to indicate something different?

And doesn't that 25% "whack" still equate to a 13% increase over the 2013 landing?

I reread the thread and I don't see any hate.:confused:

recs are going from 2 fish to 1 fish- what that equates to percentage wise I have no idea. and I don't think anyone else knows either because no one really knows what recs catch. recs should be pushing for a mandadory reporting system so we can actually know what gets caught. as far as the hate comment - im not speaking of this thread in particular but in general

There is NO way anyone will get recs to report anything with enough compliance to mean anything....not sure charters/head boats and comm are any better!

why not - every pound I sell gets reported. and if its not done timely and accurately I can not get my liscence next year

This year I have to report on-line .. so they get a real good & quick view of all fisheries .
My log equals my sale slips // so it wouldn,t be to difficult for them to have a program ..punch in a license number .. && get the fisherman,s report & any dealers he sells to :fishin:

I do online now too, no more paper thankfully
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One fish for recs is estimated between 25% and 31% reduction

I know they have to make an estimate but how the hell do they know that, is there good science to back it up? I agree something has to be done but is that 25%-31% a good estimate.

I can see that for Mass they know what the comm % reduction is because of trip logs and reporting system but from a Rec perspective I just don't see how they know how many fish are being kept by
Recs and what a reduction from 2 to 1 does to a number they don't actually know. It obviously will decrease the total catch but how can they assign that %.

It's better than nothing but I just get nervousness when they toss out numbers on things they can't account for.

I'd also be interested on what the difference is from rec and com dead discards are. I wonder if there is a difference between mortality of Rec release versus com release based off of gear, live vs artificial, experience, single or circle hook vs treble, length of fight, light vs heavy etc.
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Though I haven't nearly as much experience as everyone else here, hell, just about everyone here has fished before I was born. I don't know much about commercial but being a "rec" I go by what I see, and frankly all fish species are being abused concerning how they are handled, released (if they ever get released), and kept. Catch and release doesn't faze anyone, it's all about catching and killing. I've seen too many times where the 1 bass of the tide regardless of size is kept by being landed, killed instantly, and driving off like the person just robbed a bank. Concerning release, it's not uncommon to see people yanking out the hook and kicking them back into the water just to die. There really needs to be patrols to fine people from the shore, not just the boat. I'd gladly volunteer if I could. But there are so many facets to the issue it's ridiculous. At this point everything needs to be super strict if this really is going to be bleak. You'll get fined for parking in the wrong spot but not for what you keep
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Meeting attendence
 

I was at the RI meeting last week and I chose to support a 25% reduction starting January 1, 2015; 1 fish @ 32”. I wish there were more stringent proposals, however, this was the best case for saving the Striped Bass.

I take 15-20 bass every year. I have imposed my own slot of 36"- 42". The only time I keep 2 fish is if I have one in the cooler and I gut hook another. It's happened twice this year. I fished during the last crash and Mass had a one fish @ 36" min and then a 40" minimum for a few seasons.

As far as Charter Boats are concerned; sell the experience, not the MEAT. Someone at the meeting used similar verbiage and I thought it worked well, so I am re-using it. My business is not related to the fisheries. In 2007 I had over 30 employees, the economy changed; therefore, I had to make changes to my business model. It was not easy, it hurt the pocketbook of my co-workers and me as well. So, I know all about hardship and I truly hope that the Charter Fleet can change for the sake of our most valuable Striped Bass Fishery.

Its not that I blame the commercials for the whole bass situation. I have bad memories of the years before the morritorium. I grew up in a town on the RI Mass border. Every one knew that the fish were in trouble. Yet there were gill nets on every point and not just one but on every conceivable area they could be placed. But You look out to Westport and no gill nets. Point here is that a commercial guy will use every legal method to take the maximum legal catch with no regard to what it does to a fishery. Think of the conditions of most of our fisheries if there is a commercial presence they are in worse shape than they were when you were a kid. Face it the commercial guy's soul purpose is to fill his legal limit or quota no matter the state of the fishery. Unfortunately there are recs who operate this way. Sorry to keep ranting just tired of fishing night after night and catching tiny bass or no bass.
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Patently false. The fluke, sea bass, scup. haddock and even the striped bass fisheries are much better now than they were 30 years ago. The only fisheries that are worse that I can think of is winter flounder and cod.

Maybe, maybe not - where he lives that may be his observed experience.

Can't be serious on the fluke....really ?
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It is my experience that the fisheries that you mentioned are in worse shape that they were when I first started fishing. I am in my late fifties and have been fishing ever since I could walk. Where I fish things are not better they have been getting worse. Just my onion

MM- sea bass and scup seem to be in good shape- don't even go there on striped bass - wasn't it '86 when we had a moritoriun- that's 28 yrs ago.

please remember that the current stock assessment is about to be 2 years old...... in that time, NOTHING has been done to slow the mortality on a fishery that was in a precipitous decline. I'm guessing that the next assessment shows we are already wayy below the "pre-moratorium" levels of the 80's.

Do the charter captains need to include themselves and the mate in the "two fish per guy" take-home?

I actually fished a lort more this year than the last few years, and according to my logs, I would have to call it a horrible year. Unless I was in a boat at Block, it was an awful year.

Don, you really think that striped bass fishing is worse today than it was just before the moratorium years?