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It is very difficult to convince many people that they should practice catch and release as long as there is commercial fishing for stripers. At a minimum it gives them an excuse to justify killing most of the stripers they catch. Yeah it is a weak excuse and we all know recreational fishing kills more fish but it is a justification for many. Being originally from NJ when ever I fish down there I hear it all of the time. Even in our club up here we find many of our members want to continue with the kept categories for our club tournament. Plus for many in NJ they haven't seen the numbers decrease at the levels we have seen up on the North Shore, Maine and NH, so they don't see as great a need. Problem is when they do it will be way to late. I don't think we will see any more limit changes in the next few years so while continuing to push catch and release a focus on the release part may be the best thing we can do. Getting people to crush the barbs on their hooks, replace the back treble hook on plugs with a single hook or flag, don't grab them where you contact the gills, and circle hooks for bait. Many of the fishing practices we've been taught over the years were based on best method to catch and keep fish not for release. Need to change these practices.
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