Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating - View Single Post - Black Salties could ease the no live herring dilemma

CaptDom · 05-01-2006, 04:05 PM

Hi Guys,

Lurked here for a while, never posted as didn't feel appropriate with my profession while not being a sponsor. Like the information exchanged, and the obvious passion you all share for fishing.

That being said, I want to clear up a few things in regards to the Black Salty. These fish are farm raised members of the goldfish family, and were developed in aquaculture ponds in Arkansas, not in a lab. They have not been genetically altered in any way, they have simply been acclimated to salt water immersion over a 7 year process, and the heartiest specimens were then bred and retained. They stay alive in salt water up to 2 hours, then will die from overexposure to the salinity. I introduced a scientist at the RI DEM to Neil Anderson, owner of the minnow farm, and the 2 of them exchanged information including scientific workups, stats, and pertinent info. DEM then gave permission for them to be shipped into the state for retail sale. No baitshops sold them last year, Myself and 1 other person in RI used them on a trial basis only.
They are legal in many states already, even for freshwater useage. Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi all allow them for dual purpose bait, and they have many more tributaries, ponds, lakes, and other impoundments then New England combined. They have had absolutely no problems with these fish altering in any way the current biological distribution of native species, as they have a tough time getting a foothold in any body of water where a predatory fish lives. CA and FL have allowed the use as saltwater bait while prohibiting fresh water useage, for whatever reasons, but obviously it is possible to get legal status as saltwater bait while not freshwater, as precedence in these states shows.
These baits will be available starting this weekend at Wildwood distributors, Ocean State Tackle, and Sam's Bait and Tackle, while many others are making necessary preparations to have them available in coming weeks. They are an extremely effective alternative to wild harvested bait, and for those of you with doubts as to their effectiveness on large fish, I took a 52.8 pound striper on one in late Oct. , a 49 pound yellowfin out on the edge in Sept. as well as numerous mahi that same trip, and countless jumbo sea bass all year long, along with many other stripers from schoolie up to 38 pounds.
Currently the magnum size of 7-8 inch baits are in limited supply, but by July will be readily available as the farm has devoted a few ponds to get them to that size and even bigger by then. The inshore size is a sure fire bait for sea bass and fluke, and stripers will readily take all 3 sizes. Anyone with any other questions or reservations can contact Anderson farms direct at www.blacksalty.com, or PM me and I'll be happy to help in any way I can.
For those of you concerned that these fish will ruin any freshwater areas, rest assured that extensive sales in freshwater rich states has yielded nothing but positive results. Think of it this way.... how many legally sold Koi or goldfish are transacted in RI each year, and how many ponds do you know of where monster goldfish lurk awaiting your every cast???

05-01-2006, 04:05 PM	#30
CaptDom Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Newport, RI Posts: 46	Hi Guys, Lurked here for a while, never posted as didn't feel appropriate with my profession while not being a sponsor. Like the information exchanged, and the obvious passion you all share for fishing. That being said, I want to clear up a few things in regards to the Black Salty. These fish are farm raised members of the goldfish family, and were developed in aquaculture ponds in Arkansas, not in a lab. They have not been genetically altered in any way, they have simply been acclimated to salt water immersion over a 7 year process, and the heartiest specimens were then bred and retained. They stay alive in salt water up to 2 hours, then will die from overexposure to the salinity. I introduced a scientist at the RI DEM to Neil Anderson, owner of the minnow farm, and the 2 of them exchanged information including scientific workups, stats, and pertinent info. DEM then gave permission for them to be shipped into the state for retail sale. No baitshops sold them last year, Myself and 1 other person in RI used them on a trial basis only. They are legal in many states already, even for freshwater useage. Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi all allow them for dual purpose bait, and they have many more tributaries, ponds, lakes, and other impoundments then New England combined. They have had absolutely no problems with these fish altering in any way the current biological distribution of native species, as they have a tough time getting a foothold in any body of water where a predatory fish lives. CA and FL have allowed the use as saltwater bait while prohibiting fresh water useage, for whatever reasons, but obviously it is possible to get legal status as saltwater bait while not freshwater, as precedence in these states shows. These baits will be available starting this weekend at Wildwood distributors, Ocean State Tackle, and Sam's Bait and Tackle, while many others are making necessary preparations to have them available in coming weeks. They are an extremely effective alternative to wild harvested bait, and for those of you with doubts as to their effectiveness on large fish, I took a 52.8 pound striper on one in late Oct. , a 49 pound yellowfin out on the edge in Sept. as well as numerous mahi that same trip, and countless jumbo sea bass all year long, along with many other stripers from schoolie up to 38 pounds. Currently the magnum size of 7-8 inch baits are in limited supply, but by July will be readily available as the farm has devoted a few ponds to get them to that size and even bigger by then. The inshore size is a sure fire bait for sea bass and fluke, and stripers will readily take all 3 sizes. Anyone with any other questions or reservations can contact Anderson farms direct at www.blacksalty.com, or PM me and I'll be happy to help in any way I can. For those of you concerned that these fish will ruin any freshwater areas, rest assured that extensive sales in freshwater rich states has yielded nothing but positive results. Think of it this way.... how many legally sold Koi or goldfish are transacted in RI each year, and how many ponds do you know of where monster goldfish lurk awaiting your every cast???