Ron - read what Piemma said - Bait = Bass. In RI for a while it was dead unless you had the bunker, NJ had unbelievable fishing (I'm told) for far longer than normal because they had tons of bait. Boston had mediocre fishing because of lack of bait, Block, lack of bait, Cape lack of bait. \
THAT is the trend. These guys hit the nail with the fact that the overwhelming take is from Rec fishing. If you reduce / remove the comm fishing of large fish (Mass) you will slightly improve that stock. If you REALLY want to reduce the culling of larger bass put on a 40% reduction of take to COMs
AND Recs.
If you REALLY Want to fix the fishery - FIX THE BAIT...
Hi all, see Ron a few times a year, at shows, fishing somewhere, out at The Derby. He is as passionate about bassing as any of us. So give him a little break (not too much though
). I don't think he has been through this exhaustive drag out battle before....