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Been fishing for stripers for most of the last 45 years. Missed one season while in the military but the rest of my military time kept me in prime striper areas. Didn't target them much in the late 70s early 80s due to numbers and restrictions. Grew up in NJ fishing Sandy Hook and the bay. Lived in Narragansett, RI areas from 68 - 73 and have been on the NH seacoast last 26 years fishing NH, NJ and the Cape. When I was a kid everyone I knew sold fish. People used to come down to the boat ramps and along the beach asking if you wanted to sell your fish. No one really questioned it because there wasn't many restrictions on commercial fishing so why be concerned.
Now that I've seen many of the fish I caught in large numbers as a kid more or less disappear things have changed for me. Unless a striper is dead when I get it to the beach I let it go. I support protecting stripers by giving them game fish status. I saw many tackle shops and other businesses that supported fishing go down the sump due to the decline in stripers and other fish. We need to recognize that recreational fishing is a form of commercial fishing. When we regulate fishing it should be so that the largest number of people possible benefits from both a social and financial standpoint. The money and social gain from recreational striper fish far exceeds what we could ever get from a commercial harvest of stripers. We also need to recognize that the striper recovery was nothing short of a miracle. Out of the clear blue we suddenly had an excellent YOY group that became the bases for the recovery. Canada has been working on restoring the Grand Banks for 15 years with very limited success.
You are now in the new hay days for stripers, do everything you can to protect it. Also don’t forget fluke, cod, whiting, ling, weakfish, bunker, mackerel, herring ……..
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