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As someone that grew up thru the years of no striped bass and commercial fishes, from the backside for years, then years from a boat, and then the past 2 from shore again, I try to pay more attention to all these studies that are done as I really do care about the future of the fish stocks. I will say that from my experience, there are more than plenty of striped bass still around, but in my opinion, the in shore stocks have taken an absolute beating due to the 3 mile limit. It seems that the fish that are "programmed" to be in certain areas just weren't there this year. Again and again the stories of guys trolling squid bars off shore for tuna and slammin big bass are becomin more frequent. This past year has been very strange. The fish that usually set up off Nomans\ Squibby\ Gay head\ Backside just weren't there. Why??? Who knows the true science or explanation of this. Bait changes, water quality\ temps. SEALS???? Who really knows, but somethin changed them this year and I for one who makes a substanial amount of $ from sellin bass, make them a game fish. There are other fish in the sea that are taken worse beatins from draggers than bass. The comm fishin industry in mass is so f'd up that money and politics will never change it. As far as the spawnin issue, the bass I weighed in last weekend (42.5 inches; 39,75#) when they opened it up it was jam packed with butterfish and two big egg sacks. Another million fish that were never laid. Female that never laid, why ??????? That is all I have to say about that.
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