[nightfighter]

I truly am of the opinion that it is about the bait. Or the lack thereof.

Locally, if I can fish live pogies, I am almost certain to be able to find fish large enough to take them whole. After the seiners come into the harbors and wipe out those schools of bait, the bass are gone within a week, using pogies or not.

The local surffishing has been on a serious downswing up here for a few years. But if you go out to Stellwagen, just 15 miles away, there are many large bass. Forty and fifty pounders are taken pretty regularly on the troll. Are they aware they are in the EEZ???? Or are they there for the ample buffet available to them?

I have participated in the Martha's Vineyard Derby for the past two years. A week each year. One fish, my first albie in year one. Two albies and a bluefish this past year. What bait we saw was what the albies were on. Really didn't feel I had a shot at a bass from shore. The numbers were down. But I am of the opinion that they just weren't there. But they may well have been somewhere else where bait was more plentiful.

Last June we had probably our most productive trip to Cutthunk in the seven or so years we have been going over there. Was it the moon, the tides, or what? I figure I have run or been on twelve trips to Cuttyhunk with S-B members, with an average of 14 guys on each trip. That's a lot of wood, eels and tin that we've pitched into the night. What did we do different this time? Beats me. Personally, I had four good fish back to back in a half hour period around 2AM. And then nada. They just happened to be there when I was casting as I was making my way back to the club.

The past year was a good one for me from the boat. If I have live bait, I can go toe to toe with any of the local comms, and they know it. I am not for taking away the commercial limit at all. It is a drop in the bucket. The numbers put up by Cowhunter and Sashamy are what should be more alarming here.(ie. the number of charters keeping two fish per man per day, as allowed by the current law) It is indicative of what the rec take could be. I just can't see the need for a two fish per person per day, and would be all for going back to a one fish per day. This would establish a reasonable starting point for those of us who wish to truly be conservators of the resource.