Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyD
Super high concentrations of fish that are fattening up in the prespawn before heading in to lay eggs hardly defines the state of striped bass throughout the coast.
If it were legal, I could go down to the Canal and a number of other locations in the spring and get as many river herring as I wanted in minutes. That doesn't mean the herring are in huge abundance and don't need to be protected.
Huge schools of BFT can be found in the same area pretty consistently, sometimes for months at a time (getting them to bite is a different story), doesn't mean the tuna stocks are healthy.
We definitely have problems with protecting bait up here, that's for sure. Don't try to say the guys down there are innocent of blame, especially with the widely known and accepted practices of fishing outside the 3-mile limit that goes on down there.
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Nobody said they are innocent I know for fact that boats are running due east and breaking the law this year put its probably way less than 10 percent of the fleet THIS YEAR... Its a 60 plus mile run south from Rudy, last year after Jan 8 there were no fish inside... This year there are more fish inside 3 miles than I have seen for years and it looks from being down there that the majority of the fleet are playing inside, just no need to go outside... I was there for few days and was boarded by the coast guard and checked in legal waters, so they are down there, I have heard of handful of boats busted this year. Even With all the fish inside 3 miles, There are WAAY More fish that are staying offshore and have been caught down there 13 plus miles.
As far as prespawn fish, we catch fish here From April through the end of June in NJ. I fillet Alot of fish for my clients and can tell you that the ocean run fish we are catching in Late May all through June are still loaded with Roe.