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Patrick,
The beach netters have not had a chance to catch any. Believe me...I'd be there doing it if I could (I have a license). Fact is, the fish have not been that close to the beach. The video is ground fishing boats (draggers) who are required to discard the undersized stripers as bycatch despite trying to have the state allow the keeping as part of the allocation. I don't condone it...just explain it. I just prefer to keep others from getting caught up in the mass hysteria that pits anglers against each other less we all lose. The NC season is a whopping 5 days long. Boats are allowed to keep 50 fish over 28 inches per day. You can do the math and figure that allocation (or you can look on the web and get the annula allocations). It seems bad but is really nothing compared to what gets caught during the summer in the Chesapeake or other mid-Atlantic locations.
If you ever sail the Chesapeake after a cargo ship has passed you'd see similar things (albeit not in the same numbers). You have to ask yourself what the guys who took the video were doing. The answer is they were looking to hit the school and have a 50-70 fish day with catch and release. When you are catching fish that fast just how careful are you to make sure each is returned successfully? Not an accusation...just a question.
I am not defending anyone so no need to hammer me.
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