Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed B
Thanks for the link Mike. I have been running cases looking at angler effort. Something of note is that I see a significant reduction in Angler Effort for striped bass. Just a few years ago it looks like Angler Effort was in the order of 50% higher than what it was in 2011. Based on that, I would certainly expect a significant reduction in striped bass caught and also caught and released. I can see why the data as you queried shows a big drop, as fewer people pursue fewer fish.
Ed B
|
I guess you also have to look at why the effort numbers are so much lower. Last season on most nights I would only see a couple of people fishing, normally the same two guys. A few years ago it was normal to run into a dozen or more fisherman each night. During the day there was always some bait fisherman out but last year very few. The reason being is there just were to few fish around. Many of the people I knew who fish Maine, NH and Mass North shore have either stopped or greatly reduced their trips.
What is also happening is people like me are now making more trips to the canal and the cape. So as the fish range decreases you can expect to see an increase in the number of people fishing those areas.