Quote:
Originally Posted by Jackbass
Striped Bass Stocks 2012 - YouTube
I guess these guys who fish far away from the bloated seal populations of CC have no clue either?
Regardless of what happens in the future present etc. steps need to be taken. MA could start by issuing licenses only to guys who report catches. Otherwise why buy the license?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device
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I rarely boat fish, but over the last 6 years or so I have fished the early western LIS run with a friend in his boat. He has been fishing it his whole life and knows what he is doing. Over the last 6 years it has gotten worse and worse. The sound is filled with bait in May, much of it adult bunker. There are nights using chunks and live bait where we will hit reefs from Norwalk to Hempstead and sometimes not land one bass. The idea that the fish are all of a sudden offshore is ridiculous. There used to be fish everywhere. If there is a need to "change with the times" it is because there fewer fish to go around. The spawning stock biomass estimates peaked around 2003. A decade later and the commercial and recreational pressure is even higher, the yoy indices have been typically low. The only reasons to not reduce the harvest for everyone are greed and short term money interests.