Quote:
Originally Posted by SAUERKRAUT
Observations:
There was no fall striper run again this year. The 5 week long MV BASS & BLUEFISH DERBY was again a sad joke of results. Almost a non existent bait biomass in upper Cape waters this Fall. Usually, east end of Canal is alive, whether, and long after, fish have pushed through. Non existent sand eel beaches, essentially all year. My brother on the NJ Shore says the same thing re sand eels; and his inshore fishing is awful.
I only caught two bluefish this entire year (both alligator size)! What's up with that?
Having gone to college in RI a century ago, I have a working knowledge of its shore. I have started, again, ending my season commuting from the Cape to SOCO. It's tough on me to see virtually everybody on the beach with largemouth bass sized tackle, casting tiny lures, and hoping to catch a 28" "keeper" sized "big bass", instead of the available 15-20" jiggler bass. I was there yesterday: Fun to be on a beach; fun to be around several other enthusiastic pilgrims similarly engaged; etc.
We avocationals/recreationals spend a lot of money doing this. In my mind, I lay the blame of a declining and destroyed striped bass fishery entirely at the feet of the greed and avarice of the commercial fishing industry, its participants, and their bureaucratic allies in State and Federal Fisheries Mismanagement.
Make Striped Bass a Game Fish.
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A very wise man once told me when you point a finger at someone... there are four others pointing right back at you.
Commercials, Rec, rec-for-hire. We all have a share of the blame. No one group is the devil and no one group is immune.
My bass season was dismal again this year in RI.
I share your feeling of disgust.
I see commercial greed. I also see the biomass hammered by rec's in the canal, out on block, and outside the EEZ down south.
If you want to stop the killing stop ALL the killing.