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This issue is not about fishing skill and its not just about stripers.
To say that things are the same... well, stripers were heavily regulated for years and are still regulated. And still, people, books, magazines all say "the good 'ol days" and "way back when" You wouldn't say that if the quality and numbers were the same.
There are tons of fish out there and after a few more years of experience, I'll be getting more than my fair share. But take all those regs away for the past decade or so... what would the fishery be like then?
On any given day, any idiot with a popper can go out and fill a garbage can with schoolies... we are all proof of that... and people would (and do even with the laws in place).
I agree that government is getting too huge and they do nit pick us head to toe... Hell, they steal a third of my income every day... but I think in some cases it is necessary.
Like Got Stripers said we are a destroyer. From fish to seals to whales to wolves to trees and everything in between. They are all an indictment to our nature to exploit and abuse anything for money, sport, whatever...
And I'm not claiming any moral high ground... If I caught a tuna that could pay off my house or my kid's education, I'd sell that SOB as quick as I could get to the dock.
I do what I can... I try to recycle, I don't litter, I release most of my fish... But I'm not going to go out and join Greenpeace or the Sierra Club anytime soon.
I just can't imagine what I would do without fishing (gardening? raise rabbits?) and I'd rather not leave conservation in the hands of each individual and hope that when I retire in 20 or 30 years that I'm not relegated to fishing for stocked trout and largemouth bass in a bunch of put and take fisheries.
I just don't have that much faith in folks... call me crazy but history is on my side.
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