Spring Surf Club Challenge Results

[fishbones]

I haven't been fishing nearly as much as I have in the past, and it's been my best spring in years. My friends and I have been getting into tons of fish in all size classes from micros to cows. They guys who aren't catching should try fishing different spots. Unless you like having an excuse for not catching, because then you can come on here and complain and make snarky comments directed at guys who legally keep fish they've caught.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[bart]

I think it's been a great year, too. I haven't fished too much and I've still done pretty well. Same with my friends, micros to cows.

I think the biggest problem with inshore RI fishing is that there isn't any big bait to hold the fish. Micro sand eels aren't going to keep large fish around. Also, the water quality is lacking in RI, IMO. You can just tell by the difference in the appearance of the fish compared to other locales.

I still don't think it's a good thing that big fish get taken everyday at the island. I'm just speaking logistically, not morally or ethically. I just don't see how those fish can take the beating they do, year after year. There can't be an endless supply of large... or maybe there is?

Off topic, but to Bassballer's point, I'm not sure I enjoy driving hooks into a fish's face just for my own enjoyment anymore. I've been going back and forth on this the last couple of years...that's for a different thread, though.

[piemma]

My last comment on this topic. I have done what we do for over 50 years. Yeah, I was comm in the 70s. Yeah, I killed a ton of Bass in the 50+ years I have been doing it.

I went through a period the last few years when I didn't kill anything and I had plenty of fish in the 20s, 30s and a few 40s that I certainly could have killed with out a sec of guilt but I didn't to try and protect the species.

Last year I became aware of the biomass of large fish that are being killed daily by the charter guys, the comm guys from at least 2 states and anyone else who goes to the SW Ledge and 3 ways eels in 60 feet of water. More 40s, 50s and 60s killed in a weekend than most of us have seen in 50 years of 100 nights a year.

So what the hell am I protecting by letting my 1/2 a dozen 30s go every year? NOTHING!

My point is as long as Stripers are considered a food fish and not a game fish with game fish protected status like Tarpon and Snook,
my small contribution to conservation is a piss hole in the snow.

I'm not saying that I am killing every fish I catch.....far from it. I am taking a fish for the table for my family, for a friend or for a cookout we are invited to. My letting every fish go does nothing for the bigger picture. JMO

[Clammer]

I guess all the knowledge I thought I learned by paying my dues day & night for years ,,,didn,t count .

as of this week IMO the bass fishing in the bay totally sucks ...................... even the slug of 26 to 33" fish have moved off for the most part ><><

I guess I have to try some new places or ya can,t catch what ain,t there

[bart]

Originally Posted by Clammer

I guess all the knowledge I thought I learned by paying my dues day & night for years ,,,didn,t count .

as of this week IMO the bass fishing in the bay totally sucks ...................... even the slug of 26 to 33" fish have moved off for the most part ><><

I guess I have to try some new places or ya can,t catch what ain,t there

Mike, respectfully, are there river herring, sea herring, macks, big sand eels, and pogies in the Bay? How warm are the water temps? Again, I ask respectfully bc I know how long you've fished the Bay. I just don't see why big fish would hold in Narragansett Bay when they can blast right by and chase big, cold water prey for a whole season.

[Clammer]

there is more pogies in the bay now than in along , long time ..they even winter over .
there has been good runs of buckies the last few years & with some of the damns taken down and/or ladders they are getting into the rivers & ponds to spawn .

we also have a natural supply of wild eels. & descent amount of squid & butterfish .

what seems to be missing / more & more each year is the holdover small bait .mummies / grass shrimp .

we will have rain bait & peanut bunker as the season progresses .
We have noticed the change in bait & a change of a few of the fisheries .ever since they made the sewerage tunnel ......whatever they are dumping in the bay ............... the water is a lot cleaner for humans ...but again IMO ..it is doing something to the fisheries / not just fin fish / but the breeding grounds for the baitfish & also add the shellfish stock .

oh well ......its just another issue not being considered ., fix one thing /fu ck up another

[chris L]

its like girls in the head . chat chat chat #^&#^&#^&#^& chat #^&#^&#^&#^&