"Stripers Gone Wild" Mike Laptew says THANK YOU!

[Pete_G]

There's always a post Holiday rush on things like DVDs, Van Staals, and other toys. It's the "I didn't get what I wanted for Christmas" buying time now...

[bttfish]

Awsome video... Learn a lot... Thank Pete for getting it to us before Christmas.. We can always count on ya.. My bro love his Plug Bag.. as do I... Happy New Year...

Oh yeah.. Thank you Mike for making this video.. It was great.. Make more... I like to learn about Tautogs... Salmons.. Trouts...from local ponds !!!!!

[Al in Westport]

Mike,

Got to add my congratulations on a great video, top notch!

Thanks, Al

[JohnR]

Hi Al

[beamie]

Boy,

Got my present in the mail from SWE yesterday and waltched SGW last night. What a great production. The one thing that stuck out at me and I guess not surprising was the lack of fat fish. Mike called this the new breed. There were a couple bellies that went down but most fish bellies and body shapes aft of the head seem to go up/slim than down/fat.

[striperondafly]

you can thank Omega Protein for the lack of guts as well as the depleted Herring stocks

[Fish_Eye]

Striperondafly,

You've got that right...the fish out of the Chesapeake area are not getting the right forage when they need it the most. Omega needs to have their quotas cut back even more. I attended the public hearings and spoke against the current cap as being way too liberal a quota. Furthermore there are significant problems with mycobacteriosis that is being swept under the rug.

I found out just yesterday that there is a move to outlaw chumming for stripers because it could contribute to the problem by actually feeding the bacteria when it’s done in the low salinity backwater areas of the Bay.

The striper fishing fleet tends to gravitate to certain areas where up to 100 boats anchor up and then chum like mad. It’s getting less productive each year and the bottom in a lot of these areas is turning into dead zones -- void of life, including worms!

The myco problem is a lot like AIDS in the early years…everyone said it wasn’t their problem; it was a problem within the gay community. We now know better. The percentage of fish that are infected is staggering and it’s a death sentence. You don’t see that much written about it because nobody wants to piss on the birthday candles that the striper “recovery” represents…it’s the ONLY success that fishery management has to hang their hat on and they don’t want to give it a black eye.

Don’t forget, a lot of those fish from the Chesapeake are on loan to us in the summer.

Again, I just want to say thank you so much for your kind words regard SGW, I am truly humbled by some of your comments.

Mike