Quote:
Originally Posted by RIROCKHOUND
How many people who were fishing hard in the 70's think that now has a similar feel to then???
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It has a similar feel to it, but if the Index is accurate, 2003 and 2005 were banner spawns. A spawn like 2003's would have been one of the best of all time, instead of just a "top 10" spawn. Considering that the mean for an "average" spawn was 8.0 back in the 70s, even last year's would have been considered to be an extremely good spawn.
From 1975 until 1989 you had a series of horrible spawns, with one near-average one in 1982. That's one big reason why the fishery crashed. But the Cape sharpies still got their bass, even during the dark days--they were around but you had to work a lot harder to get them, and wade through acres of blues. The moratorium regs were designed to protect that 1982 year class, if you recall (the limit grew with the fish, from 16" fork, then 24" fork, the 33" total length, then 36" total length). If the scientists are correct--always a big if--that one class generated an off-the-charts spawn in 1989, and it grew geometrically from there. So unless whole year classes of the late 90s and 2003, 2005 and 2007 have been decimated (they would have had to have been slaughtered by the Maryland baymen with their 18" limit and poachers, or have died in a massive kill, since they're not legal length for anyone else), we're not on the brink yet IMO.
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