TWO BASS FOR RI CHARTER AND PARTY BOATS?

[buckman]

I actually think there is good chance charter boats, in our area at least ,would bring home more fish if it was 1 at 28 then if it was 2 at 33.
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[Captain Jason Colby]

12 pages of this?
As a charter boat I say 1 fish at 28 OR 33" is the way it should have always been! In addition, 50% of the "traditional commercial harvest" should have been the desired target from the beginning. As they were cranking up the volume (the commercial poundage) over the years I began to protest louder and louder and the answer I got back from "fishery managers" was something like: Well we are only going to kill what was traditionally harvested before". When I asked "wasn't it those TRADITIONAL HARVEST LEVELS that wiped them out the last time"? With that they become speachless.
Fishery management does not work because they "manage" for "maximum yield" instead of "abundance". Plus they are (for the most part) all corrupt. They get really nasty when I use the "C-word" but that is what lobbiests and special interest groups are doing: "buying" influence to push their agenda. Our government has legalized this kind of corruption by allowing the existance of lobbiests. They need to go!...JC

[Linesider82]

Originally Posted by buckman

I actually think there is good chance charter boats, in our area at least ,would bring home more fish if it was 1 at 28 then if it was 2 at 33.
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So there would be at least a 50% reduction in your area. The 2014 2@28" regs -> 2015 1@28" regs
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[buckman]

Originally Posted by Linesider82

So there would be at least a 50% reduction in your area. The 2014 2@28" regs -> 2015 1@28" regs
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I suppose when you put it that way , true .
And therefore two at 33 inches would result in my opinion and at least a 25% cut .

Btw, A lot of the local charter boat captains are up in Gloucester tonight fighting the closure of 55 square nautical miles of Stellwagen .
These guys are taking it from all sides .
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[PRBuzz]

Originally Posted by buckman

I suppose when you put it that way , true .
And therefore two at 33 inches would result in my opinion and at least a 25% cut .

Btw, A lot of the local charter boat captains are up in Gloucester tonight fighting the closure of 55 square nautical miles of Stellwagen .
These guys are taking it from all sides .
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You can't legally fish for/keep striper on Stellwagon anyways!

[buckman]

Originally Posted by PRBuzz

You can't legally fish for/keep striper on Stellwagon anyways!

I'm pretty sure I realize that Phil
I wasn't saying that nor was that my point.
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[JLH]

Originally Posted by buckman

I actually think there is good chance charter boats, in our area at least ,would bring home more fish if it was 1 at 28 then if it was 2 at 33.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I'm sure that holds true in some areas. I have heard captains who fish long island sound say the same thing and most of them actually seem to favor keeping it at 1@28 because getting a 33" fish can be difficult at certain times of the year so with 1@28 the charters can at least provide their clients with some fish to take home.

The problem with 2@33" is that is does nothing to slow down the killing of all of the big fish that takes place every summer around Block and off of Montauk. The average fish they catch is 20+ pounds and when the fishing is good the boats are often running multiple trips a day and limiting out each trip. On an average day there are easily 50+ boats out there doing this. That's not sustainable and going to 2@33" does nothing to slow it down.

[buckman]

Originally Posted by JLH

I'm sure that holds true in some areas. I have heard captains who fish long island sound say the same thing and most of them actually seem to favor keeping it at 1@28 because getting a 33" fish can be difficult at certain times of the year so with 1@28 the charters can at least provide their clients with some fish to take home.

The problem with 2@33" is that is does nothing to slow down the killing of all of the big fish that takes place every summer around Block and off of Montauk. The average fish they catch is 20+ pounds and when the fishing is good the boats are often running multiple trips a day and limiting out each trip. On an average day there are easily 50+ boats out there doing this. That's not sustainable and going to 2@33" does nothing to slow it down.

I fully understand what you are saying . I'm speaking strictly about my area . I don't pretend to know anything about down there and I have been debating the pros and cons based on my area .
I too have winced at the large amount of huge bass taken down there .
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[zimmy]

Originally Posted by JLH

The problem with 2@33" is that is does nothing to slow down the killing of all of the big fish that takes place every summer around Block and off of Montauk. The average fish they catch is 20+ pounds and when the fishing is good the boats are often running multiple trips a day and limiting out each trip. On an average day there are easily 50+ boats out there doing this. That's not sustainable and going to 2@33" does nothing to slow it down.

100% on target. Same for Jersey, NC, VA. Those boats are on schools of primarily big fish and the last 15 years of them pounding those breeders has certainly done it's part getting us where we are. That doesn't mean bass are extinct or can't be caught anywhere, but by asmfc's best guesses there are maybe 50% as many fish as at the peak.

I think the attached graph indicates a problem that I suspected might exist. As fish ucket pointed out, there are plenty of guys finding a fish or two to kill. 19 million for recs according to his numbers. Regardless, the decline in releases in the Mass fishery are puke bucket worthy and that data is 2 years dated. Appears that gone are the days of a dozen fish released for each fish kept. Though maybe he is right and it is just me.

[bobber]

Originally Posted by JLH

. The average fish they catch is 20+ pounds and when the fishing is good the boats are often running multiple trips a day and limiting out each trip. On an average day there are easily 50+ boats out there doing this. That's not sustainable and going to 2@33" does nothing to slow it down.

at the height of this summer's massacre out there, I counted better than 130 boats from where I was....

[buckman]

Originally Posted by bobber

at the height of this summer's massacre out there, I counted better than 130 boats from where I was....

I'm sure most of them were not charters . Strange for all those fish for the taking from a biomass on the verge of collapse . Huge schools offshore .
Perhaps the good news is things are not so bad
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[Got Stripers]

Originally Posted by buckman

I'm sure most of them were not charters . Strange for all those fish for the taking from a biomass on the verge of collapse . Huge schools offshore .
Perhaps the good news is things are not so bad
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I guess you haven't been reading all the threads this year, pretty sure there is a consensus here that things are in fact really bad. Having a good school or two of large in a couple offshore locations and nothing inside isn't any indication things aren't in bad shape. Acres and acres of bunker going unmolested suggests otherwise. Spring spots for schoolies, which year after year loaded up every May and June as they migrated north, dramatically shrinking in size with the passing of each year suggests otherwise.

[thefishingfreak]

Originally Posted by Got Stripers

I guess you haven't been reading all the threads this year, pretty sure there is a consensus here that things are in fact really bad.

Just because that is the consensus HERE, it's not a tell tale of the fishery.
This place has all but forcefully evicted anyone who dares to differ with the opinion of the masses. Just look at this thread and the negative comments. Anyone who has a different opinion is greedy, corrupt, ignorant or all of the above.
Used to be Friday nights you couldn't keep track of all the threads on here. Today your lucky if there's 2 posts over the weekend. The reason the masses here all believe the same thing is that anyone who dares to differ, doesn't even bother to post anymore.

Soon there will be 100% agreement on This board.

[Piscator]

Originally Posted by thefishingfreak

Soon there will be 100% agreement on This board.

Mike

I 100% agree with you!
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[Sea Dangles]

Originally Posted by buckman

I'm sure most of them were not charters . Strange for all those fish for the taking from a biomass on the verge of collapse . Huge schools offshore .
Perhaps the good news is things are not so bad
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You haven't seen anything til you have seen a party boat in the middle of all the charter boats hammering bass,over the fence at 0 dark thirty!

That is why this group fights tooth and nail to keep the kill numbers high.they care about the future of the species, it is all about making a buck today.
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