so i got to thinking...

[JohnR]

2004 was slow, 2006 was great, 2007 pretty pretty good, but it started going downhill then and became very noticeable 2009+

2004 was a cornucopia of fish compared to today

Originally Posted by Raider Ronnie

I'm a hippocrit in that i sell striper gear but I still preach conservation.


My exact thoughts when I walked by your booth at RI !

How is that hypocrite? Sure, technically we are all a bit hypocrite in that we fish but also want to reduce pressure on the fish - well, 'cept for the kill 'em all sort. But we don't need to take every last one, or the next to every last one. I actually think it is a good thing that someone can profit from something AND be a steward of that resource. Stripers are certainly a case where two in the bush are worth more than one in the hand.

[Raider Ronnie]

Custom plugs don't kill any fish ? Haven't seen 1 with rubber hooks.
And last I checked custom plugs are not being given away free, matter of fact lots sell for stupid $




How is that hypocrite? Sure, technically we are all a bit hypocrite in that we fish but also want to reduce pressure on the fish - well, 'cept for the kill 'em all sort. But we don't need to take every last one, or the next to every last one. I actually think it is a good thing that someone can profit from something AND be a steward of that resource. Stripers are certainly a case where two in the bush are worth more than one in the hand.[/QUOTE]

[afterhours]

[QUOTE=Raider Ronnie;1067155]Custom plugs don't kill any fish ? Haven't seen 1 with rubber hooks.
And last I checked custom plugs are not being given away free, matter of fact lots sell for stupid $


yup- money for nothing and chicks for free . of course anyone who fishes will kill some fish, even the most skilled c@r will tell you this. the generally accepted kill rate for is 9%, compared to 100% for fish kept. most of my customers practice c&r for the most part with the occasional fish kept for the table. i believe it's possible to profit from this fishery and and promote conservation. i would think that anyone who profits from this fishery would want it to flourish for obvious reasons.

[bart]

Originally Posted by JohnR

2004 was slow, 2006 was great, 2007 pretty pretty good, but it started going downhill then and became very noticeable 2009+

2004 was a cornucopia of fish compared to today

This is what I remember and my logs indicate as well. Cheferson and I were crushing fish on eels all season long from 2004 up until 2007-2008ish. We would expect a 20# fish almost every outing. After that it started to go downhill fast. No big resident fish anymore, all dinks.

We had it good then. We had a #^&#^&#^&#^& ton of peanut bunker, too. Huge blues. Where the hell did they all go?!?

What I would give to go back to those days/nights....