Let's see, 18 bass averaging let's say 30 pounds each that would be around 540 pounds of Bass. In thew old days that would be a hell of a good night x $1.50 that would be, let's see, $840.00! Did over 660 pounds myself one night way back on Monomoy, does that make me a badf person?
If the laws exist where this can be done that the perpetrators are not the fishermen, it's the idiots that allow it. Are the Bass in trouble Slip? Who really knows. It's all conjecture on our part. Last year sucked, this year might be killer. It's like global warming, what with we have been experiencing this past year you couldn't prove it by me!
Couple things I do know, the best fishing I ever had was when the limit was 36' for everybody and the sports crowd kills way more that the commercials do, just sit on the dock at Rock Harbor as the boats come in at night or along the canal when that annual spectacle known as the herring season is under way. They should stop all the taking of herring now before the runs are permanently ruined just as the Menhaden fishery is now.
You want a lot of big bass? Go to 36' and stop the taking of herring both legally and illegally and stop the Menhaden boats.
Anyone poaching a herring run who gets caught should be made an example of, impound their truck, gear and fine them heavily and make it a criminal offense not a civil one. Poachers suck and anyone who does it is a piece of #^&#^&#^&#^&! They are stealing from us all for the easy taking of Bass.
Threaded Mode