Who has been Striper fishing steady for the last 30 years or more.

[BigFish]

I am only 42 so 30 years steady is out! I only started fishing stripers about....8 years ago!

[Karl F]

I'm 50.. been striper fishing since I was 15.. took a few years off in the late eightes, was hooked on LMB and SMB for a few years..
Attitude changed for certain.. from everything goes in the cooler.. to put most all back..kept 3.. meybe 4 last year.
Truth be told.. I'd still rather take home one fat 16-18 inch fish a week, and put the rest back... they are to over...

[Rockfish9]

I started in 1972, I used to fish for largemouth bass until.... that fatefull afternoonwhen a friend invited me to fish below the Lawrence dam.... an 8 lb striper changed my life... forever...

[capesams]

started fishing salt at 16...now 55....seen it when there was more life swimming in the water then there was water....more non-stop sand driving then one could possiably do in any one week.now compair today with back then,,there's almost nothing left...gave up the beach....boat only now..even then you have to fight for a few good fish...boy have times changed.

[MikeToole]

Been fishing for stripers for most of the last 45 years. Missed one season while in the military but the rest of my military time kept me in prime striper areas. Didn't target them much in the late 70s early 80s due to numbers and restrictions. Grew up in NJ fishing Sandy Hook and the bay. Lived in Narragansett, RI areas from 68 - 73 and have been on the NH seacoast last 26 years fishing NH, NJ and the Cape. When I was a kid everyone I knew sold fish. People used to come down to the boat ramps and along the beach asking if you wanted to sell your fish. No one really questioned it because there wasn't many restrictions on commercial fishing so why be concerned.

Now that I've seen many of the fish I caught in large numbers as a kid more or less disappear things have changed for me. Unless a striper is dead when I get it to the beach I let it go. I support protecting stripers by giving them game fish status. I saw many tackle shops and other businesses that supported fishing go down the sump due to the decline in stripers and other fish. We need to recognize that recreational fishing is a form of commercial fishing. When we regulate fishing it should be so that the largest number of people possible benefits from both a social and financial standpoint. The money and social gain from recreational striper fish far exceeds what we could ever get from a commercial harvest of stripers. We also need to recognize that the striper recovery was nothing short of a miracle. Out of the clear blue we suddenly had an excellent YOY group that became the bases for the recovery. Canada has been working on restoring the Grand Banks for 15 years with very limited success.

You are now in the new hay days for stripers, do everything you can to protect it. Also don’t forget fluke, cod, whiting, ling, weakfish, bunker, mackerel, herring ……..

[Diggin Jiggin]

My dad's been at it for 50+ non stop, and until the population crashed everything went in the box & to market. When the population crashed everyone switched light gear, buggy whips and eventually fly gear and he was alll C&R.

He's still all C&R now except for maybe 4 or 5 for the table each year..

[DZ]

I’ve been bass fishing since the late 1960s. It began as my hobby and quickly became an obsession. When I found out I could sell them I jumped into it with the enthusiasm of a teenager and sold every legal one I caught. So did everyone else.

I did that for many years until the striper swoon of the late 70s and early to mid 80s when my bass started to dry up. It was at that point that I “saw the light” started to become involved in the issues of striped bass management – I became “reformed” from my old ways and am proud to say I became one of the first “catch and release” crowd.

I became very involved in the Striper Wars of the 1980s. (Any avid striped bass fisherman of today that has not read Striper Wars by #^&#^&#^&#^& Russell is doing a disservice to themselves.)

This period was both very stressful and fulfilling to those who loved to catch striped bass. Runs of large bass were occurring on areas of the cape and block, some of which I was very fortunate to have taken part in. But at the same time there were very few bass on most of the mainland and almost no small bass anywhere. I had “seen the damage done.”

Lots of guys stopped fishing which was great because it cut down competition on the beach. The guys who knew what they were doing were still able to scrape out some fish.

Thankfully the conservative bass fishermen were able to lobby for very strict conservation measures of which I firmly believe helped restore the stock. If it weren’t for those that fought for conservation (along with the well timed PCB scare) many of you might be posting threads on a website for golf right now.

How’s the stock now? Science says it’s OK and we have much better science now than 30 years ago. Lack of cows now? From a beach perspective I think so – I still take some nice fish each season but I feel that my wealth of “knowledge gained experience” should provide me with better scores - IF the fish were there. I shudder to think of my success rate if I had my present day knowledge back on Block in the 80s.

The boat sharpies might disagree but they now have a HUGE advantage in finding bass with new technology. This better technology is no doubt a factor in the better catch rate of cows from a boat.

DZ

[bassmaster]

been fishing since the 60's

[whiplash]

Caught my first fish in 1957 a nice blackback flounder, St pattys day Green pond bridge. Don't see many of them anymore. First striper 1964 Cotuit loop beach.

[Terence]

Wow, some great posts in here. I've never been an Activist but I believe strongly enough in the preservation of our fish to learn.
Aside from myself and teaching my kids respect what else can be done?

[stiff tip]

Originally Posted by bassmaster

been fishing since the 60's

ya dave in your diappers.... do your math dave your not that old........ dz you hit it right on the head ... that was my start at real bass fishing ...it was for the money.... 1967 i got 25and 35 cents a pound at newburyport .... cash...on cape in 77 i got 50 to70 cents a pound at capt. elmers. in orleans. blues were 5 or 10 cents per pound... in those days i sold every i caught.. mostly for gas ,n hook and bait money. in the late 70s untill the bass crash, i made fare money at bass fishing, boat and beach, cod fishing too ...its a hard long day ...i find 10x more people fishing bass now and the miss managment of the bio mass of bait fish a huge problem...herrin, pogies ,macs whiting, etc........

[piemma]

40 years. So around 67 when I got out of the Service.