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

[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?

[MAC]

Steady no. (I lived out of state for 10 years) Did catch my first bass though back in the 60's when I was a kid.

[Terence]

Bassmaster, whiplash and Mac, has your fishing changed at all in terms of catch and release since then?

[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.

[JohnR]

Caught my first "Rockfish" when I was about 6 or 7 then went for many years not going for them, fishing a bit of freshwater, then picked up bassing again 12 or so years ago.