Your Take on Catch and Release?

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by tattoobob

I am a big fan of catch and release, I have noticed a great increase of the killing of big fish as the Striped Bass fisheries suppose to be strong. myself I don't eat any fish or shell fish so unless my Wife wants one all my fish get released.

What is everyone's thoughts on this?
Do you think the fishery is strong enough to loose this many fish a year or do we need to think about the future?

Bob,

I’m not sure what your basis is for counting the number of big fish killed each year. Only the commercials have to document their catches each year, so the picture on the commercial front is clearer than that of the recs. I think there are a lot of big fish available, and the mostly anecdotal evidence we see/hear about the recreational fishery supports there being a lot of large available coast wide. The thing is, nobody knows on a given year where the schools of large will show up. There are patterns that repeat each year, but there are always wildcards in place too. Yesteryears hot spots can become today’s duds, like the cape has, and vice versa. This can skew people's perception of how good or bad the fishing really is depending on where you fish.

Personally, I still have a commercial license, but rarely sell fish. I do keep it (license) in anticipation of getting back into boat fishing at some point. The fish I kill now are only to be entered into OTW, vineyard derby, or if the fish is my largest for the season. That said, I’ve kept a 25# fish and a 34# fish this year while releasing a lot of teens and twentys. I released a nice fish in the 30# class a few nights ago because I had no reason to take it, something I might not have done in the past. If I take another fish this year it will have to be a potential derby winner, or considerably bigger than the 34 I have already. No need to take anything more for OTW, its pretty much over at this point.