Trophy fish

[Tagger]

This is the voice of Doom and Gloom .. It's over Johnny.. The golden Franky D days are gone forever.. Nothing Gold can Stay .. Looking at the demise of our beloved Striped Bass is tunnel vision . All the earths resources are being used at an alarming rate. Too many people,,too much pressure. The whole eco system is wack , not just the Bass . The Striped Bass only hope is for some kind of plague to wipe out 2/3's of the worlds population or for gas to go over 4 dollars a gallon ..

[BassDawg]

Originally Posted by Tagger

This is the voice of Doom and Gloom .. It's over Johnny.. The golden Franky D days are gone forever.. Nothing Gold can Stay .. Looking at the demise of our beloved Striped Bass is tunnel vision . All the earths resources are being used at an alarming rate. Too many people,,too much pressure. The whole eco system is wack , not just the Bass . The Striped Bass only hope is for some kind of plague to wipe out 2/3's of the worlds population or for gas to go over 4 dollars a gallon ..

That is some FUNNY sheet, Tagger!


Tis true, the Golden Days are long gone...................
i would only keep the breeders necessary to procure
sum decent schwag, anyways. ONE 50#'er, ONE 60#'er
for a VS and a shot at a Tundra is a no brainer for me!
the rest of my COWS will live to swim, breed, die of old age, and fight
for many many more moons, God Willing and the Good Lord Providing.

[Flaptail]

There are a zillion fish, trouble is they are mostly small. There is, or was, a lack of bait, big bait up around these parts ( Cape Cod) but there are signs that at least maybe, just maybe, the bunker are coming back (adult bunker), jury is still out.

The outer beach has issues. Seals eating bait and bigger seals eating fish we like to catch and occasionally the fish we are hooked up to at the moment. Work ethic was much more inspiring when there was cash to be made without all the red tape, now the fish for sport crowd for the most part doesn't put that extra little push into it, so..... the real picture is somewhat still fuzzy.

Right now the bait is thick off of the beaches (hence finbacks and Humpies close in chowing sandeels). Seals made little seals and are preoccupied with that but not for long and then they will be back patrolling the shore fom Monomoy to P-Town. Fish have a slight touch of intelligence and stay away from the beach and go to where the seals aren't and the bait is. This leaves the shore bound guy s#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g wind while a mile away his boat bound buds are bailing them on Salty's needles.

What we needs to be done ( and I cannot for the life of me believe I am saying this) is a. make it a gamefish and b. install a slot limit. c. ban forever the taking of river herring and menhaden for commercial or sport purposes.

Lastly, and the tree huggers will love me for this one, we need to thin the seal herds by 2/3rds and control them to practical levels. Seal birth control would do. Just lace something in a bunch of treated baits. Don't kill them (though it would make fine sport) just make them infertile.

Lastly practice catch and release whenever your need for food fish has been met and satisfied.

( fixed the damm soapbox don't ya know)

[BassDawg]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

There are a zillion fish, trouble is they are mostly small. There is, or was, a lack of bait, big bait up around these parts ( Cape Cod) but there are signs that at least maybe, just maybe, the bunker are coming back (adult bunker), jury is still out.

The outer beach has issues. Seals eating bait and bigger seals eating fish we like to catch and occasionally the fish we are hooked up to at the moment. Work ethic was much more inspiring when there was cash to be made without all the red tape, now the fish for sport crowd for the most part doesn't put that extra little push into it, so..... the real picture is somewhat still fuzzy.

Right now the bait is thick off of the beaches (hence finbacks and Humpies close in chowing sandeels). Seals made little seals and are preoccupied with that but not for long and then they will be back patrolling the shore fom Monomoy to P-Town. Fish have a slight touch of intelligence and stay away from the beach and go to where the seals aren't and the bait is. This leaves the shore bound guy s#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g wind while a mile away his boat bound buds are bailing them on Salty's needles.

What we needs to be done ( and I cannot for the life of me believe I am saying this) is a. make it a gamefish and b. install a slot limit. c. ban forever the taking of river herring and menhaden for commercial or sport purposes.

Next, and the tree huggers will love me for this one, we need to thin the seal herds by 2/3rds and control them to practical levels. Seal birth control would do. Just lace something in a bunch of treated baits. Don't kill them (though it would make fine sport) just make them infertile.

Lastly, practice catch and release whenever your need for food fish has been met and satisfied.

( fixed the damm soapbox don't ya know)

Well said and rightly so, Flaptail, providing that the slot limit allows for ONE to be kept outside of the slot ~similar to redfish and snook in FL.

i especially agree with the ban on herring and bunker, although 'forever' seems a little extreme. if we return the premium forage of our beloved MoSax to epic numbers, then i believe that we'll see the younger ones getting bigger quicker; thereby increasing the LAHHHGE genepool and decreasing the amounts of racers. imho, there are far toooo many lean and mean Stripers gracing our shores. give them back their forage in ABUNDANCE for 7 to 10 years and then let's see where the biomass yields itself.

i will venture a guess that the COWS would triple with the combination of gamefish status, slot limits, more and plentiful protein laden bunker, and a "sensible" way to slow down the seal population. Lacing meat with chemicals of any kind sounds like a slippery slope with regards to the entirity of the seas and the food chain themselves.

more pogies certainly could not hurt our oceans and estuaries either.
something has to give, before the whole system breaks. and there is science to suggest, that it already has been broken. will our generation have the stones to at least attempt to be proactive rather than reactive? only time and good judgement will tell......................

oh yeah, thanks for trying, Steve!

[Skitterpop]

I for one firmly #@%^*)(%$@$$@#$^^*(^%$%$@$%&^^^**&#@#%&*%$@#%^$^%*&^^(*&()*+&^%$%#@#% #&%&()*&*%#O)($@#&@#$%$#%^$^%*(^&*_^()_+(+))^%&^*&(*)()($^&%**(*%^#%^$W#%@#^%&%^&*_(+)*%%$^&^^^%R#^%&*)()@$(*_)($ !#^$*)^@#$#Y%$%&**I&(**_)_(+*+(_+(+)+(%$#^%&*&_)*# %$*((*

and that is why I will catch the next 80 lb $#$%^%&&*(**((+_(*&%^%$%$@%$IO()(&%$#@$#%$(*_*)(&%$#%$!@#%T&*^)(O(*{)(_^*$%%$_)*^%%$#$#!@%#Y^%^%%* ^$$&Y%*&U^Y%*&^&*()*_+__+()*(&&^%^%$#576(*%^$&**(* 64&&*_)(_))&%^&*(*^%$78890(089&%$%&*^&())*(*)_)*+_ (_+)++_+_((&*&&^%%$%$#%%%$46870$#%$%&*

I rest my case

[Gunpowder]

Originally Posted by Skitterpop

I for one firmly #@%^*)(%$@$$@#$^^*(^%$%$@$%&^^^**&#@#%&*%$@#%^$^%*&^^(*&()*+&^%$%#@#% #&%&()*&*%#O)($@#&@#$%$#%^$^%*(^&*_^()_+(+))^%&^*&(*)()($^&%**(*%^#%^$W#%@#^%&%^&*_(+)*%%$^&^^^%R#^%&*)()@$(*_)($ !#^$*)^@#$#Y%$%&**I&(**_)_(+*+(_+(+)+(%$#^%&*&_)*# %$*((*

and that is why I will catch the next 80 lb $#$%^%&&*(**((+_(*&%^%$%$@%$IO()(&%$#@$#%$(*_*)(&%$#%$!@#%T&*^)(O(*{)(_^*$%%$_)*^%%$#$#!@%#Y^%^%%* ^$$&Y%*&U^Y%*&^&*()*_+__+()*(&&^%^%$#576(*%^$&**(* 64&&*_)(_))&%^&*(*^%$78890(089&%$%&*^&())*(*)_)*+_ (_+)++_+_((&*&&^%%$%$#%%%$46870$#%$%&*

I rest my case

anyone have a spare decoder

[Skitterpop]

After about 3 years, at the juvenile stage, the females begin to migrate to the ocean where they mature. The males tend to remain in the estuary longer than the females. After 5 to 7 years, females return to spawn for the first time. It takes several years for spawning females to reach full productivity.

[ **** An average 6 year old female produces half a million eggs while a 15 year old can produce three million. ]

[numbskull]

Older fish produce eggs with more lipid energy (larger lipid globules), which in turn gives their larvae a survival advantage when food is scarce.
Older fish have exponentially more eggs per pound of body mass. That means a 40 lb fish carries tens of times more eggs than a 10 lb fish. Killing a single 40 lb fish has the same spawning effect as killing tens of 10 lb fish.
Older fish spawn earlier in the season than smaller fish, which broadens the likelihood of the species total spawning success (some years larvae survival conditions are better early, some years late.....therefore the chances of a good year class are better when spawning is spread out)

Here is another link that has some very pertinent (although not species specific) information on the value of large spawning fish (about 1/2 way thru the article). http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/HsO/PDF/...0Fisheries.pdf

Plan for the future, guys. Eat the 28" fish, brag about the big ones you let go, but killing a big one just to "prove" you caught it and build your reputation as a stud fisherman is shortsighted and selfish in this day and age.........even if once upon a time it was the sign of a fisherman worth admiring.

[2na]

Thank you for enlightening me George -

[Tagger]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Plan for the future, guys. Eat the 28" fish,

When a keeper was 36" and I used to go to fish meetings.. ,They told us the female Striped Bass does not spawn until about 30". It was explained to me the reason the size limit was 36",,, they would be assured the fish had spawned at least once .. Is this true .. and if so why are we taking pre spawn 28" fish . Doesn't make sense ..