Mass. weighs tougher protections for striped bass

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by big jay

Am I totally crazy here -- when the heck did it become written in stone that Bass Fishing now is in the toilet?
Reading all these posts it seems like there are no bass and the fishery is dieing.

I'm normally not this bold online, but I had a kick-ass '09 season, and so did most all of the guys I hang out with/talk to.

I don't get this.

Just guessing here, so please excuse me if I'm wrong. But, based in RI and fishing out of Sandwich you likely had a decent season in CCB and Race Point. You were likely helped by the use of hi grade sonar, GPS, radar, and cell phone contacts. You had access to and the knowledge of a remaining center or body of fish that allowed you to be successful. Guys on BI had something similar. Huge areas in between and to the periphery of that body of fish had nothing. THAT is the sign of trouble.

When fish begin to dwindle, it is the periphery and less bait intensive areas that show the strain first. Ask the guys in Maine how the fishing was. The North Shore. Vineyard Sound. Buzzards Bay.

Consider also 30 years ago. Guys would hammer bass all summer in CCB, just like this year........but while they were doing so guys would be hammering bass behind the Vineyard, off Monomoy, the outer cape, the North Shore, the merrimac, NH, Maine, Narragansett, etc.
That no longer happens, even though there are more people fishing with far better fish finding equipment.

Guys like Cow Hunter have a twisted perspective on things. They are smart fisherman and very competitive. With live/dead bait, advanced electronics, developed networks, mobile rigs, and lots of effort they are able to access and hammer the remaining mass of fish quite successfully. They forget that 30-40 years ago, without any of those tools, many many more people were even more successful than they are now.

Not that they would care. The scarcity of fish drives up the value of what they can still catch. It makes their services as a charter captain worth paying for. $800 for a charter is much easier to justify when each customer comes home with 20-30 lbs of fish worth $10-12/lb. Likewise, the travel and gas expense is well worth it for commercial guys when the price of fish is high........and scarcity keeps the price of fish high.

For most people, however, fishing is not about making money or paying customers, it is about a pleasant diversion from the substantial stress in the rest of their lives. A scarcity of fish ruins that for them. Either they can move on to something else, or they can use their numbers and votes to change the system that ignores them..........at the expense of the guys who profit from a depleted resource.

[JFigliuolo]

It's like George reads my mind...

[MAKAI]

" Nuff " said.

[CowHunter]

The same goes for recreational fishermen. Like it or not, we have no "right" to catch and keep striped bass. As a migratory species their utilization is by law controlled by the Federal government. If we don't like it it is Federal not State law that has to change. That isn't likely (you want NC deciding how many fish they can keep?).

Seeing schools of bass killed like that is upsetting, but the fish in that picture are only a fraction of what got killed in the canal this past memorial day.

(Post sound familiar) - Above Posted by numbskull

Numbskull, am I so twisted??
Is it different than me wanting stripersforever making a decision on whats best for Mass Com guys? Giving everybody 20" slot limits? I dont know anybody that wants 20" slot limits, dont see that as being part of a solution.
And its all comm guys killing the fish in the canal too!

Im not disagreeing with everything you said, I posted alot of my Observations from experience up and down the coast. My problem is the blame is just going on the comms when they in no way kill as many fish as the rec guys. Just look at all the info on NOAA. I dont agree with that 100% because I know that the numbers are much higher. At least the comms hit their number and shut it down.

Alot of those areas you mentioned were dead, most of the time, in July and August. I also did have some of my biggest numbers EVER in areas you mention while people were at home on the internet complaining about no fish.

There are more variables that you are overlooking. There are Way more people fishing for bass then ever. Weather patterns, bait patterns all have changed, all contributing circumstances to what striped bass do. Migration has changed. The EEZ zone protects bass.You may not like the fact that the fish arent holding to their summer patterns, plain and simple. They come through in May and June and dont stop and stay. All those areas you mentioned had a great spring, just the fish didnt stay. For whatever reason there was nothing to hold em there. I guess scup wasnt enough. All the surf guys were happy as could be on Cutty in the Spring remember. Unfortunately surf guys cant go everywhere the fish go, I know because Ive done it since I can remember and its what I love most. So the fish dont hold in the areas you mention in July and August after you had a spectacular run in buzzards bay and vineyard sound in the spring. I know those fish didnt get wiped out. September and October the fish came back through, maybe all not the same route. (In Nj we get the monsters in the spring and miles of rats in the fall. Those fish get wiped out? because they do seem to come through in the spring). Funny I didnt see as many people fishing their in the fall but I can tell you it was not a barren wasteland. Fishing a tourney on a few rockpiles in vinyard sound and nomans I had more fish than I wanted to count, they may not have been monsters but really good number to fish to 25lbs....

I may not have fished 40 years ago so I cant say from experience as to what happened then when the fish were stacked everywhere you went....

Everything I wrote and posted I wrote from my own experiences and observations and not other peoples complaints. I can sit home and complain or go fishing. Your very fortunate to have fishing theraputic for you and something you can selfishly enjoy, been there, done that. Unfortunately I dont always share the same, its not always enjoyable for me when its work. Im forced to go when I dont really want to when its work. Blowin 30, rain, cold, snotty. I will say that I have found it rewarding when I put smiles on many of my clients faces and given em' once in a lifetime trophies along with trips they will never forget.

Im really gonna stop rambling. People want change and change is a coming anyway, maybe do with bass like the fluke, closed zones like the red snapper fishery in the south, divers help make that decision so they can enjoy watching fish swim. There is alot on the table. Me Ill just roll with the punches, no need to complain...

On a side note, They do have pay to fish fish farms where you can catch fish on every cast if it ever came down to it...

[CowHunter]

The above paragraph was posted by Numbskull... I cut and Pasted it.

[CowHunter]

Incase You wanted to post my writings at your club :-))

[CowHunter]

I am an electrician from MA I have far less of a clue on Marine Fisheries Management than many. I do know the last time we had a summer like we had this year was in the 80's Large fish being pounded off the block out off the rips in MV etc. We all know what happened then. The moratorium. When commercial fishing ended for Striped bass what happened the stocks came back in a Major way. They reopened the comm fishery and we are where we are now. Below average YOY indexes and breeders getting slaughtered.
Before I get ripped apart - ABOVE POSTED BY JACKBASS
JackBass
As you said, you have far less of a clue on marine management than many, but you wrote over a hundred letters. I know your trying to do what you think is the right thing on what little facts you have. You are on one extreme with stripers forever and that is shut down mass. Why because they are one of the commercial states that have a legit reporting system when the recs have none. Would such a fuss be made if there was no poundage quoata and you were allowed to sell fish commercially in Mass from July 1 to aug 31???
What happened in the 80's is in no way the same and the summer in block isnt what caused it. Do you even know what kind of limits to commercials and recs had back then??? Or what kind of regulations, dragging, gillnetting etc???
You do knowWe do have an EEZ which is basically closed waters for striped bass, did we have that in the 80's. you do know that they shut Chesapeake bay down from Jan to may??? There are alot more measures in Place.
Unfortunately the inshore fishery has seen a decline in many areas, just the same it has flourished in others.
If youre gonna fish the same spot year after year and hope they show, well thats on you...

Preach your story to the Crab guys down south, they are blaming the striped bass for eating all the crab. They say there is way to many striped bass.


You gonna hand out my posts at your club too ?!?!?!

[sokinwet]

Hey Cowhunter.....I'm going to INVITE you to my club!