Reading the pages here, I hate to even post... but wth?
1. The hypocricy(sp) of charter boat skippers saying there's a problem with charters killing so many fish is astounding. Do you even read your posts?
2. The SF bill was a fish grab. Pure and simple.
3. Rec's kill way too many fish. We (on this site) travel in a small circle as we release way more than we kill. Such is not the case with most rec's I'd wager (see point 1).
4. Cutting the limit from 2-28 to 1 - 28 would NOT cut the kill by 50% as I'd wager most surf casters keep 1 at a time. It's a PIA lugging 2 fish around. It's a step in the right direction.
5. Fish are following the bait offshore, but is this new? or have a population of fish always done this? Is this population growing or are the coastal fish just dwindling.
6. Saying the fish are there... you just have to WORK harder for them is actually saying that there ARE less fish. (What part of this don't you get) I highly doubt that coastal populations are congrating into fewer bigger schools.
7. People are greedy and people suck.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement -- Keith Benning
I agree with don there should be a 36" limit one fish coast wise. I dont care how the figures are manipulated by special intersts, I know the bass population is going down and most likley crashing in the next five years. I have seen the number of small fish go down every year. Meanwhile I have not taken a fish in a very long time. I have quit fishing live bait and am extreemly carefull with the fish I release. Then I go to westport when the commercial bass season opens and watch the commercials come back from Cuttyhunk loaded to the gills with large prime breeding fish. Dont ask me to disbelieve my own eyes. In regard tothe mas bill being dead. For now possibly, the special intrests win but the mass of the people eventually forces the issue in a democracy. Make stripers a game fish!