Commercial bass closing tmr?

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by Slinger

Check the numbers, as of 5 this morning the quota was only at 65%! Could be that they want to get an accurate count???

Bingo
Quota not close to full and behind schedule compared to most years.

[numbskull]

Just asking, what percent of the fish taken so far do people estimate came from Chatham?

[inTHERAPY]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Just asking, what percent of the fish taken so far do people estimate came from Chatham?

100% I know that's an exaggeration but I would bet 75%. I know not much came from areas 13 and 14!

it would seem the chatham fishery did a tune on "small" fish

[fishbones]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Just asking, what percent of the fish taken so far do people estimate came from Chatham?

When I was on vacation last week, I went in to a fish market on the Cape to pick up some stuffies and steamers. I ended up speaking with the owner about the bass coming in from Chatham. He took me in the back room and showed me a few totes overflowing with 34 to 36" fish, all from Chatham. He said that was the only place anyone was getting them, but by last Thursday it had slowed way down.

[Clammer]

Nothing but 34 to 36" fish

sounnds exactly like the Providence River in early JUne in2007,08, 09 &&&&&&&&&& then there were none ><>><><

[Rockfish9]

definatly a lag in reporting somewhere... it's up to 86.9% now...

[redlite]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Just asking, what percent of the fish taken so far do people estimate came from Chatham?

Dan and I were just talking about this last nite.
Chatham has always been the land of the 33 3/4 inch bass.
But based upon Dan's work visits to the empty New Bedford fish houses and here, we estimate about 75% of the quota came from Chatham.
Do the math.
That means about 750,000 lbs. With the average fish there about 15# (though there were a lot more bigger than normal fish mixed in), that's approx 50,000 bass from one mass....Sick.
That's why it slowed down. they were decimated.
The other 25% prob from Block..........
Worst comm season I can remember having from shore in the 17 yrs I've had a comm license........

[Fly Rod]

Originally Posted by redlite

Dan and I were just talking about this last nite.
Chatham has always been the land of the 33 3/4 inch bass.
But based upon Dan's work visits to the empty New Bedford fish houses and here, we estimate about 75% of the quota came from Chatham.
Do the math.
That means about 750,000 lbs. With the average fish there about 15# (though there were a lot more bigger than normal fish mixed in), that's approx 50,000 bass from one mass....Sick.
That's why it slowed down. they were decimated.
The other 25% prob from Block..........
Worst comm season I can remember having from shore in the 17 yrs I've had a comm license........

Let me see if I understand this, you are saying that75% of the qouta came from Chatham and the rest of the million pounds came from Block Island area. Is this correct.

That's a lot of fish.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Fly Rod

Let me see if I understand this, you are saying that75% of the qouta came from Chatham and the rest of the million pounds came from Block Island area. Is this correct.

That's a lot of fish.

The last time I checked, Block Island wasn't anywhere close to Massachusetts territorial waters.

[fatcow]

The fish that came out of Chatham averaged about 18-19lbs. I havent seen that healthy of a fish stock for a long time. 33" inch fish were 17 pounds. Buttrer balls. If the bait is there they will come. I was pulling in 20 lb pollock on almost every trip. Looking at a fish when it came out of the water with the top of its head all beat up from pounding sand for sand eels. All the fish from Ptown to Nantuck have come there to feast on all the bait. Dont want to forget to say loaded with macs out there to. A buddy of mine who flies his plane out there told me that he saw a 15 mile stretch of bass out there. Cool water temps and bait === fish. The highlite of the season for me is that i see lots of people have put the gaff away and adopted the net. If we want to see fishing like this in our neck of the woods we need to fix the bait isue.

[Fly Rod]

Originally Posted by Mike P

The last time I checked, Block Island wasn't anywhere close to Massachusetts territorial waters.

I'm only going by redlites statement of where the other 25% came from on the commercial market. If Chatham sold 75% of the quoter and Block sold illegally the other 25% that means north of Chatham did not cotribute to the commercial catch.

I'm also

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Fly Rod

I'm only going by redlites statement of where the other 25% came from on the commercial market. If Chatham sold 75% of the quoter and Block sold illegally the other 25% that means north of Chatham did not cotribute to the commercial catch.

I'm also

Oh, I'm not confused at all. I was being sarcastic. It's an open secret that a good part of our quota gets filled with fish from RI/NY waters, and, shocking to say, from the EEZ.

To be, a dead fish is a dead fish no matter where it was caught, but legally, you can't possess 30 fish in RI, CT or NY waters with a Mass commercial license. As a guy who only fishes Mass, and only from the shore, I'd prefer that 25% of the quota comes from out of state. As long as there's a quota and the season shuts down when it's filled.

[chathamblue30]

Good to hear the epo's are doing a great job. We did watch a few smaller bass get gaffed and wondered what they planned on doing with them. The net use seems to be catching on for most bass fisherman. It's next to impossible to figure out if a fish is 33.5 or 34 inches while swimming beside the boat.