Predictions on the striper run?

[John D.]

I know of a few guys getting into decent stripers a mile or so off the beach, but any predictions as to when it’s “game on”/mayhem fall mode? Should be interesting especially with the amount of bluefish around this year. Might actually seem “normal” as it used to be 15 years ago.

[Ol Pedro]

November 2nd or after the next Noreaster.

[Aquaman 29]

Right after Thursday's full moon. I hope

[1captainron]

Don't worry, I'm sure there will be lots of Beat downs, Slaughters, lights out, Massacres going on.......

[Gerry Zagorski]

Lots of Sand Eels in the surf right now and some good reports too... A few more cooler nights and it will be lights out and last well into Dec.

[AndyS]

Fish at night.

[FISHGERE]

Don't worry, I'm sure there will be lots of Beat downs, Slaughters, lights out, Massacres going on.......

So true Captain act liked they are fishing in Jenkins aquarium

[hammer4reel]

Enjoy it while you can

They are talking about strict restrictions for 2025

Stock surveys said recruitment levels are super low

[AndyS]

I'd like to see a flat out moratorium. The poaching is already through the roof as it is.

[dales529]

Enjoy it while you can

They are talking about strict restrictions for 2025

Stock surveys said recruitment levels are super low

How much more strict can it get? Never mind I know the answer but disagree
1 fish 28 to 31" and most if not ALL fish are C/R
And dont get me started on the complete BS mortality crap

[dales529]

I'd like to see a flat out moratorium. The poaching is already through the roof as it is.

Be very careful what you wish for! Poaching is a very different and unique issue vs a moratorium which would be hard to rescind and poaching would still continue. Dont punish the good anglers and charter for hires because of poachers. NOT the answer IMHO

[NJ219bands]

Massachusetts commercial fishing 🎣 limit is 15 striped bass per boat per day with a minimum size of 35”. Many striped bass released in NJ are killed then sold in Massachusetts.

[Broad Bill]

Massachusetts commercial fishing �� limit is 15 striped bass per boat per day with a minimum size of 35”. Many striped bass released in NJ are killed then sold in Massachusetts.

Absolutely un&$%^believable. Read the two articles in the attached links. Didn't realize that was MA.'s commercial regulations. They have a 684,000 pound quota which was closed on 8/14/24 because the entire years quota was already filled. The season didn't start for commercials until 6/18/24 when the majority of the stock was still south of their waters so it didn't take long for almost 700,000 lbs. of mega breeders to be killed when the stock arrived in New England waters.

And as Bands mentioned, they're MINIMUM size is 35" with no high grading allowed on board. Good luck enforcing that. So a commercially permitted boat can return with 15 50 lb. bass and it's legal. &%^$%#@ insanity! Fwiw, it would take approximately 23,000 30 lb. fish to fill the 684,000 quota, all over 35", yet recreational anglers get one per day between 28" and 31".

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php/?story_fbid=122154432266096112&id=61552883363026

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MADMF/bulletins/3ae6211

It defies logic how regulations are set between the recreational and commercial sectors. With bass, if we're trying to improve recruitment by protecting all age groups outside the 28" to 31" range, there's no reason the commercial sectors regulations shouldn't address the same. They're allowed to use only rod and reel or handline for catch, no netting allowed, so discard mortality caused by netting if it were allowed doesn't factor into this discussion.

Just curious, what other states have similar psychotic commercial regulations regarding striped bass. Where's ASMFC and MAFMC in all this or don't they have a say? How are there such diametrically opposing regulations between sectors and between states or are all states similar which would be even more disturbing? My heart goes out to Charter and Party boat operators because these types of blatant inconsistencies in the regulations can't be allowed. A recreational boat can fish side by side with a commercial boat in MA. water and the recreational angler is doing the right thing making sacrifices releasing the large breeders and younger age classes while the commercial guy next to them are icing down the large breeders. And I'm sure 15 fish turns into 30 fish which turns into 45 fish before they have their buddies meet them to offload their excess catch offshore before heading back to port to officially offload their "legitimate" catch. What an absolute disgrace and cluster &$%!.

[reason162]

Keep in mind that commercial striped bass landing is 10%, vs 90% for recreational, and they fish to a hard quota.

However you want to spin this, rec sector owns this problem.

[Broad Bill]

Keep in mind that commercial striped bass landing is 10%, vs 90% for recreational, and they fish to a hard quota.

However you want to spin this, rec sector owns this problem.

Commercial / recreational quotas are in the area of 30% / 70%. Be that as it may, why would management implement regulations to protect and restore recruitment within a stock for one sector only to do the exact opposite for commercials? Remember North Carolina and Virginia commercial netters absolutely destroyed this fishery overnight in the 80's purse seining enormous schools of migrating bass in the fall / winter months and the ratio of commercial to recreational quotas was relatively the same then as it is today.

My point is a sector which has as you say a lower percentage of the overall quota can impact 100% of the fishery if the wrong fish are being harvested which in this case they are. And for arguments sake, if they're not the wrong age class fish, why are those same age classes not available to the recreational sector? This is a scenario where the door doesn't swing both ways. If commercials harvest in MA is restricted to rod and reel or handline, let the commercials keep fish between 28" and "31 just like recreational anglers.

And isn't the issue management is tasked with addressing historically low levels of recruitment? If you believe this is strictly a recreationally caused problem we need to own, how do you suggest the sector deal with the absolute exploitation of menhaden in the Chesapeake making the bay a virtual cesspool in the process by creating an imbalance in nature's natural filtration system. Is that being caused by recreational anglers?

Point is there are many factors involved in the decline of this stock, one state killing twenty or thirty thousand mega breeders a year isn't the answer from a relative or absolute perspective.

Recruitment has fallen to levels comparable to the late 80's and 90's. Answer, let the commercial sector in MA. harvest exclusively the largest breeders which are primarily females. Genius!

Commercials fish to a hard quota, tell that to Carlos Rafael or the many other documented cases where other commercial operators fished to their own quota and got caught unless of course you believe we live in a world where everyone plays by the rules.

You can't remove recreational or commercial from this problem or others as in the States of Virginia and North Carolina and Omega Protein but if these problems were caused collectively they need to be resolved collectively and the commercial regulations in MA are senseless and not accomplishing that.

[reason162]

Rec harvest/mortality accounts for 90% of dead bass vs comm's haul. I know it's convenient to blame commercial fishermen for all our woes, but when it comes to striped bass even eliminating the comm harvest entirely (and NOT reallocating that portion to the rec side ie NJ's bonus tag program) would do nothing to solve the current dilemma.

And btw, it seems pretty obvious that the 1-2 punch for many species is overfishing + environmental impact, be it warming/acidifying water or ag runoff or lack of rain during spawn. At this point we would need several years of above-average recruitment in the Chesapeake system to make up for the downward spiral, and that is not how things are trending year after year.

https://i.imgur.com/3CFPyKD.jpeg

[NJ219bands]

Anyone know why Stripers Unlimited was unable to make striped bass a game fish or prevent the slaughter of “bull bass” in their home state of Massachusetts by commercial hook and line fishermen. It appears that Sport Fishing 🎣 lobbyists are less effective than commercial fishing lobbyists. Why is Maryland allowed to kill small striped bass? Why is Pennsylvania allowed to kill small stripers in the Delaware River when the season is closed in NJ for the same fish? Unbelievable.

[Broad Bill]

I read the latest stock assessment as well before posting my previous reply. My 70:30 comment was based on landings alone and it was my mistake categorizing it as overall quota. Your 90:10 ratio between sectors represents total catch which most question the accuracy of as recreational MRIP dead discard numbers and landings for that matter have been admittedly overstated by as much as 40% and truthfully are a complete guess if you ever listened in to a call on how MRIP was built. It's essentially a set of assumptions based on a set of additional assumptions predicated on ten more rounds of questionable assumptions. Truthfully I don't think anyone knows if it's reflective of reality, grossly over-stated or grossly understated but within this past year there was an acknowledgment from I believe NMFS themselves stating recreational catch was overstated by 40%. Commercial dead discard percentages on the other hand are based on the honor system from commercial operator vessel trip reports which there's been published proof those reported percentages are consistently grossly under reported. It's been documented and discussed here quite a few times.

I agree with you that environmental issues are most likely playing a significant part in this fisheries problems. I haven't read anything proving climate change or ocean acidity levels are to blame but I admit it's certainly a possibility. They're theories which I'm not sure have been proven and my opinions are never predicated on theories. If there's articles proving acidity levels are negatively impacting the stock, I'd love to see the links for the articles and understand how the current regulations are addressing that problem. Tony DiLernia from New York, affiliated with MAFMC, in my numerous exchanges used ocean acidification as another conspiracy theory why the fluke stock was declining yet when asked a provide evidence of that fact in an article or research piece he never once provided anything. Lots of theories swirling around, truthfully most if not all don't appear to have any merit.

My point is implementing regulations which mandate the harvest of primarily female mega breeders for commercial interests while the recreational sector's regulations are intended to protect those same classes is counter intuitive and I don't agree harvesting primarily female breeders by commercial concerns in MA will in any way, shape or form help a fishery with a MAJOR recruitment problem. It makes no sense. It's the same crap we're seeing with fluke. Recreational anglers release sub 18" fish, primarily females, all summer long so the commercial guys can net them up in the fall / winter months. There's no logic with these regulations which address the problems impacting the fishery itself. I still believe the powers to be focus too much on catch values for commercials, spending or fishing effort by the recreational sector and zero on the health of the stock which should be their primary focus and happens to be what drives everything else.