Two-fish striper option approved by NJ fisheries council

[DanR]

On Thursday, the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council approved an option for a two-fish limit for the 2015 striped bass season. The approved option allows for one fish between 28 to 43 inches and another fish at 43 inches and above. The size and bag limit must now meet with legislative approval.

http://www.app.com/story/sports/outdoors/fishing/hook-line-and-sinker/2015/01/08/two-fish-striper-option-approved-nj-fisheries-council/21477145/

[swcody13]

Will bonus tags still exist?

[Rob B]

I don't see how this will help the breed stock. Still big fish allowed to be kept.

[1captainron]

Idiots.....Kill the Breeders.

Guess I'll be forced now to go fish with the Bunkers looking to kill all those Big Fat Cows. Never though it would come to this but I gotta survive also.:mad:

Two fish option is BS with the second fish size. Why don't they just say what it is.....1 Fish maybe, if they show.

[kcritch]

I'm no expert but...with one fish needing to be over 43 that would basically eliminate a 2 fish day in Raritan Bay from ever happening. Except for the very very rare occasion....No? Seems like this will really impact those types of areas much more dramatically. Even outside this is a tough one...agreeing with captron that it is effectivily a one fish limit. Wow.

[Joey Dah Fish]

I'm ok with as I don't retain any stripers I just fish for fun. But that's just me. It think they are doing incorrectly by allow the larger fish to be taken and keeping the number of fish taken smaller. The larger fish are what produce the smaller fish. As usual they get it wrong again. I feel sorry for the guys that have head boats and charter. I only can hope they Can talk their people in to fishing for fun not the kill. It's a great experience to catch fish fish I think much more than killing them. There are plenty of dead fish at the market. Just my humbl opinion and I don't expect most of you to agree. That's ok with me you are all entitled to your opinions and I value them.

[Invisible Ralph]

I knew they would mess this up once again! And they did not disappoint :-(

[chrislars]

Isn't the whole point of this to relax the pressure on those 43inch and under fish for at least a year, or so they say? They wanted to have more of those smaller fish reach breeding age. By cutting their keeper rate in half, doesn't that do it, plus allow for trophy fish to be kept, which we see so many people doing anyway?

Hopefully they re-evaluate this after a year, or definitely in 2, and go back to a 2 bag limit at 28 inches+.

I doubt the bonus tag program will be used this year, there has never been a mention of it in any proposals I saw.

[Capt Sal]

I'm no expert but...with one fish needing to be over 43 that would basically eliminate a 2 fish day in Raritan Bay from ever happening. Except for the very very rare occasion....No? Seems like this will really impact those types of areas much more dramatically. Even outside this is a tough one...agreeing with captron that it is effectivily a one fish limit. Wow.

Not really. Many of the bass in Raritan Bay are over 43"in the spring. Like Capt. Ron stated,bunker and targeting larger fish.This is not what a party boat wants to do. Much rather see our patrons take two 28" bass. In NY the second fish must be a breeder also for recreational fisherman. If you are a for hire vessel and buy the permit your patrons are allowed two bass 28" and above. Same body of water with dif.regs per state.

[NJ Dave]

everyone has their own opinion. scientists have their reasoning but we as fisherman have common sense and need to use it NOW.
A 43 inch bass should weigh anywhere between 27 and 35 pounds.
I don't think it's very common that most people catch 30 pound bass or fish greater than 43 inches.
This year I had a big em. 45 lbs. Unfortunatley it was un returnable to the sea and made it s way in the box.
The meat was horrible and tasted like crap
knowing what we know and the declining striped bass fishery we need to use our own common sense and released these fish.
I totally understand captain Ron business has to be run customers want fish and it is what it is
as for the rb only being a one fish day not so much. Remember in the spring ALl these big fish migrate up the Hudson to spawn. Unless they made a new cut to the river RB is the way they travel..... yes mostly big fish.
I think the worst fishery is the New York State spring run Hudson fishery where the bass go to breed.
I cant inderstand why anyone is allowed to harvest a fish that is there for the future.
I fish there purley for catch and release.
Prety soon we will be back to the moritorium and bass will be a thing of the past.
That sea robin post is making more and more sense.

[Capt Sal]

Isn't the whole point of this to relax the pressure on those 43inch and under fish for at least a year, or so they say? They wanted to have more of those smaller fish reach breeding age. By cutting their keeper rate in half, doesn't that do it, plus allow for trophy fish to be kept, which we see so many people doing anyway?

Hopefully they re-evaluate this after a year, or definitely in 2, and go back to a 2 bag limit at 28 inches+.

I doubt the bonus tag program will be used this year, there has never been a mention of it in any proposals I saw.

The bonus tags come from the commercial quota.

[stevejordan]

everyone has their own opinion. scientists have their reasoning but we as fisherman have common sense and need to use it NOW.
A 43 inch bass should weigh anywhere between 27 and 35 pounds.
I don't think it's very common that most people catch 30 pound bass or fish greater than 43 inches.
This year I had a big em. 45 lbs. Unfortunatley it was un returnable to the sea and made it s way in the box.
The meat was horrible and tasted like crap
knowing what we know and the declining striped bass fishery we need to use our own common sense and released these fish.
I totally understand captain Ron business has to be run customers want fish and it is what it is
as for the rb only being a one fish day not so much. Remember in the spring ALl these big fish migrate up the Hudson to spawn. Unless they made a new cut to the river RB is the way they travel..... yes mostly big fish.
I think the worst fishery is the New York State spring run Hudson fishery where the bass go to breed.
I cant inderstand why anyone is allowed to harvest a fish that is there for the future.
I fish there purley for catch and release.
Prety soon we will be back to the moritorium and bass will be a thing of the past.
That sea robin post is making more and more sense.
the hudson regs are supposed to be changing for this spring. its either gona be c&r only or a slot limit, or a slot limit with circle hooks only for bait fishing. the dec did a survey about a month or two ago and now were waiting to see what they come up with

[NJ Dave]

the hudson regs are supposed to be changing for this spring. its either gona be c&r only or a slot limit, or a slot limit with circle hooks only for bait fishing. the dec did a survey about a month or two ago and now were waiting to see what they come up with

Hopefully someone there has half a brain and changes this. The regs up there are one fish 18 inch or greater so basically everyone fishing that catches a fish is removing a breeder every time out.
Believe me they are there to spawn. I have caught little 10 inchers that are dripping sperm when you un hook em

[stevejordan]

its definately changing this year they said... just waiting to see what they decide. the catch and kill tournaments are really bad too and theres lots of them that go on in the spring here, lots of 40"+ fish going to waste

[SandsharkPolar]

With all these stupid a** regulations maybe I better not get rid of my freshwater gear just yet. I really enjoy saltwater fishing and harvesting only a few to eat and the couple of striped bass I kept this year were very good on the table. I guess I'll go back and do some more crappie fishing. Oh yeah, those regs will hurt the party boat and charter business.

[Capt. Lou]

WTF were they thinking! This decimation of breeding stock under these regs will contuine ! Too bad but we r going to paint ourselves into striped bass fisheries dilemma ! Similar to 80's when u could not find a striper ! Simplistic nature of this fishery , will be its own undoing.
If ur ever gonna practice C & R this is the year!:mad:

[stevejordan]

just because youre aloud to keep one bass over 43" doesnt mean you have to. a good photo of a monster catch and the memory of the fish swimming away will last a lot longer than a few meals.

[hammer4reel]

while I would have liked to see the slot of the sizes be a little tighter . the new regs will save alot of those fish between 30 and 40 pounds as more than likely many will fall shy of the 43" mark.

so sure some of the bigger 40# plus fish will make the second slot , but those are not caught as much as the fish in the 36-43 inch fish are.
so I like seeing half the stock go back to swim another day .

Hopefully they really tighten up the bonus tag quota also as I think it is a disgrace that a cow bass is only worthy of a 2$ tag

[Fisherman120]

Stupid.... When livelining from a boat 43 inch fish are more common then fish below 35 inches, what will happen is the first keeper will be caught and after that plenty of 29-42 inch will swallow the hook down, be released, and inevitably die as livelining hookups are usually fatal. This will keep happening until that boat catches their 43+ inch limit which most days won't happen. When fishing is good these regs will only hurt the population more in my honest opinion as fish up to 43 will keep being released.

[pgoins]

Hopefully someone there has half a brain and changes this. The regs up there are one fish 18 inch or greater so basically everyone fishing that catches a fish is removing a breeder every time out.
Believe me they are there to spawn. I have caught little 10 inchers that are dripping sperm when you un hook em

You're right about the spawn part but a 10" fish is on a little over a year old. It has another couple of years to go before they able to breed. Age 4 is when I believe they are able to actively breed.

As for the fish in the raritan. This reg basically cuts it to one fish. Even when live bunker fishing a 43" fish are few and far between.

I suppose the thinking was to cut down on all the 28-42" taken. You're basically cutting that in half. That size range are considered to be the most active breeders.
All of that being said I still would have rather seen a tighter slot like 28-32" and one over 36.

For those who believe we are heading for another moratorium, I disagree. The conditions that existed in the past do not exist today. Not even close. Go back and look at what the regs were in the 50's 60's 70's & 80's. No size or bag limits most of that time and the charter and head boats were basically commercial fisherman selling most of their catch at the dock.

[NJ Dave]

The proposal says 28-43 inches and then one over 43 so either way only larger fish are getting killed.
Live line usually kills fish if you snag and drop with the trebbles. You can snag, bring in and then send back out on a circle hook.
Who knows..... we shall see what occurs years down the road.

[hammer4reel]

The proposal says 28-43 inches and then one over 43 so either way only larger fish are getting killed.
Live line usually kills fish if you snag and drop with the trebbles. You can snag, bring in and then send back out on a circle hook.
Who knows..... we shall see what occurs years down the road.
You really know very little about bass fishing. First you posted no one is catching 43" fish when there are thousands caught every spring by guys who know how to fish.
Then say fish die eating trebles.
If you set the hook immediately on a snag dropped bunker the hook is normally in the roof of their mouth.
And since the hooks pressure is across three hooks it usually doesn't get buried as deep.
We barely have to touch a snag weight to remove it from the fishes mouth. Many times having way less damage than a normal j hook.

[NJ Dave]

You are right Capt Dan... what do i know.
Mabey one day ill be cool enough to join your 50 lb release club so i might have a little clue about bass.

[Reel Class]

No matter what regs are put forth there's always going to be a sect of anglers that's unhappy and another or two that will "settle" for what's now considered our new norm. There was a post on facebook denouncing the "2 fish limit" in NJ, and here's my response:

"The "2" fish limit in NJ is basically semantics. With our migration and the fish that we see, it's very difficult to catch "larger" bass with "schoolie" size bass - those 43"+ fish are our spring fish that usually are in that size class, while the "smaller" 28-35" fish are the fish we see in the fall. Rarely do you see these size classes mix with one another, but of course there are exceptions. In regards to breeders - in filleting hundreds if not thousands of bass in recent memory - the "size" of the females with eggs doesn't seem to matter... They can be 28-30", they can be 50" - IMO the ratio is very similar in both size classes in regards to which fish have viable eggs. SO, my point it, on a charter or party boat, or on the beach - it will take one helluva an effort and A LOT of luck (and possibly mobility) to obtain a "LIMIT" of bass this coming season."

Yeah, there will be days where you nail a 41" and a 44" fish, but the likelihood of killing a "cow" sized fish and a "schoolie", ON THE SAME DAY, is unlikely.

We'll make due with what we got.

[hammer4reel]

You are right Capt Dan... what do i know.
Mabey one day ill be cool enough to join your 50 lb release club so i might have a little clue about bass.


real simple is you made statements that are just so incorrect in your posts here.

reason charter boats do so much snag and drop now is we have found that there normally is alot less gut hooked fish as guys arent waiting till the fish has the bunker its stomach doing a ten count.
they set the hook on the hit , the treble being in the fishes mouth. and oddly since the pressure is displaced over three large hooks they reallly pop out of the basses mouth with alot less effort. even many times just opening the fishes mouth the hook just falls free.

It allows a super fresh bait to be in the strike zone instead of a washed out livewell bunker that doesnt have a good slime coat on it and doesnt draw as many strikes.

oceanside I would say well over 50% of the bass are caught snag and drop . and after seeing the actual difference between both methods there def is less damage to the fish overall using the snag and drop .
That judgement being made after having seen thousands of bass boatside

[Take a kid fishing]

There were so many 15 to 22 inch fish this fall on soft plastics that we could not keep them off the line so they will be bigger next year in spring. Think of the party boats don't live line so what do they do? Make it 2 fish, one 26-30 and one over 30 with no bonus tag. Not eating the big ones anyway.

["Reef Donkey"]

What is wrong with 2 at 28"-34" ?

[makosnax]

This should make party boat pools interesting. " I threw back a 34" hoping for a 40" but got beat in the pool by the guy who kept his first 28"

[Harpoon]

Some great information in this thread. Some of my favs are:
No fish in the bay above 43"
Fish above 40" go to waste in kill tournaments
Snag and drop with treble kills most fish

Keep em coming!

[AndyS]

How many people here went to the striped bass meetings open to the public ?

[Capt. Lou]

You're right about the spawn part but a 10" fish is on a little over a year old. It has another couple of years to go before they able to breed. Age 4 is when I believe they are able to actively breed.

As for the fish in the raritan. This reg basically cuts it to one fish. Even when live bunker fishing a 43" fish are few and far between.

I suppose the thinking was to cut down on all the 28-42" taken. You're basically cutting that in half. That size range are considered to be the most active breeders.
All of that being said I still would have rather seen a tighter slot like 28-32" and one over 36.

For those who believe we are heading for another moratorium, I disagree. The conditions that existed in the past do not exist today. Not even close. Go back and look at what the regs were in the 50's 60's 70's & 80's. No size or bag limits most of that time and the charter and head boats were basically commercial fisherman selling most of their catch at the dock.

I'm not sure how u can compare r present day fishery with the fishery that existed in 50's thru 70's !
I fished heavily for stripers during this time frame & one factor alone that has noticeably changed , the amount of boats Striper fihinhg now as opposed to then ! Many more today , u would find very party boats chasing stripers then !
They had plenty of other species to chase when seasons were basically open year round. !
The info on how to take fish was limited & u more or less had to learn on UR own , today it's common shared knowledge !
Back then the population of local bass was not as substantial as u have today!
Remember this bunker fishing didn't really catch on until the 70's prior to that trolling was the most practiced method & fall jigging second !

[Pauls1976]

No matter what regs are put forth there's always going to be a sect of anglers that's unhappy and another or two that will "settle" for what's now considered our new norm. There was a post on facebook denouncing the "2 fish limit" in NJ, and here's my response:

"The "2" fish limit in NJ is basically semantics. With our migration and the fish that we see, it's very difficult to catch "larger" bass with "schoolie" size bass - those 43"+ fish are our spring fish that usually are in that size class, while the "smaller" 28-35" fish are the fish we see in the fall. Rarely do you see these size classes mix with one another, but of course there are exceptions. In regards to breeders - in filleting hundreds if not thousands of bass in recent memory - the "size" of the females with eggs doesn't seem to matter... They can be 28-30", they can be 50" - IMO the ratio is very similar in both size classes in regards to which fish have viable eggs. SO, my point it, on a charter or party boat, or on the beach - it will take one helluva an effort and A LOT of luck (and possibly mobility) to obtain a "LIMIT" of bass this coming season."

Yeah, there will be days where you nail a 41" and a 44" fish, but the likelihood of killing a "cow" sized fish and a "schoolie", ON THE SAME DAY, is unlikely.

We'll make due with what we got.


Well said Allen, you summed up my thoughts perfectly!

[bulletbob]

I'm not sure how u can compare r present day fishery with the fishery that existed in 50's thru 70's !
I fished heavily for stripers during this time frame & one factor alone that has noticeably changed , the amount of boats Striper fihinhg now as opposed to then ! Many more today , u would find very party boats chasing stripers then !
They had plenty of other species to chase when seasons were basically open year round. !
The info on how to take fish was limited & u more or less had to learn on UR own , today it's common shared knowledge !
Back then the population of local bass was not as substantial as u have today!
Remember this bunker fishing didn't really catch on until the 70's prior to that trolling was the most practiced method & fall jigging second !

Correct.. I was around during those days as well .. Spring was flounder time for the party boats that stayed in the bay and rivers, and whiting and ling for boats that were ocean fishing.. Mackerel too just a tad later in the spring.. Then as whiting/ling and flounder dropped off, blackfish took hold and sea bass with them by mid May... Then it was blues or fluke except for the strictly bottom boats that stayed with sea bass, and whatever bottom species were around... Summer bluefish boats got weaks as well at times, and stripers were mainly seen as a bycatch on head boats until fall when they were targeted along with the bluefish..

Point is, Very few head boats chased bass the way they do today.. They were really not targeted.. They were caught of course usually fishing for other species.. If you wanted stripers, you surf fished, chartered with a good captain that knew when and where, or used your own boat..
The pressure stripers are under these days is monumental from a historical perspective.. They are taking up the slack for 3 or 4 other once very common species that have become quite scarce in the modern age.. i fear a collapse before too long.. i hope I am wrong but man, stripers are getting blasted these days. even during the spawn.. Not good... bob

[pgoins]

Well since I really wasn't on the water until the 80's came around I don't have that kind of experience. But I got my info from the numerous articles written and books that I have read about striper fishing during that time period. All of them point to huge catches per day on the head boats and private charters. They said that many of the private charters acted more like commercial fisherman allowing their fares to to keep a few and they sold the rest.

Commercial fishing was also wide open during that time period with no limits or quota's. There's no way to tell what those #'s amounted too but it's understood they were huge. All of that before you consider the type of run off and dumping that was going on back in prime spawning areas in the hudson and Chesapeake.

Yes there are many more boats fishing for bass now, but I stand by my original statement that not nearly the same conditions exist now as there did in the years leading up to the moratorium.

I've asked this question on other sites without any response: With all the attention we're giving to striped bass, why aren't we addressing the decline of the weakfish? They are almost all gone here in the Raritan area.

[reason162]

It's not like they're doing away with a slot limit fish (you could take 2 fish of any size over 28" last year), and as mentioned no one has to kill any fish of any size if they don't want to.

This will effectively cut down the striped bass limit to 1 for most anglers in the RB, esp party boat fares. Like it or not I find all this talk re "well now we're just gonna be forced to kill more breeders" idiotic.

[NJ Dave]

Where can we find out when and where these meetings are?

[Michael82929]

My biggest surprise on this thread is that people actually care what the federal government is actually passing down to the fishery.. :rolleyes:

Yea I said it.. hahah:)

My opinion on the regs.. who cares about my opinion, or your opinion when our opinions don't matter anymore.

So.. yes I agree with everyone :)

[Capt. Lou]

Where can we find out when and where these meetings are?

Many meetings r posted on this site by newsman . If u do attend one U'll be in for a surprise on how many do not attend ! In all fairness sometimes locations & dates make attendance difficult for most.

[pgoins]

Many meetings r posted on this site by newsman . If u do attend one U'll be in for a surprise on how many do not attend ! In all fairness sometimes locations & dates make attendance difficult for most.

I agree Lou. This last meeting was at 4:00 on a Thursday all the way down in Galloway township. It really doesn't surprise me that so few show up.

[bulletbob]

Well since I really wasn't on the water until the 80's came around I don't have that kind of experience. But I got my info from the numerous articles written and books that I have read about striper fishing during that time period. All of them point to huge catches per day on the head boats and private charters. They said that many of the private charters acted more like commercial fisherman allowing their fares to to keep a few and they sold the rest.

Commercial fishing was also wide open during that time period with no limits or quota's. There's no way to tell what those #'s amounted too but it's understood they were huge. All of that before you consider the type of run off and dumping that was going on back in prime spawning areas in the hudson and Chesapeake.

Yes there are many more boats fishing for bass now, but I stand by my original statement that not nearly the same conditions exist now as there did in the years leading up to the moratorium.

I've asked this question on other sites without any response: With all the attention we're giving to striped bass, why aren't we addressing the decline of the weakfish? They are almost all gone here in the Raritan area.

Your information is not accurate, with all due respect... CHARTERS did fish for bass.. Head boats did not, except as a 3 for 1 kind of deal in the fall with blues and weaks, along the beaches when the mullet run was in full swing.. I have NO recollection of party boats fishing the spring spawning run of stripers back in the 60's and 70's they way they do today.. As stated, you had spectacular fishing for a variety of other species, and could fill burlap sacks with them.. Most head boat fishermen didn't want stripers in those days.. Surf fishermen, private boats, and charters went after them.. Not head boats.... There simply was not the same pressure on them.. bob

[Capt Sal]

It's not like they're doing away with a slot limit fish (you could take 2 fish of any size over 28" last year), and as mentioned no one has to kill any fish of any size if they don't want to.

This will effectively cut down the striped bass limit to 1 for most anglers in the RB, esp party boat fares. Like it or not I find all this talk re "well now we're just gonna be forced to kill more breeders" idiotic.

When people are paying good money to charter a boat they want to take home some fillets. If they get there 28" or 34" bass are they done? They will keep fishing and most will keep a fish over 43" if they get the chance.
When live lining or chunking for that matter there will be days when it is
possible to get the under and the 43" plus.
The guys with there own boats that are striper finatics don't kill as many fish as you think. Last year I killed three fish. I ate one and gave two to the land owner that lets me hunt. When I posted pictures of multiple bass they were charters. When you pay you are doing nothing wrong if you want to keep your legal limit. We all have to practice conservation but we still have to follow the ridiculous laws the fishery management have put in place.By the way,my wife also released all the bass she caught

[pgoins]

Your information is not accurate, with all due respect... CHARTERS did fish for bass.. Head boats did not, except as a 3 for 1 kind of deal in the fall with blues and weaks, along the beaches when the mullet run was in full swing.. I have NO recollection of party boats fishing the spring spawning run of stripers back in the 60's and 70's they way they do today.. As stated, you had spectacular fishing for a variety of other species, and could fill burlap sacks with them.. Most head boat fishermen didn't want stripers in those days.. Surf fishermen, private boats, and charters went after them.. Not head boats.... There simply was not the same pressure on them.. bob

There wasn't much of a spring run back then mostly due the haul sieners in the bay.(Which was eventually banned in the 80's). But they took everything from bass, weakfish, and of course the bunker. NO bait...no fish. Unlike today where we have a tremendous amount of bait throughout the bay in the spring. But all of the old school party boat captains told me of times when they could have sunk the boat with all the bass they had on deck. If they were around, they caught them. Maybe not as much in the spring as they do now, but they got them.

I want to make sure I'm clear though. I'm by no means blaming any one reason for the moratorium. There were no regs on either side until the late 70's. Then I think it went to 30 fish at 12"min for rec's. All I'm saying is there was tremendously more pressure on striped bass. It came from all sides. Think about it? Where did all those fish go if there wasn't that much pressure on them? I remember my dad telling me stories of surf fishing in the late 70's when I guy caught a striper it was a big deal. Catches were few and far between. We are nowhere near that today. My dad was looking at my log over the holidays and he couldn't believe how many fish I caught from the shore. And I admit it was a bad year, but I sum it up to all the beach replenishment they did in northern Monmouth. There were some frustrating early mornings that I can see massive schools of bait with bass crashing them 1/4 mile off the beach. Never came close enough to cast to though. Many of the Jetty's north of Deal are completely covered in sand now killing much of the fish and bait holding structure. My best days(well night really) from shore came on river side. Most of my hot spots from the past were alive this year. I focused much of my surf casting attention there. Fished oceanside only 11 times with little to show. Did get lucky with a right time right place moment. But that was it.

I did a lot of boat fishing in fall again though and had excellent fishing. Most of the trips were quicky afternoon trips but all produced. Many of them were great. I keep very little fish throughout the year, releasing about 98% of keeper size fish. Had 2 fish over 40# this year that are still swimming. I hope. I am a captain and work several boats as a fill in mate or captain. The main boat i worked only allowed fares to keep one fish while we were trolling in the spring and catching 25#-35lb fish. We didn't take any more breeders than that and we were going to play catch and release while trolling spoons. Too much damage done to the fish.

I'm not in full favor with the new reg but I believe it will greatly reduce the total take.

[Reel Class]

Your information is not accurate, with all due respect... CHARTERS did fish for bass.. Head boats did not, except as a 3 for 1 kind of deal in the fall with blues and weaks, along the beaches when the mullet run was in full swing.. I have NO recollection of party boats fishing the spring spawning run of stripers back in the 60's and 70's they way they do today.. As stated, you had spectacular fishing for a variety of other species, and could fill burlap sacks with them.. Most head boat fishermen didn't want stripers in those days.. Surf fishermen, private boats, and charters went after them.. Not head boats.... There simply was not the same pressure on them.. bob

Most head boat guys in the 60's, 70's, early to mid 80's had whiting, mackerel and ling to fish for in April and May, followed by seabass, ling, and tog.

You're right, no boat guys, especially head boat guys wanted to bass fish because there were many other tasty critters out there in incredibly large #'s that were easy to catch, cheap to target, and made their customers happy.

For years growing up I remember seeing all the headboats targeting whiting and ling on magic hours trips sitting on the Mantoloking Pipe stacked up side by side destroying the whiting and ling. For mackerel a lot of the time you just had to run to the klondike or manasquan ridge (some of the time inside of there) and could fill garbage cans with mackerel.

Boats weren't spending much on bait and fuel, and they were railing the boats EVERY DAY - why go swim bunkers or drown clams for a few bass when their #'s were undoubtedly low? LOL

Regs are dictating what we fish for these days. If we could tog fish in May, if mackerel migrations changed again, or if whiting were properly regulated commercially 40 years ago we wouldn't be having this discussion, but we are.

[Chrisper4694]

i didn't have time to read everyones posts but i'd imagine that no one is happy with this because it doesn't help anything... most of us don't want to keep a big fish like that, we want a few smaller (28-34") fish. the perfect day to me would be boxing enough 28-34" stripers for how ever many guys are fishing and then to catch and release as many bigger fish as possible!

keeping small-med legal sized fish help the fishery grow more bigger fish! people just don't get that. keeping bigger fish isn't going to help anything...

there should be a slot for every game fish, i've said it before... for example stripers, 2 fish 28-(34-36", whatever limit is reasonable) and no fish from 36"-high 40's or even 50! why would anyone need to keep a fish that big? After that keep a slot for the truly big fish i guess if someone wanted to keep a trophy. and just put a special way to register for contests for that day you can weigh in fish in the whole range.

small-med fish taste better and keeping them helps the big fish get bigger and there be more of those big fish!

[barbarian]

BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO! Michael8292 that was the most poetic post ive ever read on this site.i too AGREE with everyone on the only thing i can add to this GAME we all are playing is follow the smoke and you will find the fire SHOW ME THE MONEY! Good Luck to ALL in this spider web.