Longing for the good old days

[SplitShot]

My first day ever fishing.... my dad starting me freshwater with bobber and worms catching these bluegills, in Howell, back in 1959... I was hooked with a great 1st day of "catching". Soon after we would go out for fluke in the Manasquan River and I would catch them on an old Bamboo rod he gave me.
54 years later and it's still fun!!

[MVP]

Originally Posted by Blackfish Doug

Here's a good old day picture Viking Cod on the nantucket wrecks. In the days with my Jim Morrison cut.

Who is that guy. No Jets hat so it can not be you

[tombanjo]

Yup, I remember that epic 30 day run of giant bluefish up to 25lbs at the mud buoy way back in the fall of '13. Those days are gone for sure.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by tombanjo

Yup, I remember that epic 30 day run of giant bluefish up to 25lbs at the mud buoy way back in the fall of '13. Those days are gone for sure.

I understand the sarcasm, but blues aren't in much danger right now..
Overexploitation is more common with good tasting groundfish.. There is just not that big of a market for blues, and a lot of them are left swimming in the water where they belong.. Give it a few years, maybe some world famous sushi chef will start making delectable creations from fresh bluefish, all the other sushi chefs world wide will copy him and get in on the craze, and before you know it, a 15 pound bluefish is a $500 fish... Instant"overexploitation", and 1 bluefish bag limit..

Stranger things have happened.... bob

[tombanjo]

A few years ago I saw some Korean guy on the top deck with a circle of people around him watching him chowing down with gusto on the side of a big bluefish fillet like a bear on a salmon. Bluefish blood & gore all over his face. Didn't even seem he was aware of us. Whole thing was very primal.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by tombanjo

A few years ago I saw some Korean guy on the top deck with a circle of people around him watching him chowing down with gusto on the side of a big bluefish fillet like a bear on a salmon. Bluefish blood & gore all over his face. Didn't even seem he was aware of us. Whole thing was very primal.

Yikes.. lets pray that sort of thing doesn't catch on, and become a new seafood eating fad... Mowing down on large slabs of fresh greasy bloody bluefish,,,,


I can see it now...

NJ Bluefish regulations-
1 fish per day..
Season June 1 to July 30...
Size limit 25 inches.....

[kmaty]

I only wish people can read what goes through my head when this stuff comes up! One day il sit down and right it all down and blast it with a ten pg post! Not directed personaly at this post just the topic of overfishing regulations and so on! We need to put some footwork in and thats the bottom line not just us comercial guys to. But us rec guys aint no garden of roses either! The oceans like if you gave me acess to a bank account with a hundred billion dollars in it...sure it grows with iinterest...but i know and you know dam well it would come out faster than it would grow! Amd eventually there's none

[HerringKing]

Everybody talks about the "old days" where they had no regulations and you kept a dozen 20 lb fish or 3 at a time. Doesn't anyone realize that's part of the problem? Stripers were wiped out before regulations in the 70's and 80's. Everyone has heard the stories about keeping dozen of big tiderunners in burlap bags, now my generation can't find a 5 lb weakfish. Winter flounder aren't around ( except offshore in the summer) even it we had a bigger bag limit.

I think you old timers need to stop bragging about the "old days" and realize that you are part of the problem. You can't keep 20 big reproducing fish in the 1970 and then complain about there not having fish 30-40 years later.

Just my 2 cents

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by HerringKing

Everybody talks about the "old days" where they had no regulations and you kept a dozen 20 lb fish or 3 at a time. Doesn't anyone realize that's part of the problem? Stripers were wiped out before regulations in the 70's and 80's. Everyone has heard the stories about keeping dozen of big tiderunners in burlap bags, now my generation can't find a 5 lb weakfish. Winter flounder aren't around ( except offshore in the summer) even it we had a bigger bag limit.

I think you old timers need to stop bragging about the "old days" and realize that you are part of the problem. You can't keep 20 big reproducing fish in the 1970 and then complain about there not having fish 30-40 years later.

Just my 2 cents

I understand your consternation,,, Let me say this however... Recreational pressure does not collapse salt water stocks... Simply not enough hooks in the water.. On a local level, say in a bay or river I can see it happening during any given year, however most of these stocks were wiped out by massive commercial fishing, much of it from foreign fleets, with factory ships the size of small towns.. Massive exploitation... We could NEVER do this sort of damage to stocks with a few baited hooks..

Until the advent of gigantic foreign fleets, inshore fish stocks were robust decade after decade after decade... Blackfish were everywhere, and easy to catch forever, UNTIL they became a commercial species of high value.. Same with winter flounder, same with whiting etc etc..

Yes we should have been more conservation oriented, and used some self control back ibn the "good old days"... However, the outcome would not have changed one iota...
Whiting are gone even though anglers catch none..
Flounder stocks are miniscule compared to 30 years ago,, even with a limit of two..

Did recreationals catch all the Bluefins? Swords? Sharks?.. We catch vey few of these large predators in the grand scheme of things.. Its the commercial longliners that have decimated those fish..
Do sport fisherman take too many Menhaden??. Those stocks are down as well..

No thats a strictly commercial only effort...


Eels??? Nope, most recreational guys don't want them, however, they are way down in numbers in recent years.. How could that possibly be?

Horned Dogs?... Pout?.. These species are stressed as well if you listen to the NMFS... whats next, sea robins in peril??..

I agree with the fact that the days of full burlap sacks are at an end and should have been years ago.. However thats NOT why so many food fish are in trouble... Be kind enough to read this article i posted, and then get back to me on where the BIG pressure comes from... bob

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_ship

[HerringKing]

I do agree with you Bob