Striped bass busts gone wild !!

[tuna john]

what stinks is North and central jersey get to catch these fish for a long period of time, unfortunately when they start heading south they head offshore past the eez. i am pretty confident its the same body of fish that have migrated from the north. While I don't advocate breaking any laws, cant blame guys who do it. The law needs to be changed as its antiquated and in reality doesn't protect the species

[Angler Paul]

Protecting the stripers in the EEZ is a good law as it applies to both recreational and commercial fishermen along the entire east coast. The stocks would be devastated if we opened the EEZ to fishing for them as many winter off Virginia and North Carolina. There they would be easy targets for the netters who would wipe them out in no time.

Paul Haertel

[Capt. Lou]

I agree with Paul , in the past these fish were slaughtered , offshore protection is a must or else it would repeat itself ! Plenty fish inshore in most years to catch .

[Tomm24]

Just call me Darwin but I have a theory that short of spawning Stripers will become a slightly offshore fish due to natural selection

[Walleyed]

Originally Posted by Tomm24

Just call me Darwin but I have a theory that short of spawning Stripers will become a slightly offshore fish due to natural selection

No such critter as an offshore striper. The stripers simply follow the bait fish during their migrations. Some years they stay close, other years they move out beyond the 3 mile line. All stripers procreate in freshwater.