Asmfc- striped bass stock low?-jump on any charter or head boat

[WESTWIND]

Originally Posted by fishunt

Your kidding go on a boat to south jersey or delaware bay and see how many bass are being caught down their. I could probably count on one hand how many. Fish the surf and back bay and you will see not many big fish being caught. I'm sure I'll get bash for this reply. But if you think the bass aren't in trouble then I must be crazy.

Some areas are hurting that is for sure. The Hudson strain that invades Raritan Ban and it's adjacent waters is extremely healthy. One size does not fit all. Let the regs reflect the quality of bass fishing in each area. Release all fish over 38 in.

[Togfather2530]

Fisherman lol. Have a good run or season and the act like there is no need for the restrictions. Same with the sea bass. I’ve had plenty of sub par striper fishing in the ny bight area the last few years.

[bulletbob]

yeah I dunno... back in the 80's there was NO striper fishery for the most part... Just not enough of them out there.. However, there were a very few guys that would catch them consistently and they were big,, For those guys the stock was healthy, because they knew where the fish were, and how to catch them.. Thats does NOT indicate a good population.. It meant that a small population was figured out by a few good fisheremen..
These days there are guys that go out and limit on big tog every trip... All that means is they know where there are good numbers in certain areas that will bite.. It does NOT indicate that the fish are in good shape population wise.. Just means there are pockets of fish where a few guys know how when and where to catch them...


I never considered stripers a fish that could be exploited by hundreds of boats packed with fishermen on a daily basis, and remain viable long term.. I just keep thinking of the weakfish I knew as a younger man.. Those fish were everywhere, until they weren't. They were over exploited for years, went away, and just never came back.. If that happens to Stripers..... well,,,, bob

[dales529]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

yeah I dunno... back in the 80's there was NO striper fishery for the most part... Just not enough of them out there.. However, there were a very few guys that would catch them consistently and they were big,, For those guys the stock was healthy, because they knew where the fish were, and how to catch them.. Thats does NOT indicate a good population.. It meant that a small population was figured out by a few good fisheremen..
These days there are guys that go out and limit on big tog every trip... All that means is they know where there are good numbers in certain areas that will bite.. It does NOT indicate that the fish are in good shape population wise.. Just means there are pockets of fish where a few guys know how when and where to catch them...


I never considered stripers a fish that could be exploited by hundreds of boats packed with fishermen on a daily basis, and remain viable long term.. I just keep thinking of the weakfish I knew as a younger man.. Those fish were everywhere, until they weren't. They were over exploited for years, went away, and just never came back.. If that happens to Stripers..... well,,,, bob

Again when all the reports say that the hundreds of boats killed the bite and put the fish down how was the fishery exploited? "had to get there early as traffic killed the bite" "fishing shut down as soon as the traffic built" "had to leave the fleet to find a few fish" Netting depleted bait and stripers not recs
Stripers when saved ate all the weakfish!

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by dales529

Again when all the reports say that the hundreds of boats killed the bite and put the fish down how was the fishery exploited? "had to get there early as traffic killed the bite" "fishing shut down as soon as the traffic built" "had to leave the fleet to find a few fish" Netting depleted bait and stripers not recs
Stripers when saved ate all the weakfish!

I have no problem with keeping fish.. I would keep a smallish keeper striper myself without hesitation, and have in the past.. Not that big a fan anyway, to me they taste like a rag that you wiped your hands on after replacing a head gasket.

The Weakfish were more or less already gone by the time the Stripers came back strong.

Just saying the fish are not everywhere, they aren;t spread out evenly , and are getting hit hard.. Every for pay operation and every private boat are on those fish right now, as the only other inshore species is Tog, and many boats will stay on the Stripers until they leave or become too inactive to feed aggressively.. Then come April, that intense pressure comes to bear again as the fish head up the Hudson to spawn, and lasts into June when the Fluke start to show.

I don't have an answer- honestly, I am simply not that bright.. I do however personally feel that they just can't weather this type of extreme fishing pressure in a relatively small area, and that something has to give.. I really hope your opinion is valid, and mine is far off the mark.. I hope for everyone's sake[especially the bass!] that they are here to catch in big numbers every year . However at my age, I have simply seen the same thing happen to too many other species that I fished for all my life, and love to catch.. All still around to catch, not extinct or anything, but reduced to a tiny fraction of what they were historically, and what they should be in a sane world.

Problem is these fish make their home right in the middle of a population of over 30 million people that are within an hour or two drive away, and a lot of those people like to catch fish and eat them. So its the same old story really..

Simply too many people wanting to catch and eat a finite number of fish.. bob

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by bulletbob

I have no problem with keeping fish.. I would keep a smallish keeper striper myself without hesitation, and have in the past.. Not that big a fan anyway, to me they taste like a rag that you wiped your hands on after replacing a head gasket.

The Weakfish were more or less already gone by the time the Stripers came back strong.

Just saying the fish are not everywhere, they aren;t spread out evenly , and are getting hit hard.. Every for pay operation and every private boat are on those fish right now, as the only other inshore species is Tog, and many boats will stay on the Stripers until they leave or become too inactive to feed aggressively.. Then come April, that intense pressure comes to bear again as the fish head up the Hudson to spawn, and lasts into June when the Fluke start to show.

I don't have an answer- honestly, I am simply not that bright.. I do however personally feel that they just can't weather this type of extreme fishing pressure in a relatively small area, and that something has to give.. I really hope your opinion is valid, and mine is far off the mark.. I hope for everyone's sake[especially the bass!] that they are here to catch in big numbers every year . However at my age, I have simply seen the same thing happen to too many other species that I fished for all my life, and love to catch.. All still around to catch, not extinct or anything, but reduced to a tiny fraction of what they were historically, and what they should be in a sane world.

Problem is these fish make their home right in the middle of a population of over 30 million people that are within an hour or two drive away, and a lot of those people like to catch fish and eat them. So its the same old story really..

Simply too many people wanting to catch and eat a finite number of fish.. bob

The weakfish were gone when the stripers came back back strong?? You have no idea of what you are talking about. Capt.Rich Swisstack landed the world record off Great Kills in the early the 2,000 period. the next day on my charter we had four weakfish over 14lbs. This was the height of the Weakfish run and the striper fishing was strong in Raritan Bay. After the bass run was over we concentrated on weakfish. We would be booked everday and there were plenty of weakfish in the 23-28" class with a limit o 14 per angler.The large weakfish were landed on live bunker! This is fact and and in the log book.

[bulletbob]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal

The weakfish were gone when the stripers came back back strong?? You have no idea of what you are talking about. Capt.Rich Swisstack landed the world record off Great Kills in the early the 2,000 period. the next day on my charter we had four weakfish over 14lbs. This was the height of the Weakfish run and the striper fishing was strong in Raritan Bay. After the bass run was over we concentrated on weakfish. We would be booked everday and there were plenty of weakfish in the 23-28" class with a limit o 14 per angler.The large weakfish were landed on live bunker! This is fact and and in the log book.

Sorry my friend I was there.. In the early 80's I lived in Union Beach and lived right on the bay.. It was NOTHING, to go out at night and catch 10 + pound weaks all night one after the other.. A good fisherman could catch 50 or more... By the time I left NJ for good in 1991, the weakfishing was nowhere near what it had been 10 years previous... Yes they were still there, and yes the charter guys could still catch them, but the numbers were way down by hat time in comparison, and the fish were smaller.. I went fishing for them quite often in the 90's and they were targeted by party boats still, but I recall a day my son won a big pool with a weak about 17 -18 inces.. the fish were so much smaller it was ridiculous.. By the mid 2000's the weakfish had all but collapsed, and the stripers were coming back better each year.. You might be a captain , you might be a good fisherman, but I was there as well, I have had articles published in NJ Fisherman magazine about fishing spots and techniques in Raritan Bay, so there are other besides yourself that know how whan and where the fish are and how they're caught.. By the time the Striper fishing was getting solid in Raritan Bay and the NY Bight after decades of being dead, the weakfish were in big trouble not only in N Jersey, but
Delaware Bay as well.. You are not the expert you perceive yourself to be I'm afraid, because I was there, lived right where the fishing was, and was a part of it... A few impressive charters or party boat catches does not mean a fishery isn't in decline.. I recall those years well as the Weaks started to falter..
Everyone was in denial- " Hook and line can't hurt a salt water fishery".. Until it did.. Something did thats for sure..

If you think it can't happen to Stripers because of a few good reports on this forum, you are in denial like too many others were before you.. bob

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by AndyS

"There are also tons of big bass outside of the 3 mile line", how do you know ?

Many times we had to watch the three mile line. Coming in from tuna fishing there would be big bass on bunker pods seven even ten miles off the beach. Years ago we did not have a three mile limit and nothing to worry but. This is how we know. Many PB and charter boats are hurt by this. If you put one striped bass in the box at 7 am you are not allowed to cross the three mile line. So the inshore bass stop biting and you have 75 patrons on board and you can see the bass and blues under tons of birds but they are 100 yards past the line??? Your screwed and a bunch of unhappy customers. Walk in the shoes of a for hire capt and maybe you will change your tune.

[reason162]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal

Walk in the shoes of a for hire capt and maybe you will change your tune.

So much confidence based on anecdotal sightings of offshore bass.

If you're wrong and the stock collapses, everyone goes out of business, right?

You depend on a public, natural resource, and no one forced you to go into the fishing business. Honestly, you guys ought to be the most "conservative" when it comes to management, yet every single time the data shows constricting biomass you grasp at straws --- offshore bass, female fluke --- fighting tooth and nail to kill more fish.

It's as if the prior striper collapse never happened.

[fishunt]

Originally Posted by reason162

So much confidence based on anecdotal sightings of offshore bass.

If you're wrong and the stock collapses, everyone goes out of business, right?

You depend on a public, natural resource, and no one forced you to go into the fishing business. Honestly, you guys ought to be the most "conservative" when it comes to management, yet every single time the data shows constricting biomass you grasp at straws --- offshore bass, female fluke --- fighting tooth and nail to kill more fish.

It's as if the prior striper collapse never happened.

well said!