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

[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