My Two Cents....

This is something I wrote of couple months ago...

Our Future.

As an overall opinion of striped bass fishing I would say that it is pretty darn good right now up and down our striper coast! Yes I hear jibber and jabber all along the coast that the fish are on the decline but I must honestly admit that I feel things are pretty good right now in regards to catching stripers. There are a lot of fish along the coast and of good size to boot. This past year I traveled the striper coast extensively, fishing the surf hard from May through December. I fished enough places and talked to enough people to qualify me for comment, an opinion based on observation that is all and not as an authority. I fished from Cape Cod to Virginia; Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island, Cuttyhunk and Montauk as well as many places in between. I caught fish in good number and size at every location. I fished 4 states hard, NJ, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York; in each state I had at least a 30 pound fish, plus a load of teenage-sized fish. I did not fish conventional times either; I fished hard right through the summer and blew right through fall without hitting the brakes at all. My assessment: Things look good.

Now while it is simple to say what I just said, do I think things will continue to stay good? This is where the trouble begins. I don’t. In my travels I have observed closely the striped bass state of affairs and related developments. Who is catching what, where and how big? The answer always seems to be big bass taken, taken, and taken some more. Fun for everyone, yee-haa! But wait! How much pressure can these fish withstand? With ungodly amounts of 30 pound-class stripers being taken from NJ, and then NY, and then Rhode Island and Massachusetts all spring, summer, and fall, every user group along the way pounding these fish when they pass by (and I haven’t even mention Virginia and Hatteras yet where these fish winter), the situation leaves me wondering how many of these 30 pound-class fish are going to be left to spawn and to procreate future fish. I don’t want to get into the fecundity of the 30 pound striper, but do a little research and see about a 30 pound striper’s egg-laying capabilities. Hint: 4,500,000 eggs.

The Privilege
This past spring when the big bunker and big bass hit the coast I had the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time. Schools of large menhaden sporadically and constantly swam past my jetty position, hot on their tales were giant stripers. I threw big pencil poppers and big metal lip swimmers to the schools and I watched as huge bass attacked my offerings, a spectacle of gigantic proportions. That afternoon I had big bass after big bass, from 25 pounds to 38 ½ pounds. A glorious hit indeed.
Although I was participating in a big coast-wide tournament my tally for the day was zero, I released all of my fish that day because I wanted some left for tomorrow. Sadly enough, I weighed in a 31 pounder for the tournament. It was laying on the jetty as I was leaving, I asked all those on hand for the owner of this fish there was none. It was one of 5 orphans laying there in the rocks. It made me sick.


The Past
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” –George Santayana.

I fished in the day when there were very few striped bass. There was a moratorium put on stripers because the powers that be felt that they were on the verge of disappearing from existence. During those lean years a 30 pound striper was a step below a miracle and a 30 pound fish was highly heralded, might I say, unheard of. In the day I promised myself if I ever got a good 30 I would have my proud fish mounted. That is how hard it was to catch one. My number one surf rod was a 7-foot St. Croix Ben Doerr surf rod. I was proud of myself that one year because I took three good fish, all 16 pounders, I couldn’t keep them mind you because they were undersized, anything 34 inches or under had to go back. Today I catch 30’s with relative ease and it is a 60 that I dream of (I may be a little crazy). Wow how the times have changed!

Yet I worry. I see hundreds and hundreds of big fish killed. A few truly earned, many killed indiscreetly. Surf hounds, charter boats, party boats, commercial boats, haul seiners, all take their number. I feel the numbers will add up. Don’t you? So who do we blame?

The Blame
The blame needs to be spread like butter upon the bread, everybody gets some. I take mine as a responsible surfcaster and I have realized that I need to be smart. For me smart is stop killing so much. I actually see it quite clearly, for every 30 pound-class fish I release back into the water, that I watch swim away, I infuse 4.5 million eggs into a river system some where be it Virginia or New York or where ever next spring.
I would challenge you to consider like-wise when it becomes your time, next year when you want to take a fish just to show it off to the boys or to your family, or for points in some tournament. Is the 5 minutes of Hee-Haw and slaps on the back equal to 4.5 million eggs?

A Solution to Consider
Now the point of my writing this is not to move mountains or to stir congressional powers to write bills, although that would be cool, but rather I implore you on a small scale, on an individual bases, to consider the future of the striper, including the very one that you have laying at your feet. That is where and when the future of the next class begins. Will it be? Will it exist? Will it happen?
May I offer to you this option: catch your fish, photograph and weigh your fish and then release your fish correctly...in the name of tomorrow. The future of our great striped bass fishery can begin or end with you!

great article .....makes you think twice about keeping them

good stuff. we hear more and more each year about how theres a giant cow/cows out there waiting to be caught, but we never hear enough about the conservation of these fish. I had my bad feeling when i kept my 40 pder 2 falls ago. Just not worth the life of these fish that take so long to get to where they are. Snap and release needs to be the only way with female fish! keep a nice 29-30 inch male once a year

Well put I couldn't agree with you more.
JK

DJ, I agree with what you said but I think regulations have a lot to do with people keeping large fish. Our regs are made so that fish have to be over a certain size which encourages people to keep those bigger fish. Keeping those larger fish is very detremental to the stock. Those larger fish have the best genetics for reproduction. There needs to be a slot limit in place for striped bass that allows for people to keep the smaller fish. I have a family of four and only eat fresh fish. I rarely will freeze my fish. Why shouldn't we be allowed to keep say a 26" fish?... That would be plenty for a meal.....maybe a 26"-32" slot with one fish over 45"...the reason I put the over in there is so people still have a chance to keep a possible world record. Something will have to change if we are to keep the population of bass where it is. I too grew up without catching a striper. I am 33yrs old and have fished the salt since I was 4-5yrs old. I was a jettie jockey at 10yrs old and didn't catch my first striper till I was 18-19 yrs old......I deffinately don't want to go back to that

i am a firm believer in that DJ...its funny though, becuase a lot of times when people hear i am a fisherman, they automatically assume i am some reckless stereotype with no regard for animal life. i am a fourth year bio student, and have worked closely with a lot of professors (in ecology and similar 'eco-friendly' classes). when i say i express interest in certain topics because it applies to fishing regulations, people assume it's because i think they should be more lenient. i think this is a common misconception that many fisherman face. i feel almost all of the guys i encounter on the beach or in shops would say they are for conservation and not necessarily more strict regulations, but definitely some changes or better enforcement of current regulations...

i like the idea of the slot fish too, Red

just my .02

I agree. I have been fishing the beach for over 35 years and most, surfcasters especially, do not appreciate how hard it used to be to catch a fish in the 30lb class, never mind a 40lber and the "50lb club" was the ultimate accomplishment. The smaller fish eat better and with the quality of fibreglass mounts these days, catch measure and release on the big ones should be the way to go!!