Sen. Foley (D-Brookhaven) has introduced S6250, a bill that would repeal NY’s new salt water fishing license and replace it with something that is disingenuously being called a “free” angler registration. (Here’s a link to the legislation if you’d like to take a look yourself: http://open.nysenate.gov/openleg/api/html/bill/S6250). Of course nothing in government is really free. If [...]

ASFMC Denies Increase in Commercial Striped Bass Harvest
Anglers rally to defeat proposal for commercial sector to kill more fish
Coastal Conservation Association commends the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) for denying a proposal to increase the commercial harvest of striped bass at its meeting this week in Newport, Rhode Island. The proposal would have allowed [...]

Addendum II will comprise yet another small but real drain on striped bass
Today is 10/8… It’s 5:00PM and I’m on a train home from the Striped Bass Advisory Panel (AP) meeting. I have to mention that I’ve been awake since 3:00AM and I’m running purely on caffeine at the moment so please excuse the likely [...]

Addendum II will comprise yet another small but real drain on striped bass
Today is 10/8… It’s 5:00PM and I’m on a train home from the Striped Bass Advisory Panel (AP) meeting. I have to mention that I’ve been awake since 3:00AM and I’m running purely on caffeine at the moment so please [...]

I suppose it’s nothing new these days for the fishing community to blame all their troubles on environmentalists, but indeed the intensity of the blame-game has been ramped up in recent years. “Radicals”, “extremists”, “socialists”, “elitists”, “antis” etc… You know… Those people who want to “end all fishing.” Recently, some folks have gone so far to claim that the environmental community is really part of a grand conspiracy by “Big Oil” to abolish all fishing so it can drill wherever and whenever it wants. If would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic.

I could write tens of thousands of words on this, but I’m going to keep it short as the weather is warm and the bass are in, and any editorial might ruin that wonderful feeling spring brings to anglers.   So here’s the skinny, and I’ll try and just stick to the facts (Note: [...]

It’s likely that New York will have a very short season, very high minimum size and a very small bag limit for summer flounder (locally called fluke) in 2009, while in adjacent states’ regulations will be much more bearable. Party boat captains and the tackle industry in New York will undoubtedly suffer as anglers flock to such states with looser restrictions. It didn’t have to be that way.

COASTAL CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION NEW YORK RECOMMENDS IMPROVEMENTS TO PROPOSED SALT WATER LICENSE
West Babylon, NY—In comments addressed to New York Governor Patterson and provided to other leading administrative and legislative officials, Coastal Conservation Association New York recently recommended several improvements to the recreational salt water fishing license proposed by the Governor last month. Such comments [...]

By Capt. John McMurray
Governor Patterson’s proposed 2009-10 budget bill includes a provision to establish a recreational salt water fishing license. Indeed such a license is long overdue and if properly administered, we should support it.
Such a pay-to-play system would immediately put a concrete figure on the number of saltwater anglers in New York. [...]

There’s been a lot of discussion on declining bass stocks on this site as well as plenty of others. After witnessing some of the epic bass blitzes this year in Montauk, it’s hard to believe that there could be a problem. But indeed there does appear to be one.
If you are one of [...]