I need to understand something

[jmccall]

I hope someone can help me with this. I only started salt water fishing 3 years ago, after growing up fresh water fishing. The thing that confuses me is this, in freshwater fishing most of the people I know put everything back or at most keep enough for a meal, and this is in stocked trout streams. Yet I have met a large # of saltwater fishermen who wouldn't put a single legal fish back if you had takem their famiilies hostage. An example is how many of you have seen guys cleaning fish begging strangers to take some, I wish I had a dollar for everytime I have seen this. I'm sorry they should not have kept that many fish legal or not. Anyway thanks for listening.

[Sokinwet]

I think that the fact that most fresh water in this area is a closed system with no natural reproduction (trout) or limited (f.w.bass) Catch & release ethics in fw is still a relatively recent deal started by BASS, TU, etc. That being said, I see plenty of stringers of trout being taken during the spring! Check out some of the In-Fisherman articles on selective harvest for a different perspective on taking fish. Although I commercial fish for stripers I generally release all fish caught after the season except for a few for my table and several non-fishing friends. Unlike some others, I feel that striper managers have a pretty good handle on harvest info. but I agree, if you can't use it let it go!

[Diggedy]

Jim,

I agree 100%. I catch my fair share of FW and SW fish and will usually take one striper in the fall for the grill.

Even worse - take a walk down the beach on Plum Island in the spring and watch guys kick a fish up into the sand, step on it to measure and then kick it back in the water. Or the guys that dig a hole in the sand and fill it with shorts...

And this ain't getting any better with the lack of policing that will result from Mitt's latest cut.

Most trout fishing here is put and take. Some in watersheds never meant to hold trout - some in watersheds we have now ruined. The difference with Stripers is this is still a wild fishery that can be preserved unless our thirst for the almighty dollar kills it first.

How quickly we forget the state of affairs around here 10 years ago.

FWIW - most of the flyguys I know are strictly C&R unless the fish is gut-hooked.

[Onshore]

Originally posted by Diggedy
Jim,

FWIW - most of the flyguys I know are strictly C&R unless the fish is gut-hooked.

Now, does that make us fly fishermen better than others? I think not. I've been around the beaches since the late 40's, before flyguys even thought to make the scene.

IMHO, they have no superior position to other fishermen, except maybe in their own minds. I've seen too many fly fishermen carelessly handling fish to give that idea even a hint of credibility.....

[stevec]

As a flyguy, I can say two things with certainty:
!) I C&R everything I catch...fresh and salt.

2) I have never gut hooked a fish with a fly or a plug...actually, can't see that being possible but sure it has happened.

I have never witnessed a FW or SW flyfisherman or SW Plugger mishandle a short fish.

The same does not hold true for SW bait fisherman

[flatts1]

I know very little about flyfishing for striped bass but it seems to me that this type of tackle is inherently "under gunned" for large stripers. I presume that fish caught with flyfishing gear are more prone to being exhausted by the time it is landed and released.

Is this true?

Thanks,
Mike Flaherty

[bones]

Nope.

[Diggedy]

I was not insinuating superiority, inferiority or anything else in my statement. Just an observation. I choose to flyfish because I enjoy it. I don't care how other people fish or require justification. What I have a problem with is people with zero respect for the resource or look at it only as a means of putting food on the table or money in the wallet. To me that is not a sportsman.

Flatts - a flyrod is the ultimate tool for whipping a striper as long as it matches the size of the fish. With the rod kept low you get an incredible amount of leverage. Dont forget people catch Sailfish and tuna on them every day.

[Bob Parsons]

I have seen people keeping freshwater fish by the bucket load. Fishing in rivers right by the sign that says contaminated water do not eat the fish.
I like freshwater perch myself

[flatts1]

Originally posted by Diggedy
Flatts - a flyrod is the ultimate tool for whipping a striper as long as it matches the size of the fish. With the rod kept low you get an incredible amount of leverage. Dont forget people catch Sailfish and tuna on them every day.

I have been giving this some more thought and this does seem to make sense to me. I guess the key is the match as you say.

Thanks,
Mike Flaherty