Fishing is a funny thing. When ever anyone brings up the fact that they are seeing a change in the size or numbers of fish many people assume that the person does not know that they are doing. It must be a macho thing. In response to Capt Poirer I must sa
y the following. No one knows how many fish I catch or the size of them. I like it that way. I may be a good fisherman what ever that is or I may be a bad fisherman. Who cares. My observations are one of a shore based fisherman. I average 5 days on the wa
ter on the water from 4/15-11/20. I know people who fish from NJ to Maine. My observations that the size of the catch seems to be declining is being reported by shore based anglers up and down the whole striper coast. It may be a shore based phenomena or
it may not be. When a population starts to decline shoreline fishing is the first to be effected. Look at bluefish for an example. The boat fisherman still do OK with them. We are seeing a change is a fish populations behavior. At the September public hea
rings the government admitted that the mortality rate of larger fish is too high. Is this all a coincidence, I do not think so.
look at the 1989 dominant year class. Through the 1990's we saw these fish come back each year bigger then the year before. Then the size limit was dropped and commercial fishing pressure increased. We are not seeing the large numbers of these fish that w
e thought we would because they are no longer alive. If you look at the year class data we should have been flooded with 28-30 inch fish last year. We were not. The fish are being caught at too high of a rate. What may happen is that while there will be l
arge numbers of immature fish there will not be enough breeder fish and the population will start to decline.
There is more pressure on the striped bass then ever before. the recreational catch is tremendous.It is the only game in town for most people. the government uses a 7% mortality catch and release factor which if you consider the way the average person han
dles a fish could be doubled. The by product catch is tremendous. I think the government seriosly under estimates it. The comercial catch. I know people who sell directly to restaurants. I know people with commercial licences who do not register their cat
ch but keep it for themselves and their friends. Does anyone really think our southern neighbors are playing fair with their catch reports? Fish management is really simple. If you take too many fish out then the population declines. I think we have reach
ed that level now. The government is underestimating the mortality rate.
Its alright though. There are a lot of fish out there and we will all catch fish for the next few years. We will argue with each other and the commercial guys, and the government will get a good laugh at our expence. The fish will disappear and we will bl
ame each other. The commercial guys will move on to the next species that they will decimate. The government guys will all get promotions because there will be a greater need for more regulation. The average person will get screwed as usual.