Striped Bass Report, Jersey Shore

[poopdeck]

Recreational angling is not the problem and has never been the problem. Personally I release every striper over 40" and I keep and eat the smaller ones. It has nothing to do with conservation I just think they taste better.

In the spring I hammer the delaware river for striper. I release every striper caught. Again it has nothing to do with conservation I just don't want to eat a fish that could possibly have lived in the river for years.

I fish salt water because i like to eat the fish. My salt water fishing is gonna end soon. It's just not worth the expense to keep a few fish. They surely are killing the recreational fishing industry in Nj while doing little to combat the actual problem.

 

[ebroesicke]

PD:

What do you perceive as the actual problem? Commercial? Bait populations? Environmental ie spawning habitat?

 

[marcq]

All

 

[Fishidiot]

PD,
Although you release large bass - which is commendable - the fact is that recreational harvest is definitely a big part of the picture regarding bass population. To be sure, it is a complex picture and there isn't perfect agreement on percentages of commercial vs. recreational harvest, not to mention other factors such as water quality or baitfish. . . but recreational harvest definitely matters overall.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy eating salt water fish too and keep some on occasion as well. . .but if we seek to be honest with ourselves, I think we need to admit that angler harvest does have a significant impact.

 

[marcq]

Recreational does have a big impact. You ever see the pictures of the headboats? One I recall which most people have seen is a girl in a pile of bass all 35 inches or bigger. Like 50 fish that just one boat. Im not saying that I dont keep fish to but people need to do it at a rate which lets the bass recover. Hard to say what that is but it has to happen.

 

[geebee]

poopdeck wrote:
Recreational angling is not the problem and has never been the problem..

i have to disagree here.

unlike your good self, there are hundreds if not thousands of fisherman on the Cape Cod Canal who keep every trophy fish they catch.

check out any bait shop within a 20 mile radius of the Ditch and their websites and walls are covered with 'garden bass'.

its the same around point Jude and parts of SoCo in Rhode Island, around Block Island and Montauk etc as well as on the Vineyard and Nantucket.

if you check the MA data, 60% of striper mortality comes from the rec. anglers.

the vast majority of those fish are the big breeder females that you release ( and i would love to catch...) - in the name of local kudos, selling plugs, rigs etc and cash prizes at bait shops, fishing associations and season long tournaments like On The Waters and the Vineyard Derby.

some of the high rods on the Ditch have become enlightened in recent years but the 'i'm entitled to take my two bass over 28"" attitude still prevails very heavily.

thats why i was strongly strongly in favour of a 22" - 30" slot - to stop the big breeders being killed.

sadly, our sport is to blame - along with the regs, head boats etc and southern mid atlantic governments - rivers and estuaries in the NE have never been cleaner and the local stocks should be booming right now....

 

[poopdeck]

No doubt people are keeping the trophies for that great bait shop photo to be published in the salty dog. Ever see what the netters bring in. How many netters do you see while fishing? I see lots and they are hauling in far more than all the recreational boats out there on any given day. How about we make striped bass rod and reel only. The fishery would recover in a blink of an eye. Going after the recreational angler is a cop out that falls into the "at least were doing something" category and nothing more.

 

[afishinado]

poopdeck wrote:
No doubt people are keeping the trophies for that great bait shop photo to be published in the salty dog. Ever see what the netters bring in. How many netters do you see while fishing? I see lots and they are hauling in far more than all the recreational boats out there on any given day. How about we make striped bass rod and reel only. The fishery would recover in a blink of an eye. Going after the recreational angler is a cop out that falls into the "at least were doing something" category and nothing more.

^ Not true at all. I ask that anyone truly interested in SW fishing and has concern for the striper population read the following:

http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatres/fishwild/pdf/bassrpt.pdf

The very last page contains a breakdown (expressed in metric tons) the breakdown between recreational and commercial striper mortality.

Recreational fishing has a huge impact on the striper population. It is up to us to push for tighter harvest regulations and practice what we preach, when it comes to keeping stripers caught from the beach as well as from a boat.

Hopefully, with restraint, we can build back the population and enjoy the kind of fishing we experienced a decade or more ago.

 

[geebee]

poopdeck wrote:
. Ever see what the netters bring in.

I have yes, and their days at sea and quotas are at an all time low - many of the small scale netters on Cape Cod have given up entirely.

i know two former netters who now work in bar jobs to get by rather than commercial fishing.

i'm not saying they don't have an impact, but i reiterate what the MSBA said - SIXTY percent of striper mortality in MA comes from recreational angling.

thats a HUGE impact IMHO.

 

[marcq]

If they just made it onr fish per person it would be a problem. I dont care about size. Catch one at 28 or one at 50 just one. No stupid bonus tags.
If you didnt know jersey used to be a hot spot for bull reds back in the 30's 40's and 50's. But guys killed them all. Now you here about the stray red the was picked up . We could of had a great fishery but people didnt care. Just make at one and keep it at one.

 

[poopdeck]

I stand corrected. However, I believe the netters are more harmful to year classes and habitat which is a major contributor to the problem. Allocate the commercial harvest to recreational anglers and ban commercial netting.

 

[nickyfins]

what size are they coming in at, I have been out twice but everything I caught was tiny little dudes

 

[Mike]

Note that the regulation proposals by each state passed muster with the ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board this week. All qualified as conforming with the ASMFC objective of reducing fishing mortality by at least 25 percent. You will recall that there was an estimated fifty percent chance that the regulation options in the suite of options originally published by the ASMFC will achieve that objective. The state's were allowed to chose from those options or propose other regulations that would achieve the same objective based on calculations that used existing data.

Pa received approval to keep its seasons the same in the Delaware River and Estuary, reduce the creel limit from 2 to 1 in areas and during the times that the 28 inch size limit applies (same areas and time periods as before), and during the Estuary's April-May slot limit period, reduce the range of the harvestable slot from 20-26 inches to 21-25 inches while keeping the creel limit at two per day. The new slot was developed by the Area 6 SE Pa Fisheries Management staff, approved by the ASMFC Striped Bass Technical Committee, and then the ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board. The regulations will take effect this March in Pa Via a special Executive order.

 

[Fredrick]

Nj 2015 bonus tag meeting info

http://www.thefisherman.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_ID=1003&ParentCat=19

 

[afishinado]

The State of PA / PFBC stepped up and did the right thing by changing the striper regs to lower the harvest. I wish the State of NJ would do the same, since that would have a more significant impact on the striper population.

Here are the new striper regs:

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Feb. 26) – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is alerting anglers to several changes to striped bass regulations in the Delaware River and Delaware Estuary which will take effect March 1 in order to meet requirements of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). The changes apply only to the Pennsylvania side of the river and estuary. The Delaware River in Pennsylvania, for the purposes of striped bass management, is divided into two sections known as the Estuary and the Delaware River.
Beginning March 1, the creel limit for striped bass in the Estuary – defined as the Pennsylvania/Delaware state line upstream to the Calhoun Street Bridge – will be reduced to one fish from January 1 through March 31 and from June 1 through December 31. The creel limit is currently set at two. As in the recent past, fish must be at least 28 inches.

For the remaining two months, from April 1 through May 31, the slot length limit will be changed to 21-25 inches. The current slot limit is 20-26 inches. During this two-month period, the creel limit will remain at two fish per day.

In the Delaware River upstream of the Estuary – defined as upstream from the Calhoun Street Bridge – the creel limit for striped bass will be reduced from two fish to one. The river is open year-round with a minimum size of 28 inches.

“This action is being taken to meet the requirements of ASMFC’s management plan for striped bass, which calls for management actions when the coast-wide spawning stock biomass (SSB) or fishing mortality rates reach thresholds set within the plan,” said Leroy Young, PFBC Director of the Bureau of Fisheries.

Young explained that the SSB threshold is 127 million pounds, and the current SSB is just above this at 128 million pounds. At the current fishing mortality rates, there is concern that the SSB will fall below the threshold in the near future. In addition to these concerns, recruitment of young fish has been relatively low in many of the years since 2004.

In response to these concerns, the ASFMC Striped Bass Management Board, which includes the PFBC as a member, has directed all coastal states to reduce fishing mortality rates by 25% beginning in 2015. These revised length and creel limits are designed to meet those requirements.

Media Contact
Eric Levis, Press Secretary
717.705.7806
elevis@pa.gov

Link to source: http://www.fish.state.pa.us/news/2015pr/striper-changes.htm

 

[Mike]

The 28", one fish per day reg came from the suite of reg options produced by the ASMFC technical committee's Dr Gary Nelson of Massachusetts.

The change in the Delaware Estuary slot limit length range came from Biologist Greg Murphy's (of my office) analysis of the past three years of Delaware Estuary slot size fish population data collected each May during our two to three weeks of electrofishing. Going with a 20-24 inch slot would only have reduced fishing mortality by an estimated 23.5 percent. The 21-25 inch slot will reduce fishing mortality by an estimated 31-33 percent for slot size fish. This will also reduce the harvest of small mature females by about a third. Our approach to the slot size fish, known as conservation equivalency, was reviewed and accepted by the ASMFC striper tec committee.

Afish, given that the regs came out of our field office, thanks for the compliment.

 

[geebee]

good news all around there Mike.

 

[SNJChef]

If you need to get into some Striped Bass hit Oyster Creek, getting some fish out of there. The clamming has been two thumbs up!

 

[SNJChef]

Finally got out on the bay, 2 nice fish 25 and 29 inches. Loads of shorts 35 in total. The bay should be heating up soon.

 

[Fredrick]

SNJChef wrote:
Finally got out on the bay, 2 nice fish 25 and 29 inches. Loads of shorts 35 in total. The bay should be heating up soon.

What did you catch them on ?