So many guys focused on the bunker?

[storminsteve]

I like this site here, but I read all the reports on all the fishing sites. A universal theme in guys' posts is "I can't wait for the bunker"
Yes I know big bass will be here when they are here. Lots of fun pencil popping.
My question is why aren't those guys fishing right now? We have some fish granted they are not 50lb cows. Still we have fish.

So what is it about the bunker, that makes guys forsake all other types of fishing, plugging, clamming, jigging, etc?

[Monty]

I think people fish for different reasons.
Lots of guys on this site enjoy the whole fishing experience.
Finding structure that holds fish, actually thinking "how to find and catch a fish", and enjoying that while out in the surf and back bay.
Also I think most of the guys on this site fish the dark hours, enjoying the solitude.
I would be happy if the bunker never came in close this year, maybe thin the heard of the "bunker crew" and give the bass a break/chance.
Bunker crew really does not require much skill, is more about catching, not about fishing, not about the fishing experience that I enjoy.

[jigfreak]

I think people fish for different reasons.
Lots of guys on this site enjoy the whole fishing experience.
Finding structure that holds fish, actually thinking "how to find and catch a fish", and enjoying that while out in the surf and back bay.
.
Bunker crew really does not require much skill, is more about catching, not about fishing, not about the fishing experience that I enjoy.


Perfectly said monty. Can I get an amen?:fishing:
The only problem is that only about 3% of surf guys think that way. If you made fishing with bunker illegal 97% of fishermen would quit. I would love to see that happen. All the more for me. Talking heads that is all they talk about because they have never wanted to put in the time to make it to the next level. Stuck in nursery school.

[SharkHart]

I do it all but Big Bait= Big Fish.............................The real real problem is it's a 3-6pm bite in 80 degree temps and very visible, you can't hide a bite, its all too easy that way, many guys aren't willing to do the night deal but unfortunately those true giants simply aren't available most other tactics

[gjb1969]

big bunker and big bluefish will make me happy:viking:

[finchaser]

My new campaign kill the bass before they breed this will save the bunker since more emphasis is put on this than the breeder bass. Guess we need to kill the whales and dolphin as they eat tons of bunker. If more people went on boats they would witness there are acres of bunker with nothing on them. Remember all the bait boats which this pertains to with permits are grandfathered in this has nothing to do with Omega protein reduction boats.

Sorry had to vent no one gives a sh_t about the bass just the bunker that's all you hear and read. :2flip: to the snag and drop fisherman allot of skill in that

Bunker will be a big part of the downfall of bass

[DarkSkies]

Sorry had to vent no one gives a sh_t about the bass just the bunker that's all you hear and read.


I don't know if folks have seen some of the online movements and petitions to save the bunker....
In some cases the folks behind them are honest fishermen who believe it's the right thing to do, because in the areas they live, they see less and less bunker, and feel their lesser yearly catches of striped bass correlate directly to this.....

In other cases some of these groups are said to have questionable connections or ties with the PEW trust folks....(and believe me, there is no reason at all to have any affiliation at all with any entity remotely connected with the PEW trust groups...their ultimate aim is to shut down fishing as we know it and regulate and severely restrict all fishing more than we could ever imagine....

Anyone who doubts my statement above, I invite you to search this site for threads on the PEW Trust and how dangerous they are...read the threads and decide for yourself....









As for saving the bunker, I try to look at all perspectives.
For folks in the LI Sound, they are fighting for this issue because some have told me they don't see the bunker they used to see yearly.....

Are there less bunker., does something need to be monitored? ....
Maybe.....

But the "less bass" that some are claiming are not directly correlated to "less bunker"....

There are less bass.....
because there are less bass....

More fishermen are actively fishing for strped bass now, than at any time since the moratorium in 1982....
:learn:

[DarkSkies]

Some people don't want to face this, in light of the stellar Striped Bass fishing season we in NJ have experienced....


but they were also not aware that for a large part of the summer, boats that were grandfathered in, were netting our "acres" of abundant bunker, bringing them in to Point Pleasant, Belford, or Cape May, and trucking them to states north of here....each time there were acres of bunker past the date that the main body of bass had already traveled north,....there were no real numbers of bass underneath them......

The logical flow from this exercise above would be......
If there are truly numbers of bass "starving" because they can't find bunker, why then, when there are literally millions of them around....are there no bass under them....





As Finchaser has so eloquently noted.... why are people not concentrating on the decline of bass? Because of the intense restrictions on almost every fish that folks in the Northeast fish for, there is more pressure on bass than ever...yet try to get people who only fish for striped bass to attend the rally in Washington, and it's like asking for charity donations for Bill Gates...

I guess a lot of folks have trouble seeing how all these fisheries are connected, and how too much pressure on one will certainly affect the others..

[finchaser]

When they have to pay $5.00 or more for a bunker, bluefish head and charter boats raise rates because bunker chum and backs are through roof because the bait boats were reduced quota they'll bit_h again. Can't believe there fighting the guy's who supply them with bait. What devastated the bunker last time were the reduction boats out of Virginia that has been fixed except for the Chesapeake bay which this latest movement and meeting has nothing to do with.


What next " Save the Clam"