Honey the Striped Bass are Shrinking...How to Recognize the Signs

[DarkSkies]

In 1982 a striped bass moratorium was imposed on the Eastern Coastal States in which you could not target and kill striped bass....

Various measures were implemented after this moratorium, one of them being that in NJ a 36" size limit was imposed, one fish per day....

I want folks reading this to understand how bad it was.....
Back then, 30 years ago, a size limit of 36" was great because before that it was 18"......score one for the guys who were trying to bring them back.....

but the one thing I don't think many people understand, is that you could go weeks without catching a striped bass....it was so bad, that bluefish, fluke, and weakfish were the fish you targeted in the inshore waters...striped bass were an "incidental catch" because catching one, for most folks, was so rare....

[DarkSkies]

1. Commercial Fishing - was permitted then, and is arguably the biggest single cause of the decline. Recreational fishing had nowhere near the participation and numbers of folks that we have today.

2. Belief that the Resource would renew itself forever.

3. Faith in the numbers provided by the Gov't Scientists.

4. Overconfidence that the Striped Bass would survive any type of fishing pressure that we could lay on them.

5. General lack of support for any Conservation efforts, save the "Sky is Falling" messages from forward thinkers like Bob Pond and others (several threads here on that).

[DarkSkies]

It's hard for some to understand how things were 30 years ago.
Some new entrants to this sport have only been fishing 5 years or less.

Bob Pond was a guy who marched to the beat of a different drummer.
An accomplished surfcaster and plugbuilder, with many trophy bass to his credit...

Yet as he caught more big bass he began to notice the decline of the sizes and numbers.....

Many of his peers did not see what he saw,,,and back 30 years ago, if someone called you a Conservationist, they might have as well called you a Communist..........the label was that bad....



He spoke out for the Future, and in his mind, it was something he could see clearly, that others could not.
When folks give me credit for threads like this, I would rather point to Bob Pond from MA,

Bob from NJ , and the many I have come to know, that believe the way he did....









Some background info for those who want to learn more about Bob Pond...

Bob Pond has passed...
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...light=bob+pond


Massachusetts Custom fishing plug makers
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...light=bob+pond


Living Legends
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...light=bob+pond




Moratorium, Life Without Striped Bass
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...light=bob+pond

Why Should I care?
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...light=bob+pond

Legends of the Salt
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...light=bob+pond

Where are the bass?
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...light=bob+pond

[DarkSkies]

1. Everything in post 5 above, minus the commercial fishing.....





PLUS........



* M&M Theory

* Lack of Varied Year Classes

* Decline of bigger bass, the 40-60lb year classes.

* Lack of Schoolie Bass in Wide-Ranging Areas


* Professional Capts and others Hyping the bite......this does more a disservice to the reality than several of the above factors as some of these Capts should know better when they claim there more bass than ever before......

[DarkSkies]

I presented the basic outline, folks.
I'll come back to add as I get more time, and address your questions.

In the meantime, what are your opinions?
Can you add anything to help shed some light on these issues, and help raise awareness?

Thanks, folks....

[buckethead]

In 1982 a striped bass moratorium was imposed on the Eastern Coastal States in which you could not target and kill striped bass....

Various measures were implemented after this moratorium, one of them being that in NJ a 36" size limit was imposed, one fish per day....

I want folks reading this to understand how bad it was.....
Back then, 30 years ago, a size limit of 36" was great because before that it was 18"......score one for the guys who were trying to bring them back.....

but the one thing I don't think many people understand, is that you could go weeks without catching a striped bass....it was so bad, that bluefish, fluke, and weakfish were the fish you targeted in the inshore waters...striped bass were an "incidental catch" because catching one, for most folks, was so rare....

I remember that, dark. Was just a kid then. Would go out with my grandpa or dad, and catch bluefish and weakfish. When I got my first striper I didn't know what it was thought it was a weakfish without the front teeth. It was far different than it is today. One thing I have seen mentioned here several times is a slot limit. That makes sense to me. And cut down the allowable catch from 2 to one. One fish a day between 28-36".

Also No bonus tag. Maybe in some way they could tie the bonus tags to tournaments instead of giving them back to the commercial lobby. My .02.