MEAT MEN of New Jersey

[hookset]

The latest meat man pic seen on another site. Didn't know the guy was such a meat man till he posted today. Todays meat trip

[buckethead]

Didn't know the guy was such a meat man till he posted today.

Folks talk a good story but see how quick some of the c&r guys change their tune when the 40lb bass are here or there is tourney money involved. Greed and ego 2 of the biggest factors. Ever taste cat food? Ever taste a 40 lb bass? about the same.
Disclaimer I do not eat cat food so I can only imagine how bad it tastes.
Big bass are not good eating. Many of them get tossed in dumpsters after the photo op if the day has been hot or sunny.

[hookset]

more meat

[hookset]

Big bass are not good eating. Many of them get tossed in dumpsters after the photo op if the day has been hot or sunny.

amen bucket.

[7deadlyplugs]

Big bass are not good eating. Many of them get tossed in dumpsters after the photo op if the day has been hot or sunny.

It's kind of ironic that in that pic hookset just posted they are now in the garbage can. In the summer when it's hot some will be in dumpsters. Cycle of life?

[hookset]

more. pool was 26 lbs isnt that enough fillets from one fish why do you need 3 to 26lbs for one person?

[hookset]

fri and saturdays meat (no one said they were getting any for the poor this time, lol)










may 3 tagged fish 5 man limit with 5 bonus tags

[Johnny Bucktails]

to Hookset- usually i dont reply to clowns. You are making a lot of statements that im sure you can't prove, and if you can, do so. You are accusing me of selling fish to restaurants Prove it, or keep your mouth shut. We only keep the limit that the law allows and nothing more. You can come by our dock every time we come in to see us give fish to those who didn't catch any. Last but not least, the boat i bought for my son and I wasn't 50,000, it was 150,000 for your information. Dont count other people money, worry about your own because it only makes you look stupid. - John Sr. life is too short to worry about what everyone else is doing

[Monty]

John Sr. life is too short to worry about what everyone else is doing

Welcome to the site JB.
Looks like you guys kill a lot of bass, you guys are real Meat Men, congratulations....not
Lots of pics with lots of dead Bass. Lots of Meat, lots of lost dead breeders.
Why do you feel the need to kill so many keepers just to give them away? You don't think about the pressure on the Striped Bass population?
You just have this need to give away meat? While it may be legal, it does not mean its right.
And that stupid statement "life is too short to worry about what everyone else is doing", well not being pissed off about someone killing so many keeper bass is short sighted and irresponsible. I applaud Hookset for this thread, there should be threads like this on all fishing sites, its the right thing to do. To bring to the sport fisherman the names of those killing so many Striped Bass.

[bababooey]

Dont count other people money, worry about your own because it only makes you look stupid.

Hookset, I would 2nd the comment that how much someone spent on a boat shouldn't affect how many fish it should be appropriate for them to catch. Just saying.

[clamchucker]

. life is too short to worry about what everyone else is doing

Welcome to stripers and anglers johnny bucktails. I would have to very strongly disagree with your statement.

I do not mean to disenfranchise a new member here but thought I would share my perspective.
I have been fishing for over 50 years. I remember when weakfish were so abundant in the Delaware bay you could catch a hundred a day. We used to launch out of fortescue and it was easy to fill a garbage bucket or large tote with weakfish because they were that plentiful.

We thought nothing of doing this and brought weakfish home for family and friends. We always had more than enough because we did not think of it as a resource. We viewed it as a never ending supply. We didn't think about breeding or the catch rates because no one paid attention to that back then.
Then all of a sudden they were gone. We would go and instead of a 100, we would catch 5 or 10. We saw the decline happen but there was no one to raise the alarm back then.

I am sorry to admit I was part of that so if any members want to take shots at me for doing it I probably deserve it. Only after we couldn't catch them any more would we see that we were part of the problem. Not the commercial fishermen but the recreational ones. There were many times when weakfish went to waste, or were fertilizer for the tomato plants. Although we should have known better we did not.

It is the same thing for the striped bass. I fished before and after the moratorium. I still fish now. At one time because I am retired I could fish 5 or 6 days a week. I fish less now because of health reasons. I can usually catch my limit every time. After 50 years of fishing it becomes quite easy. If I were to keep my limit every time I would not feel right because of all the opportunities I have to go out fishing. Because of how we decimated the weakfish, I am careful to catch and release now. I try to teach my children and grandchildren the principles of conservation.
Don't get me wrong, we still eat fish, but are more thoughtful about when and where. I love eating bass and it is very healthy for you except for the belly part which is laden with PCBs.

As bucket said you as a father are some one who your son looks up to. If you have lived through lean times when there were no bass, surely you would want to pass that knowledge on down to your son and teach him that harvesting just what you can eat today as a family, is a good way to keep the bass around for tomorrow.
I say this not to get into an argument with you but perhaps thinking you have not been fishing for that long and do not realize how bad things were for bass fishermen in the 1980s.

A lot of folks want to blame the commercial fishermen. Those videos are all over the internet and I believe I have seen some of them here, the bass laying all over after being discarded from netters.
What most folks don't realize is that even with the abuses, the recreational sector kille more striped bass than the commercial sector today. This happens all up and down the coast at every stage of the migration.

I am sure that you realze that the reason you folks are doing so well on them up there now in the raritan bay is because they are staging to go up the Hudson. If they were not doing that you would hardly be catching any at all. The southern waters have not had much consistent action for my Capt friends who have been looking for them. The Chesapeake and Delaware migrations are done and the beaches all along the coast should be filled with stripers now but they are not.

The reason for this is many have been over harvested, and many by folks who say "life is too short to worry about what everyone else is doing."

By not teaching your son a little about conservation and a little about the past you are part of the crowd that is condemning us to repeat the sins of the past. I say this not to provoke argument with you but to perhaps hope that you were not aware of how bad things were, and in reality how limited the numbers of stripers are now.

I hope these words have not tuned you off. If you are not aware of what has been going on, I was hoping to enlighten you and the others here by sharing my personal experiences. I look forward to your contributions here.
I am more looking forward to the possibility that you as a father, will teach your son something about conservation before it is too late and we find ourselves in another moratorium.

Best of luck this year on the water, Captain.

[hookset]

to Hookset- usually i dont reply to clowns. You are making a lot of statements that im sure you can't prove, and if you can, do so. You are accusing me of selling fish to restaurants Prove it, or keep your mouth shut. We only keep the limit that the law allows and nothing more. You can come by our dock every time we come in to see us give fish to those who didn't catch any. Last but not least, the boat i bought for my son and I wasn't 50,000, it was 150,000 for your information. Dont count other people money, worry about your own because it only makes you look stupid. - John Sr. life is too short to worry about what everyone else is doing

I'm a clown you say. Glad you think I am here for your amusement.
How long have you been fishing have you fished during the moratorium
*(Edit)

Does any of this stuff that has been said in this post make any sense to you or are you going to tow the party line and say "Well as long as its legal you can't tell me what to do I deserve to take my 3 fish if you dont like it change the law"
Changing the law is not that simple bud, especially when there are meatmen like you and your son that kill every bass they are legally allowed to.

Now that you admit you spent 150k on a toy for your kid that proves my point even more. Its guys with money and selfish attitudes who will kill this fishery. Guys like you sit there and are outraged at the netters throwing back fluke or dead bass well you all are no better than them.

The striped bass are a shared resource. We all have to take from the dish of meat at the table. In my opinion every year the total amount of meat gets less because of arrogant elite guys like you. If you're buying a $150k boat for your kid you are not part of the working class or the middle class. No one I know has given their kid a $150k birthday present. Cars, computers, even paying for college, yes, but to go out and spend that much money on your kid, and then say it is no ones business - is total bs.
In my opinion you are no more a representative of the middle class, than Obama is a representative of black people. Elitist, arrogant attitude.

No response to any of the comments I made about the moratorium? Not one at all. This says you either haven't been fishing for that long, or you really are a meat man who doesn't care. There is definitely ego and chest beating involved as I have seen your sons posts on several web sites out there.

For your comment about giving fish away how about giving all of your catch away.
There are so many poor people in this world, they are all starving. Poverty will make you sad if you look for it because you don't have to look too hard. Go to any big city and see the soup lines. If you were so magnanimous as you claim why not give your whole catch away every time to the poor? Do you really care about the poor or is it just a lame excuse to take get rid of the excess fish that you cant fit in your freezer and beat your chest about it at the same time.