Bill S.337 An Act relative to the conservation of Atlantic striped bass - NEED ACTION

[MarkP]

Friggin gripers forever scumbags again. These ppl have to much time on thier hands and are well-funded. Must squash them like the vermin they are. Rant over...

MarkP

[Miss Loretta Fishing]

Hey Tomytuna, just emailed the rep to see if he minds me mentioning his name publicly. I'd imagine it's no big deal but figured I'd be on the safe side.

I've also been having as civil a conversation as possible with an SF gentleman, "Ted Williams", who published a post about the bill at the Fly Rod and Reel Blog-a blog that seems to be used quite frequently by SF guys. Check it out here if you'd like: http://www.flyrodreel.com/blogs/tedw...e#comment-3936

See you guys at the hearing,

Ryan

[tomytuna]

Miss Loretta...If you go to Saving seafod.org, or elsewhere on this site and others, you'll see MA Senator Scott Brown stood up for us and called for comrad Jane's head after the NOAA scam of taking fine money from fishermen and buying a $300,000.00 "pleasure" boat to party on. When We have someone like Scott Brown standing up for you and Me, All of us need to know it. That's why I want to know who your state rep is. (I mite even send he a donation) The Ma state legeslature is not the most knowing when it cones to fisheries issues. Please thank your rep for me and all the other fishermen here in Massachusetts..

[Fishypantsmagoo]

Rep. William Galvin of Canton has voted NO on all previous bills of this nature and I have alerted him to this bill in the Senate so that if and when it reaches the House he can vote No again.

[Miss Loretta Fishing]

That's great news tomytuna. I'm glad Brown is continuing to help all of us out.

The rep I was able to get in contact with is James Cantwell. Information below:

Ryan



Thanks for the email.



I oppose the bill proposed by the "Stripers Forever" group and intend to testify against it on Tuesday.



Will see you there!



Jim


James M. Cantwell
State Representative
State House -- Room 23
Boston, MA. 02133
617 722 2140
james.cantwell@mahouse.gov

[keithj]

Just out of curiosity, does everyone here think the striper fishing is as good as it was 6 years ago? I ask this seriously becuase for me it's been WAY off over the past few seasons. Could be the areas I fish specifically or just a random population fluctuation, but I've seen a significant drop off in the bass fishing from the southside through the Elizabeths. Nantucket was a dead zone, the Monomoy rips were dead, the sound was dead, Cuttyhunk was dead. There was no fall run whatsoever. The only area that held fish consistently through the summer was off Ryders on the backside. And commercial guys were trailering from all over the northeast to fish there because that was the one area that consistently held fish. You have an unusually high percentage of monsters being taken in CT, which is never a sign of a healthy fishery... And on top of that there were very few schoolies in the river i keep my boat on. The days when I could normally go out in late May and bang 40 on the fly in the an evening have become pounding it out for 4 or 5 fish.

I don't know what the details of that bill are but I would certainly be in favor of some sort of change to the regs including upping the rec size limit and decreasing from 2 to 1 fish per angler per day. Or perhaps I'm forgetting how to bass fish...

[rirockhound]

Just out of curiosity, does everyone here think the striper fishing is as good as it was 6 years ago? I ask this seriously becuase for me it's been WAY off over the past few seasons. Could be the areas I fish specifically or just a random population fluctuation, but I've seen a significant drop off in the bass fishing from the southside through the Elizabeths. Nantucket was a dead zone, the Monomoy rips were dead, the sound was dead, Cuttyhunk was dead. There was no fall run whatsoever. The only area that held fish consistently through the summer was off Ryders on the backside. And commercial guys were trailering from all over the northeast to fish there because that was the one area that consistently held fish. You have an unusually high percentage of monsters being taken in CT, which is never a sign of a healthy fishery... And on top of that there were very few schoolies in the river i keep my boat on. The days when I could normally go out in late May and bang 40 on the fly in the an evening have become pounding it out for 4 or 5 fish.

I don't know what the details of that bill are but I would certainly be in favor of some sort of change to the regs including upping the rec size limit and decreasing from 2 to 1 fish per angler per day. Or perhaps I'm forgetting how to bass fish...

I agree.
Gamefish status is probably too far IMHO, and I'm not a member of "Gripers Forever".
Is it all angling/comm pressure? Maybe not, but there are other issues affecting bass, and impacting spawning.

1@36" for recs.
For a 6pack charter, that cuts it to a max of 8 fish/day rather than 16 (assuming the capt and mate 'keep' their fish. Still very reasonable.

25%-40% reduction COASTWIDE in commercial take.
Crank up enforcement on the backdoor deals for bass

[ironskippy]

Keith
The fishing is not as good as it was 6 years ago. It has to be considered that the fish are not being managed for fishing to be that good. The fish are being managed based on the ASMFC's criteria of a restored stock (1995 was the year is was considered restored). We are fishing under both rec and commercial rules that allow for the max amount of take by man without backing across that threshhold. It was certainly terrific that the fishing got that good but the managment plan is not designed to maintain that. Once we start seeing spawning stock biomass numbers below the 1995 levels, conservation measures will be triggered. Nothing in the Stripers Forever Bills would do a thing to change the way bass are managed by the asmfc. Just like you feel, I am confident that a healthy size limit change would bring the fishing back to crazy levels within just a few years.

[tomytuna]

WOW! boys, pay attention..this yoy index was 4th highest EVER (since being kept anyway) 3 yrs from now you'll be walking on them again. I'm old enough to have gone through all the ups and downs. Time will tell, BUT these bills are not good,,,period and that is what thread is about....political nitwits playing with fisheries issues....keep on track here, please
thanks

[sashamy]

Any time you give something up, you never get it back....just remember that, if SF wins this what is next? It opens the door for other crazy groups to come in and use legistlation to control fisheries management.