Dead Stripers Commercial Fishermen ??

Admin · 10-11-2006, 10:09 PM

Commercial Fisherman aka Fish Picker
Admin: Owner of a Sport Fishing Online Community
2 Employees of the Nation Marine Fisheries.
1 boat and gill nets.

Mission: go to sea and see what gets killed.

Left the Dock in Wildwood NJ at 0400 hours and headed off to net some Bunker.

Reason for taking this trip was an article that was written:
Bass left floating at Shrewsbury Rocks
Thursday, September 21, 2006

There's nothing more disturbing to striped bass anglers than seeing those game fish floating belly-up after a gillnetter has dumped them from his nets -- especially when they've been set at an area known to hold that protected species which can't be retained by commercial fishermen.
That's what happened Tuesday morning at Shrewsbury Rocks, when a fisherman called to report at least 50 bass, in the 20 to 25-pound class, floating after the gillnetter Backwash had worked the area. I called the N.J. Division of Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division.
Though it's not illegal for netters to unintentionally kill stripers while seeking other species, there is no justification for setting in an area known to hold bass and a warning was to be issued. It's also surprising that large stripers were caught in what should be small mesh gill nets set for weakfish at this time of year.

I personally have never been on a commercial fishing vessel of any type so commenting on this subject would really be impossible. Commenting on someone’s lively hood without being a part of the industry can be very misleading... so I jumped onboard at 4 am and took the ride to learn about gill netting.

Over the coarse of the whole trip we killed nothing that could not be sold.
2476 bunker
60 croaker
32 blue
12 trout
4 pounds of butters
19 pounds of small smooth dogs for conch bait.
By catch: 3 six inch or so flounder returned very much alive and two Sand dabs.

Now I do not know if this is a good day or a bad day for a gill netter but I do know these guys work their butts off to earn a living.

Gill netting for bunker seemed to do one thing and that was catch fish that ranged about 1 to 2 pounds.

The Lady from the National Fisheries worked her ass off. I sort of expected this person to be sitting down having coffee or some shit. But fact was they were right there with Marty and litterly picked up every fish off the floor measured several hundred fish and weighed all the fish. Put them into storage containers.
I was standing there all day just in shock that this lady was so involved in her job.

These ladies work on all kinds of boats up and down the coast including scallop boats, squid boats and draggers and knew the answer to a question when asked.

Any of us know it’s a pain in the ass to have a inspector involved with any industry but as a fisherman and someone who loves the ocean I’m glad these people do such a good job - its for everyone’s benefit.

Last thing I would like to say is I still don’t know a ton about gill netting but seems to be very clear that large fish won't fit into these nets used for bunker, weakfish etc.
The nets do what they are intended to do and that is have a fish swim directly into the hole and the fish gets past its gills and gets stuck. If the fish was big it would not fit in the hole and if the fish was small then it would swim on through the net. Many times through out the day I watched smaller bunker swim away from the net. They not get stuck unless they are big enough for the net.

Really was pretty impressive that such a simple system was so productive.
You would think with so many boats working I would have seen some dead bass from all these boats netting but not one bass was sighted.

Now I know some of you are going to say "WTF, a commercial guy did this and blah blah blah". Maybe someone did kill those fish but I would have to guess it was not a gill net boat targeting weakfish or bunker.

Now from spending 7 months down in LA I meet tons of commercial fishermen and from living with these guys for months I also realized that most commercial fishermen were born and raised doing this job. So before you jump off the handle on commercial guys stop and think if you were raised doing a job how hard it would be for you to drop your life and move onto something else.

We live in crazy times and jobs are leaving this country right and left and seems the grocery store has more seafood from overseas than anywhere else.

Sorry to you haters of commercial fishermen, I support Americans who work a honest job to make a living. Some day I'm sure these guys will be driven out and they will join the ever so growing unemployment group. But until that day I will buy bait caught by you and I will eat seafood caught by you all and since I want bait and I want to eat I will support you. Remember buying bunker to catch Stripers Supports local tackle shops and commercial fishermen.

If a commercial boat did do wrong I hope they chuck the book at them and I'm sure most commercial guys would say the same thing.

Hope you enjoy the movie

pitch bait · 10-11-2006, 10:29 PM

John I almost missed the bunker talking. That is funny I dont care who you are. Picker nice job. With girls like the boat I would work for free.

Bluewater Sportfishing · 10-11-2006, 10:29 PM

great vid
I liked the commentary

matey8941 · 10-11-2006, 10:32 PM

haha yes that fish talking was pretty funn and wow i agree with pitch bait i woulda worked for free...thanks for the vid john

Deep C · 10-11-2006, 10:50 PM

Hey Pick!
Now that the girls are gone ... You gonna break out that 12" mesh and go to the "good spot" now????

Nice piece Admin and Pick... Now some of the rest of the gang on here can see why I don't explode all over the comms... Now NMFS is a different story.

Stripersniper · 10-11-2006, 11:05 PM

Wow That was an amazing video. Thanks John for bringing us Pickers world. He really has to pull every bunker out of the nets. It must be constant work when retrieving the net. That bunker talking like Chumstain was great. Thanks for posting. Oh yea with a crew like he had on board I wouldn't ever want to come back in to port.

flatbottom · 10-11-2006, 11:09 PM

thanks to all involved in the film and its production.

hosstader · 10-11-2006, 11:18 PM

now I know why "fish picker" calls himself that... cool video. what else does fish picker catch? I saw a winch in the video, i am guessing for some sort of bottom pots??

Bluewater Sportfishing · 10-11-2006, 11:22 PM

he also longlines for sharks and has been known to scare people on bridges as a mutent seal

OffTheHookB&T · 10-11-2006, 11:24 PM

Nice work John and Picker!!
Better look out I think we have a new video star! Hey Marty, don't forget us when Hollywood comes callin

10-11-2006, 10:09 PM	#1
Admin Capt John Eppehimer Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Sewell, NJ Posts: 13,496 Credits: 96,491.8 Boat: 33' Hydra Sport - Triple 275 Mercury Verado Home Port: Cape May, NJ Best Catch: Whats Fishing Occupation: Internet Blog Entries: 1	Dead Stripers Commercial Fishermen ?? Commercial Fisherman aka Fish Picker Admin: Owner of a Sport Fishing Online Community 2 Employees of the Nation Marine Fisheries. 1 boat and gill nets. Mission: go to sea and see what gets killed. Left the Dock in Wildwood NJ at 0400 hours and headed off to net some Bunker. Reason for taking this trip was an article that was written: Bass left floating at Shrewsbury Rocks Thursday, September 21, 2006 There's nothing more disturbing to striped bass anglers than seeing those game fish floating belly-up after a gillnetter has dumped them from his nets -- especially when they've been set at an area known to hold that protected species which can't be retained by commercial fishermen. That's what happened Tuesday morning at Shrewsbury Rocks, when a fisherman called to report at least 50 bass, in the 20 to 25-pound class, floating after the gillnetter Backwash had worked the area. I called the N.J. Division of Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division. Though it's not illegal for netters to unintentionally kill stripers while seeking other species, there is no justification for setting in an area known to hold bass and a warning was to be issued. It's also surprising that large stripers were caught in what should be small mesh gill nets set for weakfish at this time of year. I personally have never been on a commercial fishing vessel of any type so commenting on this subject would really be impossible. Commenting on someone’s lively hood without being a part of the industry can be very misleading... so I jumped onboard at 4 am and took the ride to learn about gill netting. Over the coarse of the whole trip we killed nothing that could not be sold. 2476 bunker 60 croaker 32 blue 12 trout 4 pounds of butters 19 pounds of small smooth dogs for conch bait. By catch: 3 six inch or so flounder returned very much alive and two Sand dabs. Now I do not know if this is a good day or a bad day for a gill netter but I do know these guys work their butts off to earn a living. Gill netting for bunker seemed to do one thing and that was catch fish that ranged about 1 to 2 pounds. The Lady from the National Fisheries worked her ass off. I sort of expected this person to be sitting down having coffee or some shit. But fact was they were right there with Marty and litterly picked up every fish off the floor measured several hundred fish and weighed all the fish. Put them into storage containers. I was standing there all day just in shock that this lady was so involved in her job. These ladies work on all kinds of boats up and down the coast including scallop boats, squid boats and draggers and knew the answer to a question when asked. Any of us know it’s a pain in the ass to have a inspector involved with any industry but as a fisherman and someone who loves the ocean I’m glad these people do such a good job - its for everyone’s benefit. Last thing I would like to say is I still don’t know a ton about gill netting but seems to be very clear that large fish won't fit into these nets used for bunker, weakfish etc. The nets do what they are intended to do and that is have a fish swim directly into the hole and the fish gets past its gills and gets stuck. If the fish was big it would not fit in the hole and if the fish was small then it would swim on through the net. Many times through out the day I watched smaller bunker swim away from the net. They not get stuck unless they are big enough for the net. Really was pretty impressive that such a simple system was so productive. You would think with so many boats working I would have seen some dead bass from all these boats netting but not one bass was sighted. Now I know some of you are going to say "WTF, a commercial guy did this and blah blah blah". Maybe someone did kill those fish but I would have to guess it was not a gill net boat targeting weakfish or bunker. Now from spending 7 months down in LA I meet tons of commercial fishermen and from living with these guys for months I also realized that most commercial fishermen were born and raised doing this job. So before you jump off the handle on commercial guys stop and think if you were raised doing a job how hard it would be for you to drop your life and move onto something else. We live in crazy times and jobs are leaving this country right and left and seems the grocery store has more seafood from overseas than anywhere else. Sorry to you haters of commercial fishermen, I support Americans who work a honest job to make a living. Some day I'm sure these guys will be driven out and they will join the ever so growing unemployment group. But until that day I will buy bait caught by you and I will eat seafood caught by you all and since I want bait and I want to eat I will support you. Remember buying bunker to catch Stripers Supports local tackle shops and commercial fishermen. If a commercial boat did do wrong I hope they chuck the book at them and I'm sure most commercial guys would say the same thing. Hope you enjoy the movie __________________ "If I had learned education, I would not have had time to learn anything else." "You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you, for the law is too slow. I will ruin you." Last edited by Jer; 10-12-2006 at 04:54 PM.

10-11-2006, 10:50 PM	#5
Deep C Master of all things wet Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: The Plywood State Posts: 11,823 Credits: 18,025.6 Boat: Several Home Port: Palm Beach Best Catch: Mrs Deep Occupation: Killin Stuff	Hey Pick! Now that the girls are gone ... You gonna break out that 12" mesh and go to the "good spot" now???? Nice piece Admin and Pick... Now some of the rest of the gang on here can see why I don't explode all over the comms... Now NMFS is a different story. __________________ NOW BOOKING! Aboard MIRAGE Our New 43' Viking Express Chub Cay Bahamas 5 day All Inclusive http://www.sportfishermen.com/deepc/

10-11-2006, 11:05 PM	#6
Stripersniper I think Admin is going to let me have this space Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Warrington, pa Posts: 2,032 Credits: 1,458.3	Wow That was an amazing video. Thanks John for bringing us Pickers world. He really has to pull every bunker out of the nets. It must be constant work when retrieving the net. That bunker talking like Chumstain was great. Thanks for posting. Oh yea with a crew like he had on board I wouldn't ever want to come back in to port. __________________ "Don't just talk about it, do it"

10-11-2006, 11:09 PM	#7
flatbottom Fish the Edge Team Sportfishermen.com Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Bear, DE Posts: 8,098 Credits: 18,193.9 Boat: 232 center console Home Port: Indian River, De Best Catch: off the shot gun Occupation: jackleg	thanks to all involved in the film and its production. __________________ New Rules To Live By Don’t invade Russia in the winter, and don’t conduct a short raid on Goldman Sachs when the former CEO is the Treasury Secretary.

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10-11-2006, 10:29 PM	#2
pitch bait I think Admin is going to let me have this space Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cape May N.J. Posts: 1,560 Credits: 4,206.8 Occupation: Marine Surveyor	John I almost missed the bunker talking. That is funny I dont care who you are. Picker nice job. With girls like the boat I would work for free.

10-11-2006, 11:18 PM	#8
hosstader Salon puppy Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 111 Credits: 1,347.5	now I know why "fish picker" calls himself that... cool video. what else does fish picker catch? I saw a winch in the video, i am guessing for some sort of bottom pots??