Now I don't want to be a Danny Downer, but I will be. So a little over a week ago the ASMFC put into effect an Emergency Action calling for a tightening up of the slot limit for striped bass. Super. Yes, for some it made their pants moist, but in reality......really?
This could have been done last fall before the crazy slot + limit sized striped bass hit the beaches, specifically the Jersey Shore. But that's okay, opportunity missed. They could have done it before the March 1st season opener, but they didn't. Another opportunity missed. They did do it May 3rd, with the adjusted "emergency action" having to be implemented by individual states by July 2nd. That "emergency action" lasts 180 days, until October 28, 2023. Wow! We're really saving the bass now aren't we?
The 2023 slaughter has already occurred. The Raritan Bay and select rivers have been pounded by anglers taking one fish after one fish 28-37.99 inches. This was never and will never be sustainable. While some may argue we're protecting the largest female striped bass who spawn, now, what about in future years? The crush continues but it has moved a bit from the back bays and rivers to out front. The boat guys and girls are in their glory. Find the bunker, throw some nets, throw it on a circle hook of course, and it's pretty much game on. That's not to say you don't have to work to find them or that skunk trips don't occur.
What that original slot may save are the May, June, July true migrating fish that come up or summer over in the New York Bight or along the Jersey Shore. Remember Chesapeake fish spawn first, then the Delaware fish, and then they move out and north, while the last big spawn push occurs in the Hudson River. They are experiencing now in the Hudson the fishing we had, or hoped to have had, in the Delaware in the last month and a half. But the harvest of 28-37.99 inch fish will continue, with reckless abandon, until the states enact, by law, the ASMFC changes in the slot.
Emergency Action doesn't mean we have to change things up immediately, but by July 2nd, maybe.
So who does the delay protect? Well, you know I believe that charter and head boats should count towards the commercial fisheries when it comes to size limits and numbers. Do you think that the head boat Captains are putting the upcoming slot change into effect on their boats now? Not a chance. It's "get them while you can". People will fish and keep every single 31+ inch fish they can, if they want, until they are threatened with the possibility of some kind of enforcement. So the two a day trips will continue. They hero shots, the dock shots, and the deck shots of dead bass will continue.
Even the so-called "conservation" claiming Captains and anglers are still harvesting the soon to be eliminated 31 + inch fish. Hey, why not just put it into effect yourself? Do the right thing? "Well the right thing is to follow the law", some say. So from May 3rd to July 2nd most, if not all, of the meat eaters will be taking those 28-37.99 inch fish, which I might add is 100% legal and really, not mine or nobodies business. I don't state this to call anyone out, but just to show that the victory is, in my opinion, not all it's cracked up to be.
And let's just say the emergency action goes into effect July 2nd, lasts the 180 days through legal challenges, and then is not renewed. We all know things don't get going until November in New Jersey, like really get going. Who's fishing for striped bass in July and August, and even September, besides the "just gotta fish" angler. If it's renewed before October 23rd and lasts into January 2024 then we have something. And to be fair, it has been decades since the ASMFC took an emergency action, so that in itself is progress.
So let's look at the vote for the emergency action. 15 yes. 1 no. And what state do you think the no came from? Yepper, New Jersey. Where politics and money and backdoor deals are the backbone of getting things done. On the ASMFC board each state has an Governor's appointee and a proxy. Ours is Tom Fote, although he's stepping down and a guy from Lund Fisheries, a mega commercial operation in Cape May, is supposedly taking his place. Until the NJ legislature votes on it, Tom continues to be our guy, which is, has been, and always will be, horrible. His right hand man is the proxy Adam Nowalsky, another pro-commercial guy, who hides behind his chest beating "rights for recreational fisherman". Both are tight with the RFA (Recreational Fishing Alliance) and the JCAA (Jersey Coast Anglers Association). Not let me say this, I am sure both guys have coached their kids soccer, go to church, donate to the homeless, might even be a good guy to hang at the bar with, but when it comes to protecting fish, they both suck ass.
So now what? Well here's my thoughts. The ASMFC met May 3rd. Put out the emergency action plan. That puts it in the hands of individual states. They have to enact it "ASAP or by July 2nd". That a f'in joke. Do you know what date, I think, New Jersey will enact it....yep July 2nd, if they do it all!!! The asswipes with the biggest voices are going to challenge this, and in my opinion, even not follow it when it has to be enacted by July 2nd. "We didn't have a public comment", "It's unfair to fisherman".....blah blah blah. All the while anglers will continue to hammer down on the 28-37.99 inch fish, before they hammer down on the remaining 28-31 inch fish, if New Jersey does the right thing.
When the state has to act regarding changes to fishing regulations it has to be brought up at a New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council meeting. The next is scheduled for May 11th, tonight! I checked out the meeting notice, published before the May 3rd ASMFC meeting, and there is no mention about the emergency action as it was put out before the publication date. So, if they don't bring it up tonight, or Nowalsky has it tabled until the next meeting, which is July 13th, after the July 2nd date to implement the new slot, New Jersey won't be in compliance.
The dark side of striped bass fishing will fight this tooth and nail. Not looking out for the striped bass and conservation, but to protect their "recreational" buds who run commercial operations, like charter and head boat operations. This is not advocating for the angler who's soaking a clam on IBSP on June 25th while his wife suntans and his kids build sand castles.
So as we move forward with the alleged "emergency action" of a slot from 28-31 inches, know this, right now Maryland's "trophy season" is up and running, you can keep and kill a large striped bass over 35 inches, that's from May 1st to May 15th. Then it goes to the below.
Maryland was, I think, one of if not the first to enact the new slot. In a public notice put out this week it states "effective May 16th the minimum size for striped bass is 19 inches and the maximum size for striped bass is 31 inches". That's for both the recreational and charter boat summer and fall fishery.
On May 15th New Jersey's Bonus Tag season opens where a fish 24-28 inches can be kept and killed. The regulations for the Hudson River are equally as baffling. First, you can catch and keep herring for bait in that river? An angler can harvest 10 per day? I thought river herring had collapsed and everyone was banned from targeting them or using them for bait. And the Hudson regulations for striped bass currently allow one fish 18 to 28 inches north of the George Washington Bridge.
In the Delaware we're closed on the Jersey side from Calhoun Street bridge in Trenton to the Salem River until June 1st, then it goes to the one fish 28-37.99, the "old" slot. But on the PA side it's open with a daily limit of two fish 21-24 inches then after June 1st it's one fish 28 to less then 35 inches. Different regs for the same body of water. I am sure there are other bodies of water, like let's say New York, that have their own set of regulations. In New York, in marine waters, the striped bass open season goes from April 15th until December 15th with one fish limit per day with a 28-35" size limit. That means you can't target striped bass on the New York side of Raritan Bay, the Kill Van Kill, Hudson River south of the George Washington Bridge, from December 16th until April 14th each year. Now that I have been in violation of as I have fished for striped bass in the late fall on the New York side..whoops.
So, it's different rules for commercial and recreational fishermen. Different rules depending on what side of the drink, in the same body of water, you are fishing in or from. And then there's Bonus Tag and Trophy Seasons in some of the states. And lastly there's a big difference in the minimum size limits ranging from 18 to 19 to 21 to even 28 depending on the state. WFT?
It's a shit show. It will continue to be. The only thing that will make change is if the regulations change coast and spawning rivers wide. Now I understand spawning occurs at different times so that would have to be different. And we must differentiate between an angler throwing a plug at Union Beach with his buds and 40 anglers out on a boat sitting on numbers dropping flutter spoons or shads over staging fish, both in the spring or fall.
Is the emergency action a good thing yes. But is it really, not even close.
