10.07.23 All anglers have to do better....

     It's posting big fish on social media season. It's okay, I'm not here to judge. People are allowed to fish, allowed to take pictures, and allowed to share them with who they want to. However, they must know that there is a robust keyboard division within the Fish Police who just wait to eviscerate anyone 

who posts images of fish, big fish, little fish, fish in the water, fish out of the water, well, just fish that don't meet the current fish picture standard. A large percentage of the haters are those who fish more from the comforts of their keyboards rather than being out on the sand or, and in this case of big fall fish, in the mix of the boat fleet. 

    The images just keep rolling in. You don't have to go and look for them. If you're on one of the social media platforms and belong to any kind of fishing group then as soon as you fire up you'll be privy to someone else's catch, most likely caught when you were working, working on the Honey-Do list, sitting on the couch, or sleeping. 

                      

    

 When I looked at the nice catch that was posted above on Facebook I couldn't stop and think of a popular movie from the 1980's called "Throw Momma From the Train". I can, and I'm sure anyone in my age bracket can recall from  somewhere back in their cerebellum...."Irwin", when they think of that movie.

      If a striped bass could talk it would surely let us know, probably in a similar tone of "Irwin", that how we hold him or her either hurts or they can't breathe, yes, I know fish breathe underwater, but you get my drift. We all know that taking a picture of a fish, CPR as we know it, Catch, Photo, and Release is a big part of the angling community. If anglers weren't able to capture a moment of their catch then

most of these fish would be kept for the Polaroid archive that used to line the walls of just about every tackle shop. If you want to hear more about that Joe Cermele does a "Polaroid of the Week" on his Cut & Retie Podcast, HERE. But now thankfully to things like iPhones people can take some pics and release, hopefully not throw, the fish back into the water. 

     The fish are here, the big fish are here. They are low and high in the water column. That means a lot of boats are out there, well just not boats, kayakers, jet skiers, pontoon boats, ect. A lot of boats means a lot of anglers dropping into the abyss a lot of different types of hooked offerings. That means big swim shads with a wicked barb, that means Mojo's and spoons trolled around, umbrella rigs, flutter spoons, and the treble hooked lined plugs in varying action sizes and varieties. And then there's the fly angler tossing single hooked, hopefully barbless, flies into the mix.  

     This fall is a little different than last fall. We have the new slot, 28-31". For the meat eater it might be hard to scratch together a fish for the table while out on a party or private boat. The fish, and I've heard this down in Cape May in the spring and up in the Raritan in the fall, "They're all too big". 

     I feel for the above angler. He's probably out on his boat just looking to catch and keep one. These anglers, and especially the Captains aren't thinking to them selves, "Hey, new regs, I know most of these fish will be overs so let's crush these barbs, switch out the trebles to single hooks, and make sure we get these fish in and back in the water ASAP". 

     We all love fishing. Yes party boats are some people's jam. They love the boat, they love the ease and convenience, they love the crew. But party boats and over, or under, striped bass fishing doesn't go well hand in hand. 30's, 40's and 50's hooked deep, in the water, in big current, say on eels, and then fought, by and experienced angler, or not, then hoisted up in one of those large nylon, not skin and slim protected rubber nets, plopped on the deck where someone digs through the net to find the hook to release it with a fish friendly pair of rusted pliers, then comes the big hoist up, the photo session, and then the head-first albie toss back into the water. 

     These are not the young and healthy  20-34" fish that may be able to handle a little tough love, these are the river, or ocean, monsters, who, while old and experienced, are sometimes over sized for their own good. They don't take stress well, they can't handle, metabolically, the rapid build up of lactic acid from a long fight and time out of the water, and don't do well after being released, you know, "Swam away strong". Look at the picture above, gorillas in the midst. That could be your school of striped bass below your boat. Some young ones, some teenagers, some adults, and then the grandparents. 

Just imagine your own family at a barbecue. Who are the tot's, who's a strong and vibrant adult, and who has been there and done that and can't hang with the youngins anymore. They probably are the ones who lay back when it's time to break out the corn hole or bat-mitten games. And then if we, just for fun, decide to have a hang-by-your-feet contest, for bragging rights, how would they fare? I got my money on Delaware Joe and Leif (above) for a pass. 

     In 2012 Monmouth University published a study by John Tiedmannn and Andy Danylchuk on safe catch and release practices and recommendations. It was a ground breaking move as that is when the idea of catch and release tournaments for striped bass started to make their way into the fishing club 

meetings. In the related published article they outline how to properly and safely target, hook, fight, catch, and release striped bass to reduce mortality, which in 2012, the ASFMC had at 8%, now it's up to 9%. They discuss how the practice of holding fish, like big fish I'm thinking, vertically, isn't good for the health of striped bass that is going to be released. Here's the snippet,

     You can see more in the video that was made during a catch and release roundtable held by the authors and local guys like Tom Lynch, AngryFishGallery, and Bob Popovic's. 

So enjoy the season, Well, let me say enjoy the fishing season. Try and do your best out there for the good of the striped bass. And just know before you hit "post" of that picture of that beauty you caught out there, there is a keyboard angler sitting there in his mother's basement just waiting to pounce on your image, so don't give him anything else to eat, the popcorn his mom brought down to him is enough.