Alright, this may go over like a fart in an elevator. But, let's be real here. The striped bass numbers are ridiculously low, we have shifted from talking about over-harvesting to catch and release mortality numbers, and we may be closer to a moratorium, or at least seasonal closures, than we might like to think.
This blog, and this post, is really just an opinion piece. I am sure sometimes it's dead on, other times it may be dead wrong. Let me preface this by saying the following. You know I love striped bass. You know I'd love to see them have Gamefish status across all of the states, which means no commercial fishing. I'd like them to be catch and release only. And here's where I get nutty. Let's say artificial, meaning no live bait, and single barbless hooks, only. And no trolling either since I'm on my soap box, my delusional soapbox. But, let me add that I think there should be some sustainable way for an angler to harvest a fish for the table. Somehow I would make it like they do during hunting season. There are all kinds of seasons, tags, and reporting that bird, turkey and deer hunters have to do. I've never hunted so I'm not sure about how that all goes down. But most play by the rules for the good of the sport, I would hope striped bass fishermen would do that as well.
And this blog post is about tournaments. Striped bass tournaments have been around for over a century. And let me preface this by saying that the work that so many well intentioned striped bass, or fishing tournaments in general, do are good and benefit many, many people and organizations. They raise money for kids, cancer, Veterans, you name it, it's all good. And, over the years these tournaments have gone from catch and kill, because you had to weight them in to win, to catch and release, which, we all know, can kind of be a shit-show when not in the the public eye or caught on video or by photo.
Some of these tournaments have been around for years. Above is a copy of an article from the Asbury Park Press from August 1, 1966 updating the public on the Asbury Park Striper Tournament. The tourneys were around during the good and bad years, and of course shut down during the five-year moratorium from 1984-1989. Again, over the years tournaments or the clubs that ran them went from weigh-ins to catch and release, that's a good thing. I tell the story shortly after I joined The Asbury Park Fishing Club around 2010. During a January meeting, under "New Business", I raised my hand and asked Joe Palloto about the possibility of the tournaments they held going to catch and release. My fly-fishing-ass was almost laughed out of the place. I had talked about it with fellow member Chris Buchta before I raised my hand. It was Buchta who eight years later would re-introduce that concept and run the APFC C & R tournament that is still held each year.
I'll also have to admit over the years I have undoubtedly killed striped bass. Yes, I'm only fly fishing and practice catch and release. But when I look at the pictures I have taken and posted there are plenty of pictures of striped bass laying on the rocks, laying on the sand, and being "revived" before they hopefully "swam away strong" either from shore or the boat. And, in addition there's my own hero shots of me holding up a good fish for a quick picture. Yes, I have been a part of the bigger picture problem as well. This year I hope to "Keep them Wet' at all times. Awareness into practice makes improvement.
Now for my opinion. A bounty on a striped bass' head is never good. There's gonna be some mention of clubs, shops, and organizations here but it's not to pick on any one, but it may seem it is. Each March
1st the Absecon Bay Sportsman Center runs an opening day tournament. There's are first, second and third place cash prizes for the first weigh-ins of the year. All within season and all legal sized fish, depending on what the regulations are for any given year. Some would say, "Hey, I'm fishing anyway, and keeping what I can legally catch, so why not enter?". Sounds pretty harmless, and even fun.
The amount of tournaments up and down the east coast is staggering. I'll name a few of them here. The Asbury Park Fishing Club runs a few, Berkeley Striper Club Spring Striped Bass C & R Tournament, Spring Lake Live Liners, Hi-Mar, Surf Rats Ball Striper Tournament, On The Water Striper Cup, Block Island Inshore Fishing Tournament, the Bass- A- Palooza (love the Grateful Dead Steal Your Face logo),
and the Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. In the Hudson River there's the Hudson River Fishermen's Association Fishing Contest. I don't want to miss the Chesapeake tournaments so I'll add the Rock Hall Volunteer Fire Department's, The Guardian of the Pearl Rockfish Tournament. Fly
rodders participate in tournaments as well such as the huge Cheeky Schoolie Tournament held up in Cape Cod. There are other smaller fly-only tournaments held up and down the East Coast as well.
What got me to thinking about all of this was a post I saw on Facebook. It was from the Delaware River Striper Tournament, or DRST. That tournament, a weigh in type, ran for nearly 12 years until it
From Facebook- DRST
stopped due to sponsorship participation following Covid in 2021. It was a tournament that was legal in every way. Legal season, legal fish, all done with the best intentions, except for the benefit of the spawning striped bass. It's easy to look back in horror, but we didn't know then what we know now. It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, but in a way it's not fair because times have changed.
But in a post the DRST put their support behind the upcoming Corona Striper Tournament that will be held on April 5 - 7th, 2024 out of the Riverside Yacht Club in Essington, Pennsylvania. It is a catch and release tournament and on the tournaments website is states, "We are all about catch and release no fish will be weighed in or killed for this event". That is great to see, although, while no fish will be weighed in, we don't really know if any fish will be killed in the process, just think about that 9% catch and release recreational mortality rate.
The 2024 Corona Tournament is being held out of the Riverside Yacht Club which is on the banks of the Delaware River in the shadows of the Philadelphia International Airport. It is being held during the heart of the striped bass spawning run in the river. Interestingly, as you look at the map below, you
can see the dividing line between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. According to New Jersey's 2024 striped bass regulations in the Delaware River fishing for striped bass in New Jersey waters
from April 1st through May 31st is illegal. The season is closed from the Calhoun Street Bridge down stream to the Salem River on the Jersey side. So, I guess the Corona Tournament will just happen on the Pennsy side. It'll be easy pickins' for the NJ Fish and Game wardens because you can't target them during the days the tournament is happening. This isn't just a boat tournament so there will plenty of anglers hugging the Pennsy shorelines, because you can't jump the bridge over to fish the Garden State.
So how do these various organizations run a catch and release tournament. well, here's where that mortality thing comes in. First you have to catch a fish, and we're talking about a big fish, because the biggest fish wins. Yes, you'll be soaking bait with a legal circle hook or throwing big plugs or even
trolling your favorite deep diving plug or Mo-Jo, but then what? Well, you'll have to measure it, throw up the designated gang sign as an identifier, take a video or photo, and then release it. How many anglers have that down to an efficient science? How many hands does it take and how long to get it done? We're talking about oversized and bloated with eggs female striped bass. Should we even target them for tournaments sake? I can't judge because I fish as well, although I can attest it takes about 10,000 casts and some times an entire season with a fly rod before you'll ever be close in catching a striped bass.
Now there are different tournaments, and they can't be clumped under one heading. There are tournaments that are held for, Ready, set, go, one day, or several days, or held over several months. Yes, there is a difference, I think. It comes down to fishing, and hard fishing pressure, on staged or pre-spawn, or spawning striped bass. One that is held over months greatly reduces that pressure and harm.
We're about two weeks from "opening day" here in New Jersey. Anglers in New York and Connecticut have been at it throughout the winter fishing legally for winter holdover striped bass. The shit's about to break wide open. I say striped bass are like a hot girl, or guy, like real hot, that spends each night in the local singles bar. The pressure is unrelenting. Those early season hot spots will be lined with anglers offering the waking-up-from-hibernation striped bass everything from bloodworms and cut bait, to plugs, to flies.....all day, everyday, for the following 10 months. We'll target them in the bays, the rivers, and the ocean. We'll do it on foot and in various types of watercraft. We'll fish alone, in small groups, or lined up on the sand, rocks or rail. They just never have a chance to relax or catch a break.
Soon the ASMFC will be finalizing the reduction plans individual states have submitted for approval. Some states, have gone to a catch and release fishery, with seasonal closures, rather than shutting things down altogether. We want what we want when we want it. People want to be able to keep fishing, to keep taking and eating, but we have to pull back a little bit and have some self control.
So, should we continue with striped bass tournaments these days? Continue to target them and continue the pressure we put on them for the good of the angler and the benefits the well-intentioned organizers provide for in-need charities and organizations? Remember, a repeat moratorium has been in the discussion. How can we post pictures of people holding checks this year and then be shocked when there's a ban on fishing for striped bass next year?
