If you been reading this blog for several years you know I get up on my soap box about bounties for striped bass. It's never a personal attack or telling someone how to legally enjoy the sport, even if that means killing striped bass. My opinions, or comments, are more fact-seeking based and usually ask more questions than provide answers. But one of the first days on bounties for striped bass occurs down in Atlantic County. The Absecon Bay Sportsmen's Center has been doing this for years. A bunch of prizes for the first striped basses of that year. While all in good fun, and legal, there was always a hint of suspectness that went along with it. For years anglers would hit the Oyster Creek outflow in the wee hours of the morning for a quick fish and run down the Parkway to Abesecon to enter the fish for a check.
Then it became a little more suspect when anglers used to hit multiple shops who were running the same kind of event. That does a few things, it gives the angler an opportunity to cash in at several stops, and these days, gives them an opportunity at internet stardom.
Last week I wrote a piece questioning, "Should we be running striped bass tournaments these days?". I referred to the opening day check give-a-way and other tournaments up and around the striper states. My goal isn't to judge, it's to raise awareness. How can we have people stating, "Shut it down", in order to rebuild it, and then have tournaments targeting them, and sometimes having one-dayers in a single body of water. Anyway, I got some texts, some emails and some comments back on the post.
One comment that stood out was, "This was not necessary at all". Okay, I'm okay with someone's opinion. It's a free world, it's free speech, we all have to pull our big boy pants on. But what left me hanging was no other insight as to why it wasn't necessary? It's kinda like by raising the question I had done something wrong. I touched a nerve that shouldn't have been touched. But I still offer my question out there for discussion, "Should there be bounties, even catch and release, for striped bass these days?". Let's think, North Carolina has just about made their state 100% catch and release. I have a good idea, let's take a Saturday and run a C & R tournament. Mmmm. Doesn't sound right to me, and I think the striped bass would agree.
On Friday morning before I headed out for a shot at my own opening day bass I took a look on Facebook. Absecon already had the first guy showing up before 6 AM to claim his prize. I'm thinking to myself, "Hey, nice legal fish for the table", and if I wasn't me, why not swing by my local tackle shop and see if I could cover some bait or fill up my tank. But if I were going to "Take one for the table", I would have "dispatched" it, as they say in hunting, gutted it, bled it out, and put it on ice. That's the way to prepare a fresh fish before you prepare it for dinner. But then things got interesting....
After my own failed attempt for an opening day bass I came home, and like I'm programmed or something, I opened up Facebook. "Hey, there's that guy from this morning", I thought to myself. This time he and his fish were gracing the One Stop Bait & Tackle Shop in Atlantic City page , just 10 minutes away from the Sportsmen's Center. He must have made the call home to the family to come and join
him for the weigh in. Hey, it's all good. Not sure what he won at One Stop but he did get a big congratultions from the shop for a job well done. This fish was probably caught 8 hours earlier at this point. I think I'd be done after one shop with the tour-de-La-30.75" striped bass. What I do like is the multiple hat and outfit changes he does throughout the morning...well played! Just kidding around bro.
But then it just got ugly. I watched it go down from Friday into Saturday into this morning. There was a similar situation brewing with another angler. This is the guy who was displeased with my post regarding tournaments/bounties on striped bass. And again, that's fine, don't judge me, and I won't judge you. Although, they say, "Don't throw stones in glass houses". So I saw another post from Dave Showell
announcing the second place winner who took home a check for $200. But what interested me was was this just another fish trolled around to multiple shops to claim multiple prizes? Now let's be clear- all those catch and kill tournaments that used to run and were participated in by the Jersey Shore fishing clubs did the same thing as well. And most of the time those big fish were killed for bragging rights, and then either given away or tossed in the dumpster because they were either caught a night ago or hours and hours ago.
And then bass #2 made it's rounds. This time Scott's Bait and Tackle in Tuckerton posted up the 1st bass of the year and handed over the $200 prize. All of this for a sub-31 inch striped bass. Now, let me say it again, a legal fish, and I guess within the rules of the contests or tournaments? Interestingly, Abescon Bay in their post acknowledges that "the" fish had made a stop at another shop before it rolled down into Absecon. But it wasn't over....
That fish had yet another stop in its "Era's Tour" making it out onto Long Beach Island to hit the Fishermen's Headquarters for their official "first weigh in". By then the fish had to be cooked through. But then question is, where was this fish caught? Was it a north fish that made it's way south on it's opening day migration or was it a southern caught fish traveling north on the Parkway?
That fish is the most popular fish on the internet for opening day weekend. A quick scroll around and I saw Art's Tackle and Fly Shop up in Nanuet, New York had posted the same fish. This time there was no contest prize just an update on New Jersey's opening day success. And then things got real interesting, and maybe a tad more ugly.
The internet and social media can be a great place, or not. As we all know there are a lot of internet tough guys out there. Sometimes people, all of us included, deserve a poke or two depending on how we put ourselves out there. I try and watch what I say and post, and one day, it'll be my turn in the hot seat.
Oh wait, I had my 15 minutes of shitty fame. Yep, that's me on the bow in December 2020. They all had a blast with it. It is what it was regardless of the story behind it. But one thing I will say is I always get a kick out of the memes. They just make me laugh. The hits just kept coming with this fish over the weekend, and hopefully they will soon go away. Fun, yes, but personal attacks, to me, are always not cool.
Might there be a lesson here all the way around, including for the folks that run these bounty events, yes. There's nothing wrong with putting the time in, usually just after midnight on a cold March 1st, and then going to your local tackle shop and sharing the story along with the fish. I think that's what it is intended for. Hell, even if I made the trip south I could enter in, it's all legal and within the rules. But be careful what you wish for.
So I leave the question up, yet again, for discussion, "Should we be having striped bass tournaments, and contests, with a bounty on their head, for striped bass these days?" And no matter which side of any position you have it's always a good time to have a discussion, either way. It raises awareness, and can lead to positive change, even if in the end you have to give a little back for the common good.
And today is the Asbury Park Fishing Flea Market. No doubt this whole mess will be a topic for discussion and the butt of even further jokes. To the guys involved, this too shall pass. In the end I say, back at ya', "This was not necessary at all".
