Alright, you can have some fun with this. Because I did as well. Some may say, "Get a life", "Stay in your lane", and "Worry about yourself." I get it. But if we all work together in helping save the striped bass then we have to look at where the data and science points to and how to make changes before it's too late. And since I am a recreational fisherman, I have to look at all aspects in that sector on how to improve and reduce those factors that fisheries mangers are looking to as culprits in the war to save and rebuild the striped bass.
For years it was the commercials vs the recreational sectors. Each blamed the other. Over the years it has been strong public opinion that it was the commercial sector that was to blame. A few years back there were photos and video going around of dead striped bass floating around after commercials boats netted, and then released dead, discards of fish that were over or under sized.
That was all it took to sway public opinion. But then the data and science came in showing that the commercial sector is only responsible for 10% of striped bass mortality and with that 0.5% of that dead discards. And, it showed, that the recreational sector was "killing" nearly 90% of the bass through harvest and catch and release mortality.
No matter what you think as we go into the ASMFC Management Board's December 16th meeting one thing we're told is, "That's the science" in all the discussions, charts, and graphs we are presented with. And, we are cautioned, to not question the science, or how the data for the science is collected.
An example would be the MRIP data from NOAA. I've been digging into that and if you have an extra 100 hours laying around start sifting through that on the NOAA website and let me know what you think. To start you off and save you some time check that out HERE.
I have always believed and verbalized that in my opinion the for-hire operations should be included under the commercial sector. Imagine a business, which is revenue generating, not being called commercial. My local bagel shop, which makes bagels for people's "recreational" use, is a commercial operation. NOAA defines and breaks down the For-Hire industry into charter boats and head boats. How much F, or striped bass mortality, through harvest and catch and release is piled up on all those six-pack and party boats up and down the East Coast? I not pointing blame, but I want it put into the correct category. Maybe then we'd see that recreational anglers, privately owned boats and shore anglers, might be on the hook for 60% of F, while the true commercials (like selling at market), and the for-hire fleets account for 40%, in harvest, in failed catch "Swam away strong"and releases, and dead discards. That would and should be more reflective into what is actually happening out there.
I'm not a party boat guy. Never was. But it has piqued my interest as of late. One thing I am learning that when we talk of saltwater fishing up and down the East Coast we are always talking about striped bass. But, back in the not to distant past, there was a saltwater fishery, that head boats used to rely on, such as bluefish, kingfish, weakfish, ling, whiting, cod, pollack and winter flounder. With those fisheries gone, well nearly collapsed, head boats HAVE to target what's left our there, fishes like summer flounder, striped bass, blackfish, and sea bass. Leif told me back in the days, say the 1980's, when finding a stripped bass was hard to do, head boats weren't even running striped bass trips, as the other fisheries were what people wanted, there was an abundance of them, and they weren't always chasing the spring and fall runs. Fish were more consistent, stayed around longer, and had better environmental conditions to call waters in and around New Jersey, home.
So what to do? I believe, something that I've said for a long time, that striped bass are one of the biggest culprits in their own demise. Yes the 2024 stock assessment numbers are holding above the overfishing line, but below the overfished line. But the SSB (Spawning Striped Bass), is at 191 million pounds, which is below the threshold of 197 million pounds, and below the target of 247 million pounds. The fact is there are a lot less of them needed to make them sustainable. But for reasons like environmental conditions, such as weather fluctuations, spawning water quality, and forage populations, like menhaden, the bass haven't been holding up their end of the spawning numbers as seen in the annual juvenile surveys in the Chesapeake, Hudson, and Delaware Rivers. We can't control that, well we can, by doing things like curbing runoff and protecting the environment, but overall, we can't.
But we can control ourselves. "Control" in harvesting less fish and doing a better job with those that we do catch. And when it comes to that everyone points fingers out instead of in. It's the commercials, it's the for-hires, it's the boats, it's the spin guys, or those fly anglers, um no. But really it's all of us. Using gear to light for big fish. "Playing" catch and release, "We caught over 1,000 the last few trips", having too many hooks per lure, or even having barbs on flies, when you have no intention of keeping when you catch. So I thought. How can we do better, but more specifically, how can those head boats do better. One thing I always hated was being around other boats on a bite, especially those big boats lined with anglers on the rail. It's just takes away, for me, the challenge and joy of getting a fish to bite a fly, when I hear, "Net", being repeated over and over again and then watching the fish go over the rail, plopped on the deck, and then tossed down 10-15 feet into the drink.
Throwing fish around is never good. In my early days of fishing I would hope to catch those trout stocking trucks as they made their way around the streams and rivers that I fished. I would see the stocking folks pulling up to a bridge and throwing stockies down into the water. Most would give a "splat" before floating or swimming around. "It helps them wake up" they would say. Kind of like defibrillating someone
in ventricular tachycardia, aka, cardiac arrest. It's done to stop the heart with the hope the bodies natural pacemaker kicks in and puts them back into a survivable rhythm, with a pulse, like normal sinus rhythm.
But other stocking measures, for other fish, came to light and are used around the country. Those methods aren't just used to stock fish, but to assist them up and over dams when they are on thier spawning runs. Then I thought, what if those large and high-off-the-water headboats did something like that for striped bass. I know, call me crazy.
Let's be honest. Striped bass fishing on head boats, especially with a tight slot, means there's a ton of fish caught outside of those three inches. In the early spring and fall those are the biggest of fish. Let's say you have a head boat with 50 anglers, a Captain, and two mates. Those last two are the netters. The Captain may join in if the two can't keep up. We've seen those videos narrated by the Captains from the wheelhouse, "Look, stripers everywhere, everyone's hooked up". But, truth be told, the action doesn't stop when a guy on the bow hooks into a 50, in fact the fever kicks in and the lines in the water increase. Anglers hooked up are waiting for the net, the fish are held face out of the water as they wait as not to tangle, and fish and the hooks get caught up in the nets, while others flop on the deck, all waiting to be measured and tossed into the boat bin, or hurled over the rail.
Then, for some reason, I started to think about those concrete truck chutes. Imagine if there was something that could be mounted and used to release striped bass off of these boats. Fish both big and small gently put into the chute, which has water running down it, for a slide back into the water. Imagine doing this with 30, 40, or 50 pound striped bass rather than the Triple Lindy off the highest part off the boat. Not only would this be good for the bass, but it would, or could, be good for the boat and Captain, and for the industry.
You'd be showing the world, and the ASMFC, that, "Hey, we do care about these fish and are taking our OWN (Industry wide) steps to reduce what we contribute to fishing mortality, all the while satiating our customers and keeping the needed revenue from fares rolling in. Now while a 1,000 pound chute may be a bit much, it's the idea of it that could be considered.
Stocking operations, even those salmon "chutes" or "cannons" as they call them, are made with solid PVC pipe or collapsible plastic, to effectively do the same thing as the above illustration. Yes, small stockie fish are small, and big striped bass have a larger circumference, with the biggest of record fish (like over 70 pounds, having a girth of around 50 inches, but not every fish has that. Maybe those fish could be lowered down, with a sling or basket type system.
Some would say that taking up that much precious space along the rail isn't good for business. Yes, I don't know all the particulars on that or how it would be put into practice. But what I can say is that if I was a fisheries manager and saw a sector taking drastic steps to help reduce motility it would force me to think of other options besides No Harvest and No Target with seasonal closures. It would also force science to re-think or re-research the catch and release mortality on head boats. Surely more fish would be released less harmed, and survive, if release practices were improved.
Sometimes thinking out side the box can lead to change and better results. And while some ideas can be shot down quickly due to logistics or finance, other can be tweaked and put into practice, even if that means a few versions have to be trialed before the final product hits the mainstream. Besides better mortality numbers, these kinds of practices could change the public's perception of how the headboat sector, of the recreational fishery, catches and releases striped bass.
Next up, dissolvable hooks for catch and release fly fishing. Do you really need to land that fish?
