While the ASMFC punted when it came to making ANY types of changes for the 2025 striped bass regulations it's nice to see anglers taking matters into their own hands. While many were hoping to see either changes in the slot or size limit, seasonal No Target or No Harvest closures, reductions in the commercial quotas, changes in Conservation Equivalency, or at least basic gear restrictions, we saw ZERO action by the fisheries managers. They just kicked the can down the road into 2026 by keeping everything that was 2024 the same for 2025. They should have done better, but didn't.
So when I saw "Singles Night" being held up at the Grey Sail Brewing Company in Westerly, Rhode Island, it caught my eye. Was this just a meet and greet and a chance to hook-up or meet the person of your dreams? Nope. It's an event where anglers can come together and learn and take the opportunity to help reduce catch and release mortality when using lures, particularly plugs.
I'm not here to pick on my spinning rod friends, well sort of. Only they know truly what it's like to have to rattle-free, or use pliers, to remove treble hooks from the gullets, lips, eyes, and gill plates of usually large striped bass that get faked by the artificials used to mimic larger baitfish like herring or menhaden. It is cool to watch big bass blow up on topwater plugs, especially when thy track the plugs in towards the anglers on a boat or on foot and finally seal the deal by getting hooked. Then the fight is on. And sometimes it's all good. A big fish who took the plug head first and got lip hooked with the tail hook just precariously dangling along side the fishes head isn't all that bad.
Then there's the "Wow, she inhaled that thing". Well that's not good. You have the set of head hooks around the mouth, at times "ripping' lips", and then there's the deep 7/0- 10/0 trebles deep in the throat, one hook in the roof go the mouth, one in the tongue, the other just waiting to get hooked into some flesh on the way out. These aren't the hooksets you can "rattle out" by shaking the pliers like you see with those SP Minnow hooksets. This calls for surgery, surgery that takes place near the blood rich gill rakers, which if pricked, can cause a fish to bleed out.
And the plugs come in all shapes and sizes as do the hooks that are part of the hardware. Striped bass historically eat head first, swallowing baits whole, as they don't have teeth like bluefish do to take a bite, stun and damage the fish, and make a big bait become smaller bite sized nuggets. So plugs should have a hook, or hooks if you must, around the head of the plug. Having a belly hook just isn't needed. Yes, you may miss a fish here and there but how much better is it catching a fish, which you will have to release due to size limits, knowing it has a yeomans chance of surviving.
Let's look at the above scenario. Luckily this bass has a chance, but, it really was defying death trying to eat. You have a barbed treble hook in the twisted up lips, a belly hook deeply implied in the head, and then for kicks a single hanging off the back? Really? C'mon man.
And all of these treble hooks have barbs. Not good. All anglers, fly and spin, should pinch down those barbs to allow for easier hook release. Will you loose a fish from time to time? Yes. Are you a sportsman or woman who enjoys the hunt and the catch but also the release? Then be real and give the fish a chance especially if they're heading back into the water after you play with them. And yes, fly anglers are playing as well. And we are killing our fair share, albeit less, by poor hook management and catch release practices.
One of my worst catch and release kills was during a morning outing while fishing from the rocks in Deal. I had hooked and landed a nice 33 inch-ish sized bass and was in the process of releasing it. It would have called for me to climb down a bit, time the waves, and gently toss it back into the water. But the fish twisted, I lost my grip, and it fell in between and under the rocks where just enough water was ebbing and flowing that I couldn't locate it. I tried for 10 minutes to find it laying down on the rock with my arm sweeping under to see if I could get a touch. Maybe it swam out of some magical alley into the water? C'mon man. That fish was wedged in somewhere deep and wound up dead. Fly fishing catch and release mortality, it happens as well.
In 2012 Professors John Tiedemann from Monmouth University and Dr. Andy Danylchuck from University of Massachusetts, Amherst published a paper titled, Assessing Impacts of Striped Bass, Implications for Striped Bass Management.
During the years around 2012 we had really good striped bass fishing. The big fish were around, as was the bait, the size limits allowed for plenty of harvest, and that was all before Sandy and her wrath changed the beaches up and down the Jersey Shore. While seeing anglers dragging big fish off the groins was a common sight, many were still practicing catch and release. This study, and the subsequent involvement of anglers of all types, really started the movement into improved catch and release practices to reduce mortality.
A roundtable was held at Monmouth University which included Chris Wojcak, Lou Tabory, Tom Lynch and Bob Popovics, as well as the authors of the paper. You can see that HERE. It was shortly thereafter where the "Keep em' Wet" campaign started. Bringing the topic to light back then started the continued practices of angling responsibility and reduced mortality.
In the report the authors touch on the issue of using treble hooks on lures. That was 13 years ago and really not much of an industry wide effort has been launched to encourage change, until now.
Below is an example of what it looks like after you switch out treble hooks with singles on SP Minnows, I think that's what they are, as I've never thrown a spinning rod for striped bass.
In the past plug makers sold their plugs with split rings and treble hooks built in. These days many just sell the plugs empty allowing the angler to pick what kind of hooks they want, which moving forward will hopefully be singles, or at least barbless, or with pinched down barbs. Below are the recent offerings of plug maker Scott Stryker of Stryker Customs.
In addition to doing the right thing hook-wise, when it comes to flies or lures, having the right equipment at the ready to remove the hooks it equally important. It first starts with keeping the fish in, or as close to, the water as possible. First off, limiting the time the fish is flopping on the deck and on the sand helps reduce stress and mortality.
Having hemostats and or long nosed pliers at the ready to remove deep seated hooks prevents the need to insert your entire hand down into the fishes mouth to pop a hook, or hooks, free. For fly anglers I'm not talking about your Upper Delaware dry fly hemostats, but a longer nosed pair that can be inserted and strong enough to grab the barbless hook and gently push it out and free. The same goes for you spin anglers who break out those rusty Harbor Freight short needle nose pliers. Make the investment into a marine grade set of pliers, with a long snout.
While we can't police the ASMFC or expect them to do what is right we can police ourselves and use best practices in doing our part to reduce catch and release mortality. It will take us all, together, to make the needed changes. If you're up near Rhode Island give this event a visit.